Question:

What effort towards unity did the Muslim scholar As-Saduq make?

Answer:

Ni’matullah Ibn Muhammad Al-Jaza’iri writes:

قال الصدوق تغدمه الله برحمته في تمام ما حكيناه عنه في المباحثة مع علماء الجمهور في مجلس بعض الملوك لما قالوا له إننا وأنتم على إله واحد ونبي واحد وافترقنا في تعيين الخليفة الأول ليس الحال على ما تزعمون بل نحن وأنتم في طرف من الخلاف حتى في الله سبحانه والنبي وذلك أنكم تزعمون أن لكم ربا وذلك الرب أرسل رسولا خليفته بالاستحقاق أبو بكر ونحن نقول إن ذلك الرب ليس ربا لنا وذلك النبي لا نقول بنبوته بل نقول إن ربنا الذي نص على أن خليفة رسوله علي بن أبي طالب صلوات الله عليهم فأين الاتفاق

“When Muhammad As-Saduq, May God rest his soul, in the conclusion of our report on him, took part in the discussion with the scholars of the majority in some meetings of the authorities, they said to him: “We agree with you about one God and one prophet, but we disagree about the appointment of the first successor.” Whereupon he said: “That which you claim is not the case, for there is even a disagreement between us and you about God and the prophet. That is because you claim that you have a Lord who sent a messenger whose rightful successor is Abu Bakr, while we say that this Lord is not our Lord and we do not acknowledge the prophethood of such a prophet, for we say that our Lord is the one who appointed Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.) as the successor of His Messenger (s.), so where can there be any unity?” [Nur-ul-Barahin, Volume 1 Page 59]

Muhammad Ibn Ali As-Saduq writes:

واعتقادنا فيمن خالفنا في شيء واحد من أمور الدين كاعتقادنا فيمن خالفنا في جميع أمور الدين

“Our belief about the one who opposed us on one point of religion is like our belief about the one who opposed us on all points of religion.” [Al-I’tiqadat, page 39]