Tawhidi Follows Shirazi, but He’s Not a “Follower?”

Tawhidi is so inconsistent that he is struggling not to contradict himself.  Some of his contradictions are not so blatantly obvious, while others should raise a red flag in anyone with a pulse.  If you follow Tawhidi closely, you are likely aware of the ongoing debacle with his previous Twitter account, @BrotherTawhidi.  When Zuhdi Jasser quoted tweets from the account in his Asia Times editorial, Imam Tawhidi issued a FaceBook video where he publicly denies the tweets.  In this response to Zuhdi Jasser, Tawhidi refutes Jasser’s accusation of sectarianism by citing his affiiliation with the Shirazi jurisdiction.  In this video response (beginning at 9 min 9 seconds), Tawhidi explictly states “I belong to the Shirazi jurisdiction, which means I follow him, I choose to follow the grand Shirazi Marja…”  The video can be viewed in it’s entirety on Tawhidi’s FaceBook post.

Based on Tawhidi’s own statement that he follows Shirazi, it seems logical to conclude that, well, Tawhidi is a follower of Shirazi.  However, in this article that was published by Breitbart on February 9, 2018, Tawhidi is quoted as saying “I’m not his follower, but I’m his student…” in reference to Shirazi.

Does Tawhidi follow Shirazi or not?  Why the contradiction?  The answer is “yes,” and the explanation is simple.  Back in May when Tawhidi issued his statement to Zuhdi Jasser, few knew who Shirazi was.  It had not been brought to Tawhidi’s attention that his allegiance to Shirazi would be problematic for an individual identifying as a reformer.  As soon as people began questioning the relationship and asking Tawhidi to condemn Shirazi’s barbaric, misogynistic, vile ideas (which Tawhidi adamantly refuses to do), Tawhidi opted instead to downplay the relationship that, back in May, was the premise of his argument to refute an accusation made against him.

In the midst of my righteous confusion, I reached out to the author of the Breitbart article for clarification.  Given Tawhidi had posted photos of the author, Adelle Naz, shaking the hand of Vice President Mike Pence, I asked Adelle if Tawhidi touched her bare hand.  Her response was as awkward as her body language in the photo Tawhidi posted of them together.

Her failed attempt at humor confirmed what I already knew.  Tawhidi did not shake her bare hand because Tawhidi does in fact follow Shirazi, and Shirazi has declared it not permissible to shake the bare hand of a non-Muslim woman without the use of a glove.  Hence, the sharia-compliant single, white glove frequently worn by Shirazi’s loyal follower.