Islam is a very logical religion.  It is not like some other ways of life, which we can only refer to as simple belief systems.  We neither blindly accept that someone died for our sins, nor do we "just believe" in an incomprehensible tripartite Divine Being.  Our point of departure, like that of many other people, is belief in God.  More than belief, however, we are convinced of the Divine existence.  This is a fact which we find imprinted hundreds of times in our universe, our planet, and in our very bodies.

       From there, moreover, we refuse to admit belief in any sage, alleged divine scripture, or ideal without critical contemplation.  The reasons why we come to Islam, of course, are numerous.  It is not the subject of this article, however, to delve into this subject.  Rather, we are concerned at the present moment with elaborating upon a methodology for investigating Quranic proofs in general.  Sunnis and Shias agree that the Quran is the Book of Allah, and this methodology is meant to be applied by Quran-readers in order to help them make an educated choice between the two paths.  This methodology, then, is intended to be "non-partisan" and un-biased tool to help you and me build our beliefs on a
firm Quranic foundation.

       Please understand that whether we consider the Sunni-Shia question to be one of fiqh (law) only or one of imaan (belief) itself, you and I must come to terms with drawing upon only one of the two traditions sometime in our lives, when we become serious about our Islam.  After all, the Prophet (S) was either a Sunni or a Shia...he certainly could not have been both!  We understand, of course, that the Sunni schools are not monolithic, but only one or the other--either the Sunni or Shia--of these two interpretations of the Quran can be correct.  Without being drawn into any useless debates with others, then, you and I need to think critically.  So how exactly is the Quran analyzed by Islamic scholars?

       Quranic evidence is of two kinds:  qat'ee and dhzan-ni, that is to say, evidence which either does not admit for other interpretations ("definitive"), or evidence which upholds other interpretations in addition to any interpretation a qualified scholar might offer us ("speculative" is a poor translation, but it will have to do).  Thus, when Allah says "Do not say 'Trinity'.  If you desist it will be better for you, because your God is (only) one God" [4:171], the evidence is deemed definitive (qat'ee).  There is no other possible interpretation of this verse, and the concept of Trinity is fully refuted by this particular passage.  On the other hand, when Allah commands us, "Forbidden to you are the dead" [2:173], we understand immediately that the text is referring to "animals" and not "plants", "sons", or "daughters", etc., even though the word "animals" does not exist in the Quran at this place.  You and I may be 99.99% certain that the text is referring to animals, but we  must concede that our evidence for this conclusion is entirely speculative (dhZan-ni).  Needless to say, most speculative referrences are not as inambiguous as the above example.

       Islam is, of course, in the first place a belief system.  This is why Allah tells us in sura al-'asr that all of humanity is doomed "except for those who believe and do good works."  Belief is also a prerequisite for action in [2:177], where we are told what constitutes righteousness (birr).  In matters pertaining to our imaan, then, we as logical human beings and concerned Muslims should be careful to accept only those principles from the Quran which are brought to our attention through definitive support, and are thus firmly established.  You and I may be happy to count both Sunnis and Shias among our personal friends, but who knows?  Perhaps Allah will be much more discriminating than we are, and will not accept the good deeds of both Sunnis and Shias on the Day of Judgement.  In fact, their beliefs are fundamentally different from each other, and only one--obviously not both of them--can be the correct understanding of Islam.  This point is understood by the orthodox adherents of both schools, and we need not refer, for example, to the hadith of 73 sects, only one of which will enter Paradise.  That Allah will accept the righteous deeds of either Shias or Sunnis is worth mentioning, of course, because we know for certain that the "good works" of the unbelievers are not in fact good works at all (see [Sura Ibrahim 14:18]).

       I believe that this criteria is sufficient as a means to help you and I in our search for the Truth.  Should we seriously and rigorously analyze the evidence presented to us when we read the Sunni-published Shia and Sunni Perspectives on Islam: An Objective Comparison of the Shia and Sunni Doctrines Based on the Holy Quran and [both Sunni and Shia] Hadith (Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Salamah) and/or the Shii-published The Right Path (al-Musawi), we will be able to sift through the arguments to discover any gold which may be hidden there.  We must, therefore, be able to categorize interpretations of the Quran as either definitive or speculative.

       There is, however, another way of analyzing Quranic evidence.  I don't want to make this rubric more complicated, but I do want to help those people who might want to use a finer sifting tool in their journey to come closer to Allah.

       Once we realize what type of evidence we are dealing in--whether one