Criticism of Likening Shia to Judaism in "Minhaj al-Sunnah" with Reliance on Allamah Hilli's Views

Ibn Taymiyyah is extremely hostile to Shi'ism. To show his hatred, he embarks on enumerating similarities between Shia and Judaism. There is no doubt that most of what he terms as similarities are not but baseless accusations levelled against Shi'ism. Given the fact that Allamah Hilli (ra) was one of the contemporaries of Ibn Taymiyyah, his works can, to a large extent, answer the accusations and spurious arguments raised against Shia. This article seeks to examine and criticize, with the help of Allamah Hilli's jurisprudential and theological works, the similarities between Shia and Judaism as claimed by Ibn Taymiyyah. In some cases, it also provides confirmations from the scholars of the two branches of faith. The alleged similarities are not sorted out in a special way in Minhaj al-Sunnah. However, this article has sorted them out to enable the reader to understand them. If there is something acceptably attributed to Shia, then it is confirmed and subtantiated with the help of verses and traditions to make it clear that a certain practice by Shia Muslims is not because it resembles the practices of the Jews. Those accusations which are falsely levelled against Shia and has no logical basis has been rejected with the help of Allamah Hilli's statements.