Series: Confessions of a British spy, Memoirs of Hempher - Part 5A

Contributed by bineshan on 13 Jun 2009 - 06:30 AM

Confessions of a British spy

PART 5A


It was on one of those days when Muhammad of Najd and I had become very intimate friends that I received a message from London ordering me to leave for the cities of Karbala and Najaf, the two most popular Shiite centers of knowledge and spirituality. So I had to put an end to my company with Muhammad of Najd and leave Basra. Yet I was happy because I was sure that this ignorant and morally depraved man was going to establish a new sect, which in turn would demolish Islam from within, and that I was the composer of the heretical tenets of this new sect.


'Ali, the fourth Khalifa of the Sunnites, and the first one according to the Shiites, was buried in Najaf. The city of Kufa, which was a distance of one fersah, i.e., an hour's walk from Najaf, was the capital of 'Ali's caliphate. When 'Ali was killed, his sons Hasan and Husain buried him outside Kufa at a place called Najaf today. In the course of time, Najaf began to grow, while Kufa gradually fell into decay. The Shiite men of religion came together in Najaf. Houses, markets, madrasas (Islamic schools and universities) were built.


The Khalifa in Istanbul was kind and generous to them for the following reasons:


1- The Shiite administration in Iran was supporting the Shiites. The Khalifa's interfering with them would cause tension between the states, which in turn could lead to warfare.


2- The inhabitants of Najaf included a number of armed tribes supporting the Shiites. Although they did not have much significance in terms of weaponry and organization, it would be unwise for the Khalifa to run the risk of getting into trouble with them.


3- The Shiites in Najaf had authority over the Shiites all over the world, particularly those in Africa and India. If the Khalifa disturbed them, all the Shiites would rise against him.


Husain bin 'Ali, the Prophet's grandson, i.e., his daughter Fatima's son, was martyred in Karbala. The people of Iraq had sent for Husain in Medina and invited him to Iraq to elect him their Khalifa. Husain and his family were in the territory called Karbala when the Iraqis gave up their former intention and, acting upon the order given by Yazid bin Muawiya, the Umayyad Khalifa living in Damascus, set out with the intention of arresting him. Husain and his family put up a heroic last-ditch fight against the Iraqi army. The battle ended in their death, so the Iraqi army was the winning side. Since that day, the Shiites have accepted Karbala as their spiritual center, so that Shiites from all over the world come here and form such a huge crowd that our religion of Christianity does not have a likeness to it.


Karbala, a Shiite city, contains Shiite madrasas. This city and Najaf support each other. Upon receiving the order to go to these two cities, I left Basra for Baghdad, and thence to a city named 'Hulla' situated alongside the Euphrates.


The Tigris and Euphrates come from Turkey, cut through Iraq, and flow into the Persian Gulf. Iraq's agriculture and welfare are due to these two rivers.


When I was back in London, I proposed to the Ministry of Colonies that a project could be drawn up to change the beds of these two rivers in order to make Iraq accept our proposals. When the water was cut off, Iraq would have to satisfy our demands.


From Hulla to Najaf I traveled in the guise of an Azarbaijani tradesman. Establishing close friendships with Shiite men of religion, I began to mislead them. I joined their circles of religious instruction. I saw that they did not study science like the Sunnites, nor did they have the beautiful moral qualities possessed by the Sunnites. For example:


1- They were extremely inimical towards the Ottoman State. For they were Shiites and the Turks were Sunnites. They said that the Sunnites were disbelievers.


2- The Shiite scholars were entirely absorbed in religious teachings and had very little interest in worldly knowledge, as was the case with priests during the period of standstill in our history.


3- They were quite unaware of Islam's inner essence and sublime character, nor did they have the smallest notion of the time's scientific and technical improvements.


I said to myself: What a wretched sort of people these Shiites are. They are sound asleep when the whole world is awake. One day a flood will come and take them all away.


Several times I attempted to entice them to revolt against the Khalifa. Unfortunately, no one would even listen to me. Some of them laughed at me as though I had told them to destroy the earth. For they looked on the Khalifa as a fortress impossible to capture. According to them, they would get rid of the caliphate with the advent of the promised Mahdi.


[As we mentioned before, the Shi'ah -as commanded by the Shari'at (laws of Religion)-, while not compromising the Truth, consider the Sunni as Muslims and they coexist peacefully, in spite of their root differences; the Shi'ah following the path of Hadrat Ali (PBUH) who in order to save the true teachings of Islam, adopted patience in the face of usurpation, have adopted patience during the occultation, until the Emergence of the last Infallible Successor of the final holy Prophet, Mohammad (PBUH&HP), i.e. until the end of usurpation; the Shiah's patience is like Hadrat Ali's (PBUH) who has said: "I adopted patience although there was pricking in my eye and suffocation in my throat".

All Muslims -including the Sunni, as stated in the comment of the Sunni Turkish translator mentioned in our notes in previous parts of this confession- believe in the Anticipated Mahdi (May Allah hasten his Appearance); but the Sunni, through violating the Divinely bestowed Right of the AhlulBayt (PBUT), have disregarded the correct information in this regard and have considered Mahdi as some one who would be born in the future; as the result of this distorted belief, certain misled people -for worldly purposes and with evil conspiracies- have falsely pretended to be Mahdies, and some have fallen for such schemes, but the Shi'ah knows many details about the real Mahdi (PBUH), therefore the DEVOTED SHI'AH -those who are obediently familiar with the teachings of the AhlulBayt- have not fallen for pretended Mahdies throughout history (an example is the Bahaism creed, which in fact originated through a false Mahdi, designed by foreign agents too, and Allah-Willing, we shall present that story also in this site, in the near future). In general, the enemies, whether British spies or …, use people's ignorance and lack of knowledge, to misguide them in order to gain their evil goals; true Knowledge -attained from Qur'an and the explanatory Ahadith of the Infallible AhlulBayt, and constantly sought from the Infallible Ones (PBUT)- is the only weapon against such intrusions.

Spy Hempher who was very upset from finding out that penetrating the devoted Shi'ah was not as easy task, tried to compare the Shi'ah scholars to the priests of the Middle Ages; while those priests lived in total seclusion and were not even permitted to get married (as many of them still do not have permission), but the TRUE Shi'ah scholars have a full life, including wives and children, and their devotion to serve Allah and the people leads them to a simple life, away from extravagance and luxury; how could the people whose policy is: "We, the English people, have to make mischief and arouse schism in all our colonies in order that we may live in welfare and luxury.", ever understand the devotion to serve Allah?!

We call all the Shi'ah to arm themselves with, the Knowledge of Qur'an and the Ahl-Ol-Bayt (PBUT), and to seek refuge in the Fort of Allah with the constant seeking of Mahdi's (PBUH) help and guidance in each and every moment; we as the Shi'ah must never forget that we are not alone … .

And, as for the scientific and technological knowledge of the Shi'ah, it is very convenient for westerners to ignore that for instance Abu Rayhaan Birooni, a Shi'ah scholar discovered the rotating motion of the earth, centuries before Galileo, and Jabir Ibn Hayyan, known as 'Geber' in western documents, the father of Chemistry, was a Shi'ah scholar and a student of Imam Ja'far Saadeq (PBUH), and …; for more information in this regard, we refer readers to the article: "Europe, Christianity and Islam" in this site: kindfather.com]


According to them, Mahdi was their twelfth imam, who was a descendant of Islam's Prophet and who disappeared in the Hijri year 255. They believed he was still alive and would one day reappear and rescue the world from this state of utter cruelty and injustice, filling it with justice.


It is consternating! How come these Shiite people believe in these superstitions! It was like the superstitious doctrine, "Jesus Christ will come back and fill the world with justice," held by our Christians.


[Christians, based on the Bible, have always believed in the second coming of Jesus (PBUH), and they still do; Qur'an (4:157 to 159; …) and the Prophet and the AhlulBayt (PBUT) have confirmed this genuine belief. Even the Jews are still waiting for "the Messiah". We cordially invite you to read all parts of the article "Two Messiahs" in this site: kindfather.com]


One day I said to one of them: "Isn't it fard for you to prevent injustice like the Islamic Prophet did?" His reply was: "He managed to prevent injustice because Allah helped him." When I said, "It is written in the Qur'an, If you help Allah's religion, He will help you in return.' "If you revolt against the torture of your shahs, Allah will help you" He answered, "You are a tradesman. These are scientific matters. You cannot understand this."


To be continued …


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