1 – Ar Raafidiyyah (Shiism): They are the extremists towards the household of the Prophet of Allaah (salla laahu alayhi wa aalihee wa sallam). In addition, they charge other than the members of the prophet’s households among the companions (may Allaah be pleased with them) of disbelief or immorality. They are also into several division among which are the hardliners who claim Alee (may Allaah bestow His mercy on him) to be a deity. There are others with lesser evils among them too.
The first appearance of their Bid’ah was during the regime of Alee (may Allaah bestow His mercy on him) when Abdullaah Bn Saba’ told him: ‘you are a deity’. Alee (may Allaah bestow His mercy on him) ordered that they are incinerated and he sent Abdullaah Bn Saba’- their leader- on exile.
They have divergent positions concerning the attributes of Allaah: some of them are mushabbiha [1]and some are mu’attilah [2] while some of them are in the middle course.
They were named as Raafidah (‘those who rejected’) for their rejection Zayd Bn Alee Bn Husayn Bn Alee Bn Abee Taalib when they asked him regarding Aboo Bakr and Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them) and he sought the mercy of Allaah on them. They thereupon turned against him and deserted him.
They also named themselves Shiite (the party) because
they assume themselves as the party of the prophet’s households who stand in
their defense. They also do seek the overall leadership of the Muslims.
2 – Al Jahmiyyah : They are named after Jahm Bn Safwaan who was killed by Saalim / Salm Bn Ahwaz in the year 121AH.
Their positions regarding the attributes of Allaah is ta’teel
(denial of His attributes), regarding the Qadar (preordainments) they
believe in ‘coercion’ (al Jabr)[3]
and regarding Eemaan, they believe in Irjaa’ (that is, they are Murjiah).
Irjaa’ is the erroneous believe that Eemaan is the mere acknowledgement of the
soul and that it has nothing to do with sayings and actions. Impliedly
therefore, the one who commits a major sin is to them a perfect believer. They
are into numerous divisions of the Mu’attilah, Jabariyyah and Murjiah.
3 – Al Khawaarij: they are those who revolted against Alee bn Abee Taalib (may Allaah bestow His mercy on him) over the issue of appointment of an arbitrator (in settling differences among Muslims).
Their doctrine lies in having disavowal for Uthmaan bn
Affaan, Alee bn Abee Taalib (may Allaah
be pleased with them), making revolts against a leader whenever he contradicts
the Sunnah and the believer that the one who commits great sins is an apostate
and as such will remain perpetually in Hell. They are also into several
divisions.
4 – Al Qadariyyah: they are those who deny that human actions are preceded
by preordainment (qadar) and that the humans have wills and might,
independent of the will and might of Allaah - The Exalted. The first person to
announce this ideology was Al Ma’bad Al Juhanee towards the tail end of the era
of the companions. (may Allaah bestow His mercy on him). He took this ideology
from a Magian (fire worshipper) from
They are into two divisions : the hard-liners and the
non-hard-liners. The hard-liners deny Allaah’s knowledge, ability, and the fact
that human actions are His creation. This division is almost extinct. The
non-hard-liners believe that Allaah is aware of human actions but they deny the
fact that they occur with His Will, Might and Creation. These are the tenets of
their ideology.
5 – Al Murji’ah: they are those make actions as unconnected with Eemaan. According to them, actions are no part of Eemaan. Eemaan is the mere recognition of the mind, and as such, an immoral person is said to possess a perfect Eemaan. It is immaterial what sins he has committed or what righteousness he has left out. They claim that when they accuse someone of disbelieve for leaving some ordinances of the Sharee’ah, they do so for the fact that his mind does not recognize such ordinances and not for leaving them. This is also the ideology of the Jahmiyyah and the Khawaarij in the contrasting ends.
6 – Al Mu’tazillah: they are the adherents of Waasil bn Attaa’ who withdrew from the sittings of Hasan Al Basree. He reiterated (as a an ideology,) that a sinner is between two ranks; he is neither a Muslim nor a disbeliever but will abide forever in the Hell. Amr bn Ubayd followed him on that.
Their ideology concerning the attributes of is ta’teel
like the Jahmiyyah and concerning Qadar (preordainments), they are Qadariyyah
who disassociate Allaah’s preordainments from the human actions. They believe
that the one who commits major sins will remain eternally in Hell as he is out
of Eemaan and as such, he is between the two ranks of Islaam and disbelieve.
They are in contrast to the Jahmiyyah in these two principles.
7 - Al Karaamiyyah: they are the followers of Muhammad bn Karaam (d.
255AH). They lean towards tashbeeh
and Irjaa’, they are also into different divisions.
8 – As Saalimah: they are the followers of a man named as Ibn Saalim.
They are also of the mushabbihah ideology.
(Culled from: majmoo’ fataawaa war rasaa’il
(a collection of verdicts and articles) by Shaykh Muhammad Bn Saalih Al
Uthaymeen (may Allaah bestow his mercy on him) (5/90))
