Origin of Shia Islam

See also: History of Shia Islam
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Shia Islam originated as a response[citation needed] to questions of Islamic religious leadership which became manifest as early as the death of Muhammad in 632 CE. The issues involved not only whom to appoint as the successor to Muhammad, but also what attributes a true successor should have. Sunnis regarded Caliphs as a temporal leaders, (originally elected by general agreement, though later the hereditary principle became the norm). To the Shiite, however, the question of succession is a matter of designation of an individual (Ali) through divine command. In the same way, Shias believed that each Imam designated the next Imam by the leave of God. So within Shia Islam it makes no difference to the Imam's position whether he is chosen as a Caliph or not.[1]

Historians dispute the origin of Shia Islam[citation needed], with many[who?] Western scholars positing that Shiism began[when?] as a political faction rather than as a religious movement.[dubious – discuss][a][2][better source needed][need quotation to verify][3] However, Jafri disagrees, considering this concept or religious-political separation as an anachronistic application of a Western concept.[4] Sunnis[who?], on the other hand, often claim that Shiite beliefs only first formed under the scheming of Abdullah ibn Saba'[citation needed]; Sunnis reject the idea that Ali followed any beliefs that were contrary to the rest of the Sahaba.[5][6][better source needed][7]

  1. ^ Momen 1985, pp. 10–32
  2. ^ Francis Robinson, Atlas of the Islamic World Since 1500, pg. 23. New York: Facts on File, 1984. ISBN 0871966298
  3. ^ Lapidus, Ira M. (1988). "16: Shi'i Islam". A History of Islamic Societies (3 ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press (published 2014). p. 139. ISBN 9780521514309. Retrieved 22 Mar 2019. In one Shi'i view, the source of true belief in each generation was ultimately [...] loyalty to the Caliph 'Ali and his descendants. [...] Defeat channeled many Shi'is from political activity into religious reflection.
  4. ^ Jafri, Syed Husain Mohammad. The Origins and Early Development of Shi'a Islam (PDF). Arab Background Series. p. 6. Retrieved 22 Mar 2019. Such an interpretation grossly oversimplifies a very complex situation. Those who thus emphasize the political nature of Shi'ism are perhaps too eager to project the modern Western notion of the separation of church and state back into seventh century Arabian society, where such a notion would be not only foreign, but completely unintelligible.
  5. ^ Ross Brann (2010). Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain (reprint ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 66. ISBN 9780691146737.
  6. ^ Sean Anthony (25 Nov 2011). The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba and the Origins of Shi'ism (illustrated ed.). BRILL. pp. 71, 156. ISBN 9789004209305.
  7. ^ Christine Caldwell Ames (31 Mar 2015). Medieval Heresies: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Cambridge University Press. p. 94. ISBN 9781316298428.


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