Accusation of Takfiri Thought against Shia in the book al-Fikr al-Takfīrī ʿInd al-Shīʿa Ḥaqīqa Am Iftirā and its critique

The accusation of takfiri thought against Shia because of assuming Imamah as a principle of religion has been put forward in some of works of contemporary Salafis, one example of which is the book al-Fikr al-Takfīrī ʿInd al-Shīʿa Ḥaqīqa Am Iftirā. The author in this book in addition to accusing Shia of takfiri thought, because of assuming Imamah as a principle, has mentioned the heresy of all the Muslims not believing in this principle, as a necessity of this thought, and has concluded the mass killing of Muslims over the history of Islam as one of the dangerous effects of this thought; he has also put forward the invitation to unity and proximity among Islamic denominations on the part of leaders and scholars of Shia, because of takfiri thought of this denomination, as a ruse and deceit for continuity of the life of owners of this belief. In order to prove his claim, the author of the book, with targeted selection, has adduced the apparent meaning of some hadiths of Imams which have put forward the heresy of opposers, and has considered the reason for his claim, that the scholars claim these hadiths have tawātur and Shia jurists (fuqahā) have decreed the heresy of opposers. The present research has proven that the claim is unscientific, unreal, and unjust, and has explained Shia viewpoint by introducing the said book and explaining the different structures proposed by Shia scholars for the principles of beliefs, and by expressing difference of heresy in fiqhi and kalam, conditions of takfir, and explaining the distortions in the usage of hadiths and scholars’ remarks, and by analyzing and examining the reasons and narrative documents of the first part of the book which has been put forward as the basics of the discussions.