There’s a coffee shop close to my house where I can be found a couple nights a week. I’m usually there in the evening reading a book or doing some writing. I know a lot of the people who work there. They usually ask me what I’m reading. It’s usually right before they say that they’re closing and I must soon be on my way.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in there reading a new translation of the Quran that I had recently acquired. It was a slow evening at the coffee shop and it was pretty empty. The server came up to me and asked: “Still reading the book on the Spanish Inquisition?” I told her that I was just finishing off the Quran. She then responded: “Oh, that’s so interesting. I’m actually a Shia Muslim.” This was a surprise as I thought that she was French. We always talked to each other in French so I got that impression.
We chatted for a bit about Islam and the Quran then I resumed my reading. There was no debating as she doesn’t even know that I’m an apologist. I managed to finish off that translation that night. Upon finishing that book, I engaged in some reflection. What would I do when debating a Shia Muslim?
From my reading of the Quran, I’ve concluded that Islam isn’t from the Quran; it’s mainly from the Hadith. Most people in the West who study Islam, study the Sunni Hadiths of Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi and the others. The Shia have an entirely different set up Hadith which I hate to admit, couldn’t even name. I don’t know if they’re published in English or not.
About 80-90% of Muslims are Sunni. I haven’t delved deep into Islamic Hadith but when I have, it has always been Sunni sources. I probably won’t have time to do Shia Hadith research and to be honest, it’s probably not worth the effort as most Muslims in the world, and in the West are Sunni. The biggest Shia country in the world is Iran and when Iranians leave Iran, they secularize pretty quickly. Very few of the Iranians that I’ve met have been religious.
So what would I do if I had a dialogue with a Shia Muslim? I’d probably stick to the classic Surah 5 Trinity blunder which I’ve written about in the past. Shia Muslims don’t accept Sunni Hadith but they still accept the Quran which contains Surah 5. They oppose the Trinity and believe in Tawhid just as much as a Sunni does so that would be a good strategy. After all, it’s never failed me with a Sunni.
Here are three posts that I wrote to help with Surah 5 if you’re unfamiliar with the argument:
I don’t see any Shia Muslims doing any debates with apologists. It’s pretty similar to how Catholics don’t debate Muslims, shame on us. A Shia-Catholic dialogue would sound very weird to most people. I’m hoping for the right time to discuss religious issues with this young lady. Pray that she may be opened up to the message of the Gospel. My biggest fear is that she’s been infected with religious liberalism which doesn’t discriminate among religious people in the West. To each their own they say. An attitude that any true Catholic or Shia Muslim should abhor.
The Shia-Sunni split had been wondering for a long time on the historicity of Muhammad and the Hadith accounts of early Islamic history.
After all, if those things didn’t really happen – then how did such a major split occur that lasts to this day?
Tom Holland’s book, In The Shadow of the Sword, holds my current view – there really was a split, due to power struggles. Though not quite according to the bent that the Hadith portray.
It’s true, but unfortunately we don’t have early documents to have all of the details.