Dear Mashaik: Assalamu Alaikum. I had an arguement with a friend of mine who wanted to say that people who follow Salafi methodology are extremists. I told him, Salaafi methodology is to follow opinions based on Quran and Authentic sayings of Prophet p.b.u.h. His example of extermism is that Salafis consider Shia`a as non-Muslims. I told him that we disagree with lot of their practices and idealogy but we do not consider all Shia`a as non-Muslims. Can you please explain which Shia`a groups can be considered as still being within the fold of Islam. Jazakallahu Khair.

All praise be to Allah, and may His peace and blessings be on His last and best messenger, Muhammad and his purified household and honorable companions. Instead of judging large groups of people who confess the shahadah as non-Muslims, we should rather say that those of the shi’a who accuse the greatest companions Abu Bakr and ‘Omar of infidelity and curse them are infidels themselves, also are infidels those who accuse ‘Aisha of what Allah had cleared her of in the Quran, and those who believe that the Quran has been altered and those who believe that their imams have divine attributes…etc. This is safer and more accurate. It remains to be said that the aforementioned beliefs are spread throughout many of the shi’a books and upheld by many of them. As for the salafi methodology, it is to understand the Quran and Sunnah in the same way they were understood by the righteous earlier generations (as-Salaf as-Salih). That methodology is pure and infallible, yet that does not apply to every group or person who claims to follow it. May Allah guide us all and He knows best.