Shiite Islam

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Shiite Islam The Partisans of the Ahl al-Bayt
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Important Family of the Prophet
Prophet
Fatema
Ali
Hanafi woman
Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya
Hasan (2)
Husayn (3)
Ali Zayn al-Abidin (4)
Muhammad al-Baqir (5) Jafar al-Sadiq (6) Musa
al-Kazim (7) Ali al-Rida (8) Muhammad al-Taqi
(9) Ali al-Naqi (10) Hasan Askari (11) Muhammad
al-Mahdi (12)
Zayd b. Ali
Zaydi / Fivers
Ismail ?
Ismaili / Sevener Shiites
back
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Early Shiism Moderates vs. Extremists

• Moderates
• From 632 about 765 Shiite means
• Belief that Ali was the best and most
  knowledgeable of the Companions
• Or that he have been the first caliph (but not
  necessarily that the first three were
  illegitimate).
• That in general the family of the Prophet had a
  prominent role in leadership of the umma ?
  revolt!
• Political Conscience Kerbela Passion in 680

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Early Extremists

• Mukhtar b. Abi Ubayd and the Kaysaniyya
• During the first civil war Mukhtar leads of group
  of Kufans, mostly non-Arab mawali, to support
  Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya (Alis son by a second
  wife, not Fatema), whom they believed was the
  mahdi (messianic figure)
• Rebellion starts in 685 CE, and it is crushed
  (and Mukhtar killed) in 687 by Ibn al-Zubayr
• When Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya died in 701, the
  remaining Kaysaniyya believed that he had merely
  gone into occultation and would return as the
  Mahdi

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Legacy of the Extremists

• Notion of living figure from the family of the
  Prophet as Mahdi
• Notion that an imam disappears, not dead but also
  not with us fully in this world, to reappear at
  some undetermined time as the Mahdi
• ? Reoccurring themes in Shiite and even Sunni
  Islam

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Political Failure Doctrinal Formation

• Rebellion of Zayd b. Ali 740 CE vs. Umayyads
  fails (ata and campaigns)
• Shiite Hopes for the Abbasid Revolution 750 CE
  crushed.
• Muhammad the Pure Soul rebels in 762
• Fakhkh Massacre in 786
• ?
• Most of the Kaysaniyya and Rebellious Alids join
  as followers of the 6th Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (d.
  765) in Medina

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The Formation of Doctrinal Twelver or Imami Shiism

• 874 or 878, 11th Imam dies with no known heir
  almost
• Prominent Shiites close to the family say he had
  a son who was hidden away by the Abbasids in
  Samarra But, fed up with the world, he went
  into a cave and disappeared, to return as the
  Mahdi and fill the world with justice as it was
  full of injustice
• Until 941, a series of 4 Ambassadors
  communicate with the 12th imam.

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Twelver/Imami Shiism

• By 950 CE Imami Shiite doctrine had formed
• Pending the imams return, the Shiite ulama are
  responsible for guiding the religious lives of
  his followers collect tithes etc.
• The sources for law and doctrine are
• The Quran as interpreted by the imams
• The Sunna of the Prophet (as understood by
  Shiites
• The Sunna of the Imams infallible
• In the absence of evidence from these sources,
  ulama can use analogical reasoning

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Usuli vs. Akhbari Schools of 12er Shiism
Interpretation
Sunna of Prophet and Imams
Principles applied in reasoning
Texts to be followed literally
Quran

• Usuli School
• Quran
• Well-Established Sunna (Prophet and imams)
• Analogical Reasoning

• Akhbari School
• Quran
• Sunna (of Prophet and imams) total reliance on
  the Shiite hadith collections

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Shiite Rituals

• Ashura first ten days of Muharram the period of
  the massacre at Karbala
• Taziya majlis, flagellation, passion plays
  (1000 and 5000)

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Ismaili/Sevener Shiism

• Originally those who believed that the 6th imams
  son, Ismail, his chosen successor who died before
  his father, was in occultation and would return
  as the Mahdi.
• They set up armed camps for their followers in
  Syria, Southern Iraq and Algeria. All swore
  allegiance to the awaited imam.
• Prophets only gave the external part of the
  religion - each one had an Inheritor who told
  the inner meaning of the faith (Jesus was
  Peter). Then each was followed by 7 imams.
  Ismail went into occultation and will return to
  remove the Shariah so that mankind can follow the
  original religion of Adam pure worship of the
  Creator.

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Major Development Rise of the Fatimids

• In 899 CE the head of the movement in Syria
  declared he was the Mahdi he was only accepted
  by the Algerian Ismailis ? he flees there and in
  909 they declare a caliphal/mahdi state. In 969
  they take Egypt and found the city of Cairo.
• But the apocalyptic endtime state (with no
  Shariah!) is postponed indefinitely
• His family rules Egypt, Syria the Hejaz until
  1171 as the Fatimid Caliphate The State of
  Truth (Dawlat al-Haqq)

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The Nizarli Ismaili Assassins

• In 1094 there is dispute over who should be the
  next imam/caliph The Fatimids choose one, but
  the Ismailis in Syria and Iran believe another
  one should rule.
• These Ismailis take control of mountain castles
  in Syria and Iran and battle their Sunni enemies
  by assassinating rulers (and also Crusaders!)

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Modern Ismailis

• Dawud Bhoras generally Indian, followers of
  Fatimid imams who moved to Yemen, practice close
  to 12er Shiism
• Agha Khanid/Khojas
• Persian Shah recognizes an imam from the city of
  Kirman, he flees to Bombay in 1845 after an
  attempted rebellion.
• The Indian Khojas were formed when the Hindu
  trader caste of Lohanas converted en masse to
  Ismailism.
• Almost no link to the medieval tradition and
  doctrine of Ismailism. They rely on Indian
  legends, Tantric ideas, such as the idea that the
  imam is the reincarnation of Vishnu.
• Prayers have little connection with Muslim
  prayer.
• The High Court of Bombays British judge
  recognized the Agha Khans claim to dispose of
  his communitys assets in 1866.
• There are about 20 million Khojas.

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