I would still say after all this: STICK/ORIENT TO “BASICS” FIRST/ALWAYS, AND MAKE POSSIBLE CALCULATED ADVANCES AS POSSIBLE, NOT LOSING OUT ON BASICS.

Aim for a state that u r able to do this. understand that its “constancy” and “wisdom” put to “net effect” that counts more in the sight of Allah than just plain outbursted single acts of devotion (although u may have to cross all these phases to reach that level of constancy).

If that sounded “complicated”, here’s how “simple” it is, in the form of examples/excerpts/similes etc from “quotes”:
(1) If Islaam was a “building”, level of foundation (eemaan) balancing strength of 5 pillars (shahaadat kalimaah,salaah,zakaah,sawm,hajj).sorry to say, without eemaan, no weightage to pillars.
(2)Allaah loves those more who strictly guard their daily prayers on a “constant” basis, rather than those who miss fardh sometimes but do a lot of fardh-guarding with extra sunnah prayers on other occassions.
(3)”progression” from animal to human being to muslim to mu’min — I think that should be the “guideline” to any human being.
u have to be “sensible” enough and “sensitive” enough, and properly “focussed”(without getting discouraged, and without exercising “undue” shyness/hesitation etc) to all of Allah’s creation in various “recommended” ways in order to practise “Islaam” on a “practical” basis (and not follow the policy of ignoring all other people and creatures other than those with beards who go to the mosques alone — come on , Allaah is the ulimate judge, and u don’t have a right to judge and act on judgement “wrongly”, except in ways which r clearly quoted in Qur’aan and Hadeeth/Sunnaah).
(4)More than the theoretical names, with a good “intention” (Holy Qur’aan — “Actions r but by intention and u shall be judged for ur intentions”; “the niyyaah of a mu’min is better than his actions” ), concentrate on practices which uphold the examples of Muhammad (saaws) and his Sahaabas (ra’a) (“star-equivalents”-Hadeeth) more than following the examples of “anyone else”. But for this, u can try and find out to learn the “practicality” of such practices in “present”-day situations from the “correlation” of positive results of their presence or the negative results of their absence. This way u will learn necessary ‘amal-oriented theory in a better and more lasting way (sth like a workshop or group discussion with necessary book-reference, rather than blindly mugging a book — Qur’aan — “closest to believers in faith – those devoted to knowledge,eg, true Christians” — Hadeeth — “Qur’aan-readers & readers books of knowledge”) .
This can grossly avoid a lot of “destructive argument” and focus(Hadeeth on Last Day regarding time-knowledge-wealth-self-life) can go to organised “1-way & 2-way discussion”, if u understand clearly what ur “priorities” r in correspondence/negation to others’ priorities. and don’t forget the necessity of mutual harmony, “no force/compulsion in religion”, “free will/ freedom for all” etc concepts in the process of doing this.this way u’ll be prone to invite to religion “in the most graceful of ways (Holy Qur’aan)”.
In short, “no differentiating” Shi’aa&Sunni / Mujaahid-Jama-ath-e-Islaami / Muslim-Christian-Hindu-Sikh-Buddha-Jain-et al/ and so on and so forth, except in the matter of what each person does and by “respecting but not necessarily believing” each others religious(way-of-life, I can quote more than 9 billion religions this way) sentiments on a general basis.

more to say, but have to hurry for ‘asr (as it is, I’m a lazy guy sometimes).let’s all hope for further improvement.

I like the fact of highlighting the role and contributions and status of women in Islamic history and I think that’s vitally important for the ummah. I’m not sure that I would say this is a sunni-shia thing (although I”ve heard that before).

Some Sunni scholars, for instance would say that Mary (as) was a prophet as well and so was also capable of reaching the highest stations for human beings..

http://www.zawaj.com/articles/nubuwwa.html

But yes, the problems in this area are basically social/cultural rather than religious.

“There is a narrow passage between the wall (Hajar’s skirt) and Kaaba. When circumambulating around Kaaba, Allah commanded that you must go around the wall (not through the passage) otherwise your Hajj will not be accepted.

“Those who believe in monotheism and those who have accepted Allah’s invitation to go to Hajj must touch this skirt when circumambulating the Kaaba. The grave of a black African maid and a good mother is now a part of Kaaba; it will be circumambulated by man forever!”

That kills three birds with one stone: 1. racism 2. sexism 3. and those who say that praying in the precincts of a grave is forbidden.

This is one of the very first things I noticed when I became shi’a. Even in the masjid I noticed an instant difference in the level of respect women received in every day interactions. This is not to say that there is not plenty of sexism and twisted interpretations of the deen amongst shi’a, but the examples of Fatima (as) and Sayyida Zaynab (saa) have a profound impact on our deen.

Thanx for this – yes, the historical differences between Shi’a and Sunnis has led to more than just a difference in fiqh – it has resulted in an ignorance about major aspects of Islamic history. And, of-course, ignorance about our history has led to an understanding of Islam that is very incomplete.

One of the problems I have with traditional Sunnis in the United States – is that there is so much talk about being different, and by implication “better” than folks in “Muslim majority countries” –

Yet, in many respects – the way Shi’a history, and fiqh (and Shi’as) are treated in the United States by Sunnis is the same, and in some respects worse than in Muslim countries. The same making Shi’as invisible by not acknowledging our presence (or doing so in very negative ways) – the same, not mentioning the contributions of the ahlul-bayt, and very unfortunately creating Muslim institutions that explicitly do not allow Shi’a traditions to be taught, and marginalization of Shi’a scholars.

As such, there is nothing more than a duplication of sectarianism… and, by extension, a duplication of an incomplete understanding of Islam.

This is absolutely fascinating!

I’ve often been curious about the lack of focus on the ahl e bayt amongst Sunnis so this is very helpful. Jazak Allah khair.

Warmly,
Baraka