If we exclude some contemporary scholars who have written with fairness about the Shi`as as dictated to them by their Islamic norms of conduct, most others, in the past and the present, have been writing about the Shi`as in the mentality of hateful Umayyads. Hence, you see them in every valley frantically going around saying what they do not do, taunting and cursing, piling false charges and calumnies against the innocent followers of Ahl al-Bayt. They call them kafirs (apostates). They yell bad names at them, following in the footsteps of their "al-salaf al-salih," so-called "good predecessors," namely Mu`awiyah and his likes who took control of Islamic caliphate by force, oppression, cunning and conniving, treachery and hypocrisy. 

Once they say that the Shi`as are a group founded by Abdullah ibn Saba', the Jew, and once they say that they descended from Zoroastrian origins, or that they are Rafidis, and that their danger against Islam is more than that of the Jews and the Christians. They also write that they are hypocrites, that they follow the principle of taqiyya, that they are permissive folks who legitimize illegitimate marriages, permitting the mut`a which, in their view, is nothing but adultery... Some of them write saying that they have a Qur'an different from that of their own, that they worship Ali and the Imams among his offspring and hate Muhammad and Gabriel..., and that they do this and that, etc. 

Hardly one year passes without the publication of a book or a group of books written by "scholars" who lead "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`a," as they call themselves, filled with charges of apostasy and insults towards the Shi`as. They have neither justification nor motive except pleasing their masters who have a vested interest in tearing the Islamic Ummah apart and shattering its unity^__even its total annihilation. Moreover, they have no proof nor argument except blind fanaticism, veiled hatred, contemptible ignorance, and the blind imitating of their predecessors without any discerning of facts, nor scholarly research, nor any evident argument. They are, hence, like parrots: They are ever repeating what they hear, copying what the Nasibis from the Umayyads' henchmen, and those who are still making a living praising and glorifying Yazid son of Mu`awiyah.[53] So do not be surprised at those who glorify Yazid son of Mu`awiyah when you see them cursing the enemies of this Yazid, calling them kafirs. 

Has the Prophetic Sunnah not stated that: "Each Muslim to another Muslim is like a strong building: each one strengthens the other," and, "A Muslim relates to another Muslim like one body: if one part thereof agonizes, the rest of the body will responds with vigilance and fever"? 

Has not the Prophet said, "Cursing a Muslim is a sin, and fighting him is kufr"? Had these writers who claim to be among "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`a" really come to know the Prophetic Sunnah, they would never have permitted themselves to throw the charge of kufr at anyone who testifies that: La ilaha illa-Allah, Muhammadun Rasool-Allah (There is no god except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah), and who uphold the prayers, pay the zakat, fast during the month of Ramadan, perform the pilgrimage to the Haram House, enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong. 

But since they are in fact followers of the "sunnah" of the Umayyads and some leaders of Quraysh, they talk and write in the same mentality that prevailed during the period of jahiliyya (pre-Islamic period) when tribalism and racist arrogance prevailed. Whatever comes from its source surprises none, and every pot drips of its contents. 

Has the Messenger of Allah not said just as the Holy Qur'an states: "Say: O People of the Book! Come to an equitable proposition between us and you: that we shall not worship anyone except Allah and not associate aught with Him and that we shall not take others for lords besides Allah" (Holy Qur'an, 3:64)? If they are true followers of the Sunnah, then they should invite their Shi`a brethren to a common agreement between them. 

Since Islam calls upon its enemies among the Jews and Christians to come to a common agreement of understanding and brotherhood between them, what would you say about those who worship only one God, and whose Prophet is one and the same, and so is their Book, qibla, and destiny?! Why don't the scholars among "Ahl al-Sunnah" invite their brethren Shi`a scholars and sit with them at the discussion table and argue with them in the best manner so that they may "mend" their beliefs which they claim to be "corrupt"? Why don't they hold an Islamic conference of scholars from both sides where all disputed issues are discussed and heard and seen by all Muslims so that they may distinguish the truth from falsehood? We say so knowing that "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" comprise three-quarters of the Muslims of the world, and they have the financial potential and the political clout which make the achievement of the above easy, for they even own satellites... 

"Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" do not attempt to do anything like this at all, nor do they desire any scholarly debate like the one called for in the Glorious Book of Allah in the verse saying, "Say: Bring your proof if you tell the truth" (Holy Qur'an, 2:111), and also in this one: "Say: Do you have any knowledge with you so you should bring it forth to us? You only follow conjecture, and you only tell lies" (Holy Qur'an, 6:148). For this reason, you see them resorting to cursing, taunting, lying and false charges, while they know fully well that the argument and the proof are with their Shi`a opponents! I think that they fear lest most Muslims should embrace Shi`ism if the facts are revealed as actually took place to some Egyptian scholars who graduated from al-Azhar and who permitted themselves to seek the truth. They did, indeed, find the truth. They did, indeed, see the light. And they did, indeed, abandon the beliefs they were nurtured by the "good predecessors." 

Scholars among "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" realize this danger which threatens their entity with dissolution. When they run out of tricks, therefore, some of them go as far as prohibiting their followers and imitators to be with the Shi`as, or to debate with them, or to marry their daughters, or to give their own daughters to them in marriage, or even to eat the meat of what they slaughter... 

Such a stand is indicative of the fact that they are further from the Prophet's Sunnah than anything and closer to the "sunnah" of the Umayyads who exerted their efforts to mislead the nation of Muhammad at any cost because their hearts never really feared the mentioning of Allah's Name nor the truth which He revealed. Rather, they accepted Islam against their free will. This is admitted by their "Imam" Mu`awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan who killed the best of sahaba only to become ruler; in the very first khutba which he delivered, he said, "I did not fight you so that you may pray, fast, or perform the pilgrimage; rather, I fought you in order to take charge of you, and Allah [?!] has granted it to me while you hate it." Allah has surely spoken the truth when He said, "Surely when the kings enter a town, they ruin it and make the most noble of its people the very lowest, and thus do they (always) do" (Holy Qur'an, 27:34).