03-22-2007, 05:35 PM
Bismillah
"Dan, if Tim didn't state his opinion off the bat (by the way I watered it down - it was way more harsh), would you still dismiss the lot of it (which I accurately copied word for word)???"
A disbelieve in Islam giving tafsir on the Qur'an? Now why would I dismiss that?
"Am I correct in assuming that no Islamic group can confidently trace their roots back to Muhammad (PBUH) & his "true" companions?"
Nope and clearly you are not listening... or wanting to listen to what has already been stated. Muslims judge who they are by how they adhere to the origianl teachings of the Qur'an and ahadeeth as the Prophet and his companions understood it. Go study the other sects and you will see (especially some sufis...) that they derive their teachings from other than these sources, eg Greek philosophers, "saints," etc.. These sects will ignore prohibitions and commands from the Qur'an and Ahadeeth, thus taking them outside the folds of Islam.
Shi'ites who claim that Ali was supposed to receive the revelation go against the first pillar of Islam and reject an aspect of iman involving the angels, which states they are beings who can ONLY do the Will of Allah. They have no freewill. This claim denies an attribute of the angels (insinuating that the Angel Jibril disobeyed Allah and gave the revelation to Muhammad saws instead of Ali) which negates an aspect of belief. If you have even one aspect of belief incorrect, then you are not a believer. This is per the well known hadith of Jibril. If you want it, it is easy to find.
I'd draw a parallel between the sects in Islam and christianity but your eyerolling icon is getting old so I'll let you try to understand this and other previous posts without the aid of analogies, per your requests.