Shia Islam

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Shia Islam
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Ali b. Abu-Talid (656-661)

• Capital at Kufa, Iraq
• Very profitable agricultural area
• Governor of Syria, Muawiyah b. Abu-Sufyan,
  attacks
• His army demands arbitration by putting the
  Quran on their lances
• Alis agreement drives some of his more
  conservative followers away

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The Kharijites

• Literally, seceders or rebels
• They want a leader who conforms to a high
  standard of religious purity
• Alis revenge against them harms his popularity
• Muawiyah continues to make progress by
  conquering Egypt
• 661, a Kharijite murders Ali

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The accommodation

• Ali had two sons by Fatima Hassan and Husayn
• Hassan reached agreement with Muawiyah to
  recognize him as caliph
• Muawiyah bases power on negotiation with elites
  (not on relationship to Prophet)
• Ummah now stands as an old-style empire, not
  particularly Islamic

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Muawiyah (661-680)

• Ruthless centralizer
• Does not favor Umayyad family as Uthman did
• Recognized his son Yazid as his successor in his
  lifetime
• Unsuccessful attempts to defeat the Byzantine
  Greeks

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The martyrs of Karbala

• When Muawiyah died in 680, Alis son Husayn
  claimed the caliphate
• Yazid cut him off from his supporters at Kufa
• Isolated them at Karbala nearly all killed (72)
• Revolt in response

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The Shia Ali

• Supporters of Ali, then later Husayn
• Split into factions after 680
• Kharijite factions in Iran and Arabia
• Alid loyalists based in Kufa (later to be called
  Shia Ali or Alis party)
• Eventually, the conflict is fought to a
  standstill
• Abd al-Malik is caliph (692-705)

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Shiite and Sunni Muslims

• Muslims who accepted the succession of the
  Ummayads, Muawiyahs family, are called Sunni
  - People of the Sunnah
• They are the majority
• Muslims who accept only descendants of Ali as
  their leaders are called Shiite
• caliph v. Imam Imam is sinless and holds
  ultimate religious authority

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Shiite Imams

• Ali b. Abu Talib (600-661 AD)
• Hasan (d.670), son of Ali
• Husayn (d.680), son of Ali
• Ali Zayn al-Abideen (d. ca. 712), son of Husayn
• Muhammad al-Baqir (d. 733), son of 4
• Ja'far as-Sadiq (d. 765 AD), son of 5

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Sevener (Ismaili) Shiites

• Various branches still exist line of Imams still
  going
• 11th Imam, al-Mahdi, establishes Fatimid state in
  Egypt in 10th century
• Smaller groups Druze and Bohras
• Most Ismailis now accept Prince Karim, the Aga
  Khan IV (1936-), as their Imam

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Twelver Shiite Imams

• 7. Musa al-Kazim (d. 799)
• 8. Ali al-Riza (d. 818)
• 9. Muhammad Jawad al-Taki (d. 835)
• 10. Ali al-Naki (d. 868)
• 11. Al-Hassan al-Askari (d. 874)
• 12. Muhammad al-Muntazar al-Mahdi (disappeared
  878)
• Occultation
• Ayatollah (Gods shadow)

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Important Shia Tenets

• Tawhid (oneness)
• Nubuwwah (prophethood)
• Maad (resurrection)
• Imamah (sinlessness of the Imams)
• adl (belief in Allahs justice)