On 20 Rajab 1434 AH, corresponding to Thursday, 30 May 2013 in the Gregorian calendar, I, Ṣalāḥ al-Irānī, asked Shaykh Rabīʿ ibn Hādī ibn ʿUmayr al-Madkhalī (d. 1447 AH / 2025 CE) ؒ the following question during a sitting at his home:
The Question
O Shaykh, may Allah be good to you. I am Iranian, originally from Tehran. I used to be a Rāfiḍī, and I have now become a Salafī. Could you offer me some words of guidance?
The Answer
You should seek forgiveness and knowledge, may Allah bless you. Seek knowledge, remain firm upon the Sunnah and refute the Rāfiḍah, may Allah bless you. Read and study books of creed (ʿaqīdah), such as Sharḥ as-Sunnah by Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Khalaf al-Barbahārī, Uṣūl as-Sunnah by Abū ʿAbd Allah Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal ash-Shaybānī, and As-Sunnah by Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAmr ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Makhlad ash-Shaybānī, Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim, may Allah bless you.
Likewise, study Minhāj as-Sunnah by Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd as-Salām ibn Taymiyyah. Study the books of Sunnah and refute the Rāfiḍah. Study the books of Iḥsān Ilāhī Ẓahīr and his refutations of the Rāfiḍah. Likewise, study the books of Muḥibb ad-Dīn ibn Abī al-Fatḥ Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Khaṭīb, who has a very strong refutation of them. Study these books and refute them, may Allah bless you.
References
Al-Barbahārī, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Khalaf (d. 329 AH / 941 CE), Sharḥ as-Sunnah
Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAmr ibn aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Makhlad ash-Shaybānī (d. 287 AH / 900 CE), As-Sunnah
Ibn Ḥanbal, Abū ʿAbd Allah Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī (d. 241 AH / 855 CE), Uṣūl as-Sunnah
Ibn Taymiyyah, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd as-Salām (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE), Minhāj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah fī Naqḍ Kalām ash-Shīʿah
Al-Irānī, Ṣalāḥ, firsthand account in the existing article, dated 20 Rajab 1434 AH / 30 May 2013. A visit to the Shaykh’s house in Makkah to 28 November 2016.d in Arabic.
Al-Madkhalī, Rabīʿ ibn Hādī ibn ʿUmayr, answer reported by Ṣalāḥ al-Irānī
Ẓahīr, Iḥsān Ilāhī (d. 1407 AH / 1987 CE), refutations referred to in the answer
