An Imam insults the Prophet during Friday prayer (Nassibi)
One cannot understand Islam, its history, and its doctrines without studying the concept of "nassibis" (a term implying a lack of religious affiliation). Books of hadiths and biographies (such as those in the human sciences) often describe someone who was trustworthy but somewhat nassibi. What does this concept mean?
To explore it, we will turn to Surah 80 (Abasa) and examine its Sunni and Shiite exegetes, then compare the positions of the two religious schools.
For Sunnis, there is apparent unanimity: these verses, which denounce abhorrent behavior, refer to the Prophet Muhammad. It is he who supposedly abandoned his prophetic mission, rejected the poor with a pure heart while greedily pursuing the wealthy of the Quraysh tribe.
Sunni exegetes do not reject this narrative, with the exception of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. This Persian scholar does not accept it and provides theological reasons for his rejection. One of the points is that it cannot be said that the Prophet abandoned his mission and turned away from the people to go to the wealthy. The other is that the narration upon which all the tafsir, or Quranic exegetes, are based is of the "Ahaad" type. That is to say, it is a narration with a single source. Narrations with a single source can even be Sahih or authentic hadiths, but these are the weakest of this category. As a wise jurist, Al-Razi (Fakhr al-Din al-Razi) says that he cannot accept a testimony of the Ahaad type, with a single source, on such a serious matter.
Note that Al-Razi does not offer an alternative explanation for these verses; he simply rejects the prevailing explanation but does not dare to go further.
For comparison, we leave Ibn Kathir and turn to a Shiite source. Here, it's completely different: Surah 80 is about Ibn Umm Maktum (the blind companion of the Prophet) and Uthman ibn Affan, who would later become the third caliph.
Among Sunnis, the Shiite version of Al-Qumi is unacceptable. Indeed, this school of thought cannot accept that such odious behavior could come from a "rightly guided caliph" like Uthman. When a shameful story is at stake and the honor of a powerful figure is threatened, Sunni writings always prioritize protecting the powerful figure (sultan, caliph, wali, vizier, etc.).
But where it gets truly appalling is when we see the story of an imam who says during Friday prayers: “A blind man went to our sultan, and the sultan didn’t even flinch when he turned around.” The imam doesn’t hesitate to alter the words of the Quran to exalt the Sultan and show that he is far superior to the Prophet.
This imam perfectly illustrates the doctrine of the Nasibis, who do not hesitate to insult the Prophet of Islam and his descendants, directly or indirectly, in order to glorify political Islam over prophetic Islam.
Sources for this video:
Tafsir Ibn Kathir
Volume 7, Pages 467 and 468 (the story of the Imam is on page 468. See the footnotes)
https://islamdoc.com/Tafsir-Ibn-Kathi...
The Infallibility of the Prophets, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
Page 153
https://islamdoc.com/DOCTRINE-Ismat-a...
Tafsir al-Qomi
Volume 3, page 335 PDF
https://islamdoc.com/CHIISME-EXEGETE-...
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:18 Surah 80
02:05 The Blind Companion
02:25 Who Grimaces in the Quran?
02:55 Exegete Ibn Kathir, Surah 80
04:12 The Prophet grimaces at the blind man
04:50 Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
05:40 Al-Razi refutes the exegetes
06:27 The Ahaad hadith (only one source)
07:50 Al-Razi's objections
10:12 Tafsir al-Qomi (Shiite)
10:49 Uthman and Ibn Umm Maktum
12:04 Difference between Sunnis and Shiites
13:44 The cursed tree in the Quran
14:12 The twelve Shiite Imams
15:14 The Imam who insults the Prophet
17:16 Nasibism in Islam
18:52 Arabs and the battles of poetry