Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 121: Spreading false scriptures in front of the Imam - overestimating one's own abilities!
Every religion has its own characteristics and cannot be generalized.

Many people have never understood the organizational structure of Islam, and their knowledge in this area is completely blank.

If we really want to make an analogy, it can be compared to the Imam, Mullah or Ayatollah in Islam.

What they mean is actually scholars.

It is difficult to understand the universality and normal division of Islam from the perspective of Catholic bureaucracy.

But if we regard the religious sects of Islam as Confucian schools, everything will become clear.

For example, the original differences between Shia and Sunni in Islam.

By analogy with Confucianism, it can be interpreted as:

Suppose there is a group of Confucian scholars who believe that Yan Hui is the only successor of Confucius, and that none of the other disciples of Confucius are qualified to inherit the throne of Confucius. They even claim that Yan Hui's throne will be passed down from generation to generation.

Then, this group of Confucian scholars would easily be rejected by other Confucian disciples, and finally this group of people would be cut off from other Confucian scholars, thus adding another Confucian school.

At that time, Islam and the Arab Empire were essentially one and the same. Under the system of combining politics and religion, who would be the successor of the Prophet Muhammad actually meant which faction would control a new empire.

The resulting dispute over inheritance rights was far more dangerous than the struggle between Confucian schools.

The initial disagreement between the Shia and Sunni sects of Islam was whether Ali was the only legitimate successor to the Prophet Muhammad.

The Sunnis at the time felt that the successor should be elected by the community. Although Ali was respected, he was not considered the only legitimate successor.

The Shiites say that Ali is the legitimate successor of Muhammad and believe that he should be the first caliph. The name "Shia" means "followers of Ali", emphasizing their loyalty to Ali and respect for his descendants (Imams).

Then the four major schools of Sunni jurisprudence have more of the flavor of the "Eight Schools of Confucianism".

The four major schools of Sunni jurisprudence have their own views on the understanding of the Prophet Muhammad's words, the authority of different scriptures, and how the opinions of these sages should guide our current lives.

For example, the Hanbali sect only respects the Quran and the Hadith and is the most conservative, emphasizing direct following of the scriptures.

Saudi Arabia in the 21st century is this school of jurisprudence, which emphasizes returning to the pure beliefs of the early days of Islam and opposes heresy and innovation.

The Shafi'i school stipulates five authoritative sources of jurisprudence and ranks them in order: the Quran is the most authoritative, followed by the Sunnah, then public opinion, then Ijtihad or "expert opinion", and finally analogy.

Relatively speaking, it is more open than the Hanbali school, but it also requires strict adherence to the scriptures and relatively restricts more teachings derived through analogy reasoning.

Gairis is now in contact with Imam Khalid of Alhadi town and Imam Fahd of this village. They actually belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence.

A notable characteristic of Hanafi religious scholars is their flexibility, which often emphasizes the importance of personal reasoning and public interest.

The authority of Sharia law is ranked as follows: [Quran], [Sunnah], [public opinion], [analogy], [discretion], and [custom].

When there is no precedent to cite in reality, it will advocate handling the problem based on the discretion and principle of choosing the best by jurists and law enforcers.

Therefore, when Ghairis proposed the new zakat system, Khalid and Fahd agreed with it wholeheartedly.

Anyway, there is no clear stipulation in the Quran and the Hadith about who should collect the zakat, so doesn't that mean it can be left to discretion?
Moreover, using zakat to aid the poor and provide good education and medical care is in line with the teachings of the Quran.

Since the religious sects of Islam are similar to Confucian schools, they are actually clustered together. At the same time, the master-disciple relationship between scholars of different religions is complicated. Generally speaking, it is still the same set of human relationships and worldly wisdom.

Therefore, when Khalid and Fahd jointly sent out the invitation, religious scholars and imams from other villages happily came here, just to participate in a social gathering.

The imams first had lunch together at Fahd's home, and then chatted with each other.

The content of the chats among these religious scholars is actually no different from that of ordinary people in later generations. Only someone with a screw loose would discuss professional knowledge while bragging.

Generally speaking, it's nothing more than: how old is your daughter, can his son inherit his legacy, how well is that person's disciple doing now, what funny things have you heard recently, share them and have fun together...

However, this happy scene was suddenly broken by a loud announcement from outside the door.

"There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah!"

"Now, I have brought you a revelation that is earlier than that of the Prophet Muhammad! It concerns whether you and your descendants can board the ark leading to the new era!"

No, these religious scholars are too lazy to discuss among themselves because, firstly, their consensus is greater than their differences, and secondly, discussing such issues can easily hurt each other's feelings and is not suitable for discussion in such a relaxed occasion.

But when these words at the door reached the ears of the people in the mansion, they immediately exploded.

Damn, what is this? Spreading false scriptures in front of the Imam - overestimating one's own abilities!
The invited Imams all looked at the host Fahd. Fahd spread his hands with an innocent look on his face.

Therefore, after hearing two more sentences, the group of people all looked tense.

“Allah says: ‘A cry will surely come upon them, and they will be reduced to pieces. The people who disobey will surely be destroyed.’” “‘After their destruction, other generations will arise.’”

"Now, another generation is about to end. Those who betray their integrity will all be cleansed!"

"If you don't board the ark that leads to the new age together, when the flood comes, you will all be drowned together!"

The scholars present naturally knew the source of the scripture quoted by the man outside the courtyard.

It comes from Chapter 23 of the Quran and mainly talks about the nature of faith, the characteristics of believers, and the final outcome of believers and non-believers.

This chapter consists of 118 verses covering matters such as faith, behavior, resurrection, the Day of Judgment, and the relationship between mankind and the Creator.

The passage quoted by the man outside the courtyard was the story of Noah's Ark and the fate of other nations that did not believe in the prophets.

Noah's people regarded Noah, who received the revelation from God, as a madman. Other nations that did not believe in prophets also regarded their prophets as aliens.

They all refused to believe in the revelations brought by the Messenger of God, and so those nations disappeared in history and turned into generations unknown to modern people.

The people outside the courtyard shouted loudly, elevating themselves to the position of a prophet and telling the believers that those who did not believe in him would not have a good ending.

To this group of professionals in the hospital, the man who explicitly or implicitly elevated himself to the status of a prophet was really being too arrogant.

The two hot-tempered men simply stood up and started walking towards the door, and the other Imams followed them, intending to follow and watch the fun.

Fahd's residence is next to a mosque. Generally speaking, a mosque is only the workplace of the Imam, not a living residence like a Buddhist temple.

So when he opened the door of Fahd's mansion and looked out, he saw a Frank standing on a stone, shouting to the nearby villagers.

A guy who didn't look like a scholar hurriedly squeezed through the crowd and came in front of Garys.

He immediately pulled Garys off the stone and gave him a good physics lesson.

This person had no intention of wasting time talking to Gailis. After all, it was not right to debate with others in public while looking up at them.

However, no matter how he stretched out his hand, Garys, who was standing on the stone, dodged it easily and nimbly, without stopping his words.

Instead, he seemed like a monkey being made a fool of for a while.

“[When a messenger from each tribe came to them, they denied him, so Allah destroyed them one after another and made their deeds a proverb. The people who disbelieved were destroyed!]”

"Now, I have come to you and brought you revelations from the past. If you do not believe in me, you will be drowned by God like the previous generations."

Hearing this, the man, who was furious, finally stopped fighting with Garys and asked loudly, "Who are you? Why are you spreading lies to confuse people?"

Garys stopped talking, looked down at the guy who was already out of breath, and then loudly announced his identity.

"Me? I am Jesus's younger brother. I died for Jesus a thousand years ago. I am a prophet not recorded in the scriptures. I was born six hundred years earlier than the Prophet Muhammad!"

Hearing Garys' crazy words, many people nearby laughed out loud.

They were more or less knowledgeable. This Jesus lived more than a thousand years ago. When the Frank Gellis said that he was Jesus's brother, didn't that mean that he had lived for more than a thousand years?
How can you brag like that!

"Now my seclusion is over, and I shall be the Imam of all nations of the world."

"I am indeed a prophet, but I came before Muhammad! Muhammad will come after me!"

When the word "reclusion" was mentioned by Gairis, the surrounding farmers didn't know what was going on. However, the other imams who came to join in the fun were really surprised.

No, this [Seclusion] should be a concept of the Shia sect, right?

The Shiites say that their religious leader can only be Ali and Ali's descendants, but the succession of this religious leader is always unlucky. Firstly, new disputes over inheritance rights are likely to arise, and secondly, the lineage may become extinct.

Several Shia sects claim that the last Imams they can record did not die, but rather that those Imams entered a state of [seclusion], slowly severing their connections with mortals, but still surviving in the physical body.

However, the mainstream of the Shia sect has only been in seclusion for a little over three hundred years.

The Frank in front of me said that he was Elsa's brother and that he had been in seclusion until now. Doesn't that mean he has lived for more than a thousand years?
Is he an immortal who has lived for thousands of years?
To be honest, no matter how I think about it, I feel that the Franks above are a little too outrageous. They seem to be humiliating these religious people and rubbing their common sense into the ground.

"Now, I have brought Allah's old revelation, and will tell you the end of your generation. The old revelation has long been forgotten by the world, so I have reappeared in the world!"

“Blessed are you who believe in me!”

(End of this chapter)