Title: A Further Exchange on "Are Shiites Muslims?" Question/Comments: Thank you for you response. I stand by what I believe based of the facts that I sent you. We are not talking about some ignorant Muslim individual calling each other Kafir and non-Muslims. However, I also have my reservation regarding your responses, though I completely am not in disagreement. In order to keep it short we have clear and precise guidelines in Noble Qur'aan, which defines a believer and/or Muslim. One might ask this question how Qadyanis , Shias, NOI, and Submitters fall under those guidelines? This stupidity existed only when Akbar the jahil [1] [ Deen-e-Ilaahi ] was king and have gone with him in hell. So, anyone out side of that framework like Shia, Qadyanis , NOI, and Submitters to name few cannot simply be Muslims. As I said before that true evil lies in ignorance not in suspicion. Regarding questions like that no-one has right to declare other non-Muslim. It is absurd and plain stupidity. Ignorance of few Pakistanis cannot set the rule that Qadyanis are also to be given the status of Muslims. I would conclude it here. Wassalaam Answer: My referred responses should have sufficed as my answer to your question. Nevertheless, it seems that they have failed to serve the purpose that I had intended, while referring them to you. In my opinion, declaring someone a non-Muslim is a legal issue, with purely legal consequences and repercussions. Therefore, only a competent legal authority can take this action. Disregarding this fact shall not only result in the further segmentation of the Muslim Ummah , but shall also present a comic situation as a whole, where each group shall declare the other as non-Muslim and yet all are considered Muslims by the Muslim collectivities and then the members of all groups - non-Muslims in the eyes of one another - shall, for instance, be performing Hajj , in the Bayet Allah together. The only reason that the Shiites still enjoy to be a part of the Muslim community, even in the presence of all the remarks and comments of the Muslim scholars (which you cited in your first letter), is that the collectivity of the Muslims does not consider them to be non-Muslims. In contrast, the case of the Ahmadis is an example where the collectivity of the Muslims has decided about their being non-Muslims. Thus, irrespective of the opinion of a number of Sunni scholars, the Shiites still enjoy the status of being Muslims, while the status of Ahmadis is beyond any discussion, due to the decision that the Muslim collectivity has taken regarding them. What I completely fail to understand is the reason why a scholar or a student of Islam, like myself, should declare an individual or a group non-Muslim. I really see no benefits accruing from such an act. I am sure you would agree with me that the position of an individual in the hereafter is not affected by my opinion about his being a Muslim or a non-Muslim. God shall decide about that position on the basis of His own absolute knowledge, obviously, not on the basis of my or any one else's opinion about that individual. As far as the worldly benefits of my declaring someone a non-Muslim are concerned, I am completely unaware of any that are likely to follow such a declaration, except for creating an obvious aversion in the hearts of such individual(s) against my call to the path of God. Some people point out that if such a declaration is made, it would result in spreading the knowledge that the beliefs of such and such group are not a part of Islam. I do not agree with this opinion. In my opinion, this advantage can more effectively be enjoyed by merely presenting the true beliefs of Islam in an effective and consistent manner. In view of the above details, I really do not think that it is my jurisdiction to declare any group or individual non-Muslim. My work is firstly, to understand and secondly to present the call of Islam in a manner that is effective and one, which creates no aversion in the hearts and minds of my addressees. Therefore, even though I consider the Shiite beliefs to be against the teachings of the Qur'an, as otherwise I would, obviously, have been a Shiite myself, yet I am not prepared to call them non-Muslims as I do not consider such an act to be within my jurisdiction. In case you want to carry on any discussion on this topic, I would suggest that you should first of all present a clear directive of the Qur'an according to which it is essential for me to call a person who ascribes to a belief, which according to my understanding, is against the teachings of Islam, a non-Muslim. 6 th July 2000 [1] Lit: 'Akbar - the ignorant', reference is to Akbar, the Mughal emperor of India.