Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … Until the early period of the caliphate of Sayyiduna Uthman radi Allahu anhu, the entire Ummah was united and in agreement. Then, gradually, discord began to emerge. Among those who spread this discord was a Jewish scholar, Abdullah bin Saba. In the beginning, he started saying that you (radi Allahu anhu) would return to the world, but the people of Hijaz, Sham, and Iraq did not accept his statement at all. After that, this person went to Egypt, where he began to propagate these ideas and, at the same time, started to exaggerate and be excessive regarding Sayyiduna Ali radi Allahu anhu. He instilled in people’s minds the notion that after you (radi Allahu anhu), Sayyiduna Ali radi Allahu anhu was deserving of the caliphate, but he was not given this right. Then, various complaints were raised against Sayyiduna Uthman radi Allahu anhu, until Sayyiduna Uthman radi Allahu anhu was martyred in a state of oppression. In the ensuing discord, the Battle of Jamal and the Battle of Siffin took place, and thousands of Muslims were martyred, and in the end, Sayyiduna Ali radi Allahu anhu was also martyred. In the movement started by the Jew Abdullah bin Saba, on one hand, there was exaggeration in the love of Sayyiduna Ali radi Allahu anhu, and on the other hand, enmity towards Sayyiduna Amir Muawiyah radi Allahu anhu, along with the belief that after Sayyiduna Ali radi Allahu anhu, his progeny were deserving of the caliphate. Also, the belief that after Sayyiduna Ali radi Allahu anhu, the chain of Imamate continues so that the Ummah may continue to be guided, and then gradually all these beliefs gained strength.

From the beliefs and ideas of this person, Rafdh (rejectionism) was born. There are many groups within Rafdh: some are merely Tafdhili, meaning they consider Sayyiduna Ali radi Allahu anhu superior to all the Companions but do not show any disrespect towards any Companion radi Allahu anhu; some are Tabarra’i, meaning that except for a few Companions, they speak ill of the rest; some believe in the divinity of Ali radi Allahu anhu; some believe in the distortion (tahrif) of the Qur’an; some believe that the attributes of Allah, the Exalted, are created; some believe that many things are obligatory upon Allah, the Exalted; some do not believe in the vision (ru’yah) of Allah, the Exalted, in the Hereafter, and so on. The beliefs of each group within Rafdh differ from the others, therefore, as a whole, a single ruling cannot be applied to all of them.