Asalamu 3laykum,
I can't believe these Shi'ites have the audacity to claim that there are hardly any ex shias! This is insane - And where is this proof about many misguided miskeens that convert into Shi'ism? Please don't tell me Tijani and Shehata.
Before I begin, I feel obliged to introduce myself.
Living amongst them for almost 2 decades, I was the most stubborn Shi'ite. No one was able to change my mind about the Khilafa issue and that the first three were wrongdoers. Because we were a minority, our learned ones always taught us scripts on how to defend ourselves from Sunnis.
I initially had doubts about concepts such as infallibility and how the 12 Imams have all this knowledge, and why they are 12 in the first place. When I asked, they gave me answers using philosophy and logic, which made them seem intelligent and therefore convincing.
The shubuhaat were not leaving me alone though. I kept seeing myself as an outcast in Islam, I understood that the Imamate doctrine was alien to Sunnis and not easy to explain. At the same time I did not agree everything with what Shias had to say, stuff such as Wilaya At-takweenia, cursing, Fatimas rib, morning, grave rituals, lamentation, and most of all, the silence of the scholars over things that I perceived as blatantly haram. I'm sure that every Shia had doubts about these and questioned them at one point. I became a very controversial Shi'ite for a while, accepting and rejecting some beliefs.
After praying for guidance, a Sunni Tunisian brother invited me to his home and we bought up the topic. By coincidence, I had a Shia book in my bag - which he analyses, and within seconds he found a few contradictions (in which I will talk about another time iA). He then asked me later to prove infallibility, Imamah and the Ghaiba.
Despite reading and reading and asking my learned peers, I couldn't actually fine clear cut proof for the 3 mentioned things:
Infallibity - It's not that much of an important concept whether proven or not, nor is there any clear cut evidences that the imams are infallible
Imamah - Implicit verses in the Quran and philosophies used to prove this, not good enough
Ghaiba - 0 proof, 0 logic, 0 success
I started thinking that philosophy and logic isn't within the fold of Islam to prove AQEEDA beliefs, they need direct proofs. They also use qiyaas to prove aqeeda beliefs which is forbidden, but they don't have a choice since there is no evidence for what they believe, and even if there is, the proofs they use are flimsy and weak.
So when I was told the Sunni way of the things, with the chain of narrations and the Sahaba, I wanted to know more. After learning small bit about who the Sahaba actually are, I wanted to know more about these great personalities - it was nice knowing that Islam might not have been a big conspiracy or a chess game between Ali and Omar (May Allah be pleased with both of them). By just observing how the Sunnis go about Islam, you could see how they are the true followers of Islam, with their Quran and Salah.
The clear kufr of the scholars and books, and the sheer ignorance and fanatisicm of Shi'ites forced me to leave the crooked path for the straighter one, and Al-hamdulillah. Sunni Islam made me realise that Islam is bigger than the politics that happened afterwards, which either way proves the good relationships of the khulufa2 ar-rashideen.
That was the whole story in short, iA I will share what I have learnt in more threads to come.
Shi'ism only grows in areas where there's ignorance, such as places in Africa and South Asia. Otherwise Nigerian and Iranian Shi'ites are reverting to Sunni Islam in their hundreds and thousands. Plus Shi'ites concentrate their da3wa on Sunnis, whilst we concentrate our da3wa on everyone.
I want to add, that most Shi'ites are ignorant of what bid3a actually is, and the scholars don't want them to know. Once they find out, they would run from Shi'ism in their millions.
I want to end with the fact that I am an Ex-Shia, Sunni Muslim, and many many of us exist.
Jazakum Allahu Kheiraa