Ali and the Evolution of Shia Islam - Research Paper Example

ALI AND EVOLUTION OF SHI’A ISLAM Introduction Throughout years, the division between the Sunni and Shi’a branches of the Islamic religion had been commonly explained in political, and not religious, terms. However, the history of the Islamic religion confirms the complexity of the existing division between Sunni and Shi’a. The latter exemplify an essential component of the Islamic evolution all over the world and the sign of the irreconcilable differences, which neither the Sunni nor the Shi’a Muslims wanted to reduce. The story of the division between the Shi’a and Sunni dates back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the term Shi’a itself denotes a group of devoted supporters and followers of Ali. Understanding the meaning and significance of the Shi’a religion is impossible without taking a look on Ali’s religious, political, and personal life. It would be fair to say that Ali played the social, political, and religious role in the emergence and expansion of the Shi’a Muslim trends. Shi’a Islam: foundations and conceptual meanings The division between the Sunni and Shi’a religion is often interpreted in purely political terms. Numerous authors attribute the growing gap between the Sunni and Shi’a to the political conflict between the Islamic religious followers and Umma, who later fueled the ongoing conflict between himself, his leadership ideals, and Ali’s religious and political principles.1 However, to say that the persistent division of the two Islamic trends is inherently political means to distort the real picture of religious events. In reality, the political picture of the Islamic evolution is oversimplified. Even if the death of the Prophet, the absence of a direct heir, and the establishment of Umma and his followers in power disrupted the stability of the social relationships within the Islamic community, a whole range of reasons, including social, political, and religious ones, that turned Shi’ism into a religious movement different from the principal body of Islamic believers.2 It should be noted, that Shi’a supporters hold mostly common beliefs with other Muslims, including the Sunni groups, but the principal differences is in the Shiites’ commitment to imamate. The latter is fairly regarded as the distinctive feature of Shi’a Islam.3 Sunni Muslims treat imamate as the source of temporal leadership and view an imam as a prayer leader only; in the meantime, Shi’a Muslims pursue a hereditary vision of Muslim leadership, with imamate as its foundation and most essential ingredient.4 Back to the origins of the Shi’a Islam evolution, the Prophet was equally a political leader and the head of the complex socio-political Islamic movement.5 From the religious standpoint, Muhammad was granted the role of God’s Apostle sent to communicate the God’s message to the mankind.6 From the political perspective, the environment and conflicts in the then Islamic environment led the Prophet to assume a number of political roles, which he successfully accomplished.7 In a similar fashion, Shi’a Islam had always been equally political and religious, although the supporters of Ali, in distinction from the Sunni counterparts, had always been more inclined toward religion than politics. The term “Shi’a” means “group”, “party” or “followers” and appears several times in Quran.8 As applied to the contemporary Islamic reality, the word “Shi’a” is used particularly to identify and differentiate the supporters of Ali from the rest of the Islamic world. Therefore, “Shi’a” is used to define and identify a segregation, or denomination, of the Islamic followers which has its roots in the heterogeneity of the Islamic community under the Prophet Muhammad. Actually, the creation of the Islamic community by the Prophet is the starting point of Shi’a Islam evolution: by its composition and nature, the newly created Muslim community was severely disrupted from within. Created in Medina and led by Muhammad, the differences in the cultural, ethnic, and social background produced a multitude of effects on the socio-political stability of the Islamic community.9 The fact of being united with the people of other backgrounds could not change the inherent traditions and values those people had been following for centuries. Therefore, it was logical that some of those values would reflect in the new religious order.10 In that situation, the decision of some Arabs to follow Ali was more than natural. Such commitment to Ali’s ideas, ideals and support marked the prevalence of certain ideas among the Arab tribes within the Muslim community.11 To some extent, the emergence and subsequent evolution of Shi’a within the Islamic community also reflected how some Arab tribes interpreted the truths and moral ideals of the Prophet Muhammad through the prism of their own values and beliefs.12 The Arabs of the North and the South displayed different attitudes toward Islam, the hereditary nature of the religious and political power, and the sanctity of leadership and seniority. North Arabs had always treated seniority and leadership abilities as the basic prerequisites for assuming a powerful position within their tribes.13 Simultaneously, the Southern Arabs had been committed to the hereditary principles of leadership succession in religion and politics.14 As a result of those changes, the Southern Arabs came to view Islam as a purely religious trend, while the Arabs of the North treated Islam as the instrument of the socio-political stability.15 Following the disruption of values and beliefs, as well as the differences in attitudes toward Ali, the history of Shi’a Islam began, turning its followers into the members of one of the largest Islamic groups worldwide. Ali and the evolution of Shi’a Needless to say, Ali’s personality played the dominant role in the division of the Islamic community and the rapid expansion of Shi’a Islam. The belief in Ali’s chosen by the Prophet Muhammad to be his successor is the foundation of Shi’a religion.16 Shiites are confident that the Prophet Muhammad took a decision to designate Ali as his successor and the Imam, to exercise temporal and spiritual leadership.17 More importantly, Shi’as believe in a close lifespan connection between Ali and the Prophet Muhammad: a belief persists that when Ali was six years old, the Prophet asked Ali to live with him.18 Therefore, Ali is believed to be the first to make a proclamation of trust for Islam.19 Shiites keep to a belief that on the night of the hijra, Ali spent in Muhammad’s bed – on that night of migration between Mecca and Medina, the Prophet was informed that his house would be attacked by disbelievers and the Prophet himself would be murdered.20 According to the Shiites, Ali fought in all conflicts to protect the Prophet, and the Prophet also chose him as a husband to his daughter Fatima.21 With time, the supporters of Shi’a Islam came to associate the term “imam” with the name of Ali, who also had eleven descendants.22 In the history of the Islamic tradition, Ali was fairly regarded as one of the most distinguished warriors. In the meantime, his enemies considered Ali to be a vicious killer.23 The enemies also viewed two Ali’s sons, Hussein and Hassan, as two threatening killers and perpetrators.24 However, even such reputation did not stop Ali from killing hundreds of Islam’s enemies: his Zulfiqar sword killed dozens of Persians who never expressed any willingness to support the Islamic tradition.25 In his will to Hussein and Hassan, Ali claimed: “my advice to you is to be conscious of Allah and steadfast in your religion. Do not yearn for the world, and do not be seduced by it. Do not resent anything you have missed in it. Proclaim the truth; work for the next world. Oppose the oppressor and support the oppressed”.26 In this will, Ali one again supported the religious commitment of Shi’a Islam and reduced the significance of the political and social concerns, which had been more relevant for the Sunni supporters. However, Ali was not universally accepted by the Islamic community. Shiites claim that, contrary to the Prophet’s decision, Ali did not become his successor, giving place to the powerful group of caliphs: Abu Bakr, Uthman ibn Affan, and Umar.27 Abu Bakr was the Prophet’s oldest disciple and, simultaneously, the father of Muhammad’s nine-year-old bride Ayesha.28 He assumed the position of a caliph after the Prophet but died shortly thereafter.29 Uthman ibn Affan was the third Caliph and only then did Ali occupy the position of the fourth Caliph.30 Ali’s authority was a serious challenge to the Islamic community: Ayesha, the young wife of the Prophet and the daughter of Abu Bakr, rebelled against Ali’s authority but was defeated by Ali’s warriors and supports during the Battle of Camel.31 The Battle of Camel took place in 656 near Basra.32 The second rebellion against Ali occurred in 661 and was led by Mu’awiyya: the battle near Sefin in Iraq was inconclusive but was brought to an end later in 661, when Ali was stabbed to death.33 Following Ali’s death, Mu’awaiyya became the next caliph.34 The death of Ali turned out to be one of the essential drivers in the evolution of Shi’a Islam. Following his death, the previously feuding conflicts grew into open warfare.35 Various Islamic factions engaged in bloody fighting. Some Islamic groups took a decision to follow Ali’s successors, including his sons Hussein and Hassan, who were killed shortly after Ali’s death.36 For all those people, Ali became the first Imam and the founder of the Imamate, which is fairly as one of the fundamental elements of Shi’a Islam. Thousands of Shiites came to associate Ali with religious, sinless purity. Ali was considered as immune from error and became the founder of the religious line, which was later followed by the eleven successors.37 The Imamate originated with Ali and reflected numerous stages in the evolution of Shi’a Islam. Hassan and Hussein, Ali’s sons, became the second and the third Imams, accordingly.38 Hussein was soon killed in a fierce battle with the Muslim opponents, who were not willing to accept Imamate.39 Not all Shiites believed that Hussein had been killed and claimed that he would return; Shiites held similar beliefs about Ali. Actually, the death of Ali generated a profound belief among his grieving followers that he was alive and would ultimately come back to assume the rule.40 Such belief later transformed into the so-called notion of Mahdi, which Shi’a supporters and followers treat as one of their most fundamental beliefs.41 Shi’a Islam went through a turbulent period of failures and conflicts. The difficulties with accepting the Imamate beliefs and the differences in views and perceptions of the Islamic followers with regard to Ali and other Imams generated a difficult atmosphere and undermined the stability of the religious beliefs in the Islamic tradition. As a result of those disagreements, four essential groups of Shi’a supporters emerged. The first group was confident that the death of Hussein, Ali’s son, and the absence of the followers and heirs marked the end to the institution of Imamate. The second group refused to accept Hussein’s death for granted and claimed that Hussein was alive and would return to regain his rule. The third group took a decision to bestow the mantle of the institution of the Imamate to Jaa’far, Hassan’s brother. The fourth group assumed the existence of Hassan’s child, Muhammad, who had been hiding for the reasons of safety.42 However, Hassan’s family denied the existence of any child and divided his estate between Hassan’s relatives.43 The absence of Hassan’s children and the end of the Imamate later became the dominant line of thought in Shi’a Islam – the hidden Imam remains the fundamental concept of Shi’a Islam among the believers. The differences which currently exist between various branches of the Shi’a Islam are often used to extract the financial and non-material resources from the unfaithful.44 However, while alive, Ali himself asked his followers and supporters against any differences. In his will and testament, Ali wrote: “I advise you, and all my children, my relatives, and whosoever received this message, to be conscious of Allah, to remove your differences, and to strengthen your ties. I heard your grandfather, peace be upon him, say: ‘Reconciliation of your differences is more worthy than all prayers and all fasting”.45 However, against Ali’s requests, the years of the evolution in Shi’a Islam were marked with numerous conflicts, significant differences, and essential disagreements between various supporters and religious groups. Whether such disagreements and conflicts were a necessary component of the subsequent evolution of the Islamic tradition is difficult to define. However, it is possible that, like in any evolution, the development of Shi’a Islam was impossible without disagreements and conflicts. The latter, ultimately, resulted in the development and establishment of the fundamental beliefs, to which thousands of Shiites keep in their daily lives. The evolution of Shi’a Islam: a history of schisms and shakes To a large extent, the whole story of Shi’a Islam and its evolution is a long history of numerous schisms, which transformed the vision of the Islamic tradition and led to the emergence of the two distinct Islamic trends. Most of the discussed schisms took place due to the irreconcilable conflicts on who had the primary right to inherit the Imamate.46 Numerous groups separated themselves from the dominant Islamic trend as a result of the conflicts between those, who held different views in regard to the succession of the Imamate.47 Today, the principal branch of Shi’a Islam is called “Twelver Shi’ism” and keeps to a belief that the Prophet Muhammad was the founder and initiator of the Imamate, which has twelve Imams and was always passed down from father to son.48 However, the first schism occurred in the 8th century and was led by the son of the fourth Imam, Zayd b.’ Ali.49 The rebels wanted to challenge the principles of passing down the power from father to the eldest son – Zayd b.’ Ali wanted to prove that the Imamate had to be available to any son considered worthy of such a position.50 The rebellion led to the formation of the new religious group, called Zaydis, which currently reside somewhere in the Yemen region.51 The first schism in the evolution of Shi’a Islam was soon followed by the second conflict. The second schism occurred during the same 8th century and arose over the succession of the sixth Imam.52 Based on the principles of the Islamic succession in Shi’a tradition, Jaf’ar al-Sadiq’s eldest son had to become the sixth Imam, but the young man died five years before his father deceased, and a decision was taken to grant the right for the sixth Imam to the younger son, al-Must’alis.53 This decision was not accepted by all religious groups – some of them believed that Ismail was alive and would return to assume the rule, whereas others claimed that Ismail’s sons had the basic right to inherit the Imamate.54 However, even the conflict over the sixth Imam was not as serious as the conflict between the Shiites and the Fatimids. The latter exemplified a small branch of the Shi’a Islamic tradition and emerged in Egypt in the middle of the 10th century.55 The Fatimids created a dynasty that was claimed to descend from Ali.56 The Fatimids existed between 900 and 1170 and tried to establish themselves as the direct opposition and rivals to the dominant Ummayad trend – the Fatimids were later followed by Qarmatris, which lasted to the last decades of the 14th century and led to the fourth schism.57 In the middle of the 11th century, another division of the Isma’ilyyah family developed to argue their right to inherit the Imamate.58 Similar schisms occurred until the end of the 14th century, when, finally, Shi’a Islam entered the stage of relative stability and peace. It is interesting to note, that even the abovementioned schisms could not change the reality: for all groups and divisions that emerged in the history of Shi’a Islam, the Imamate was and is the fundamental Islamic value. The Imamate remains the distinguishing concept of Shia Islam, which treats each heir of Muhammad as equally a political and religious leader.59 However, of the twelve Imams, none ever turned to occupy any position in an Islamic government, although Ali’s followers spent their lives with the hope that they would assume the rulership in their community – the rule which, according to their beliefs, had been unfairly usurped.60 The last, twelfth Imam was claimed to be only five years old when, at his father’s demise, the Imamate came upon him.61 The sense of unfairness, dishonesty, and the failure to assume the rule over the Islamic community seems to transcend every single aspect of the Islamic thought, especially in the context of Shi’a Islam. This sense of unfairness was characteristic of all groups and schisms that emerged during the history and evolution of Shi’a Islam. Today, Shi’a Islam reflects the history of bloody fights and numerous conflicts, which were equally painful and inevitable. The supporters of Shi’a Islam have grown into a powerful religious force, which cherishes its traditions and ideals and is willing to defend them in the face of the religious opposition. Conclusion Throughout years, the division between the Sunni and Shi’a branches of the Islamic religion had been commonly explained in political, and not religious, terms. However, the history of the Islamic religion confirms the complexity of the existing division between Sunni and Shi’a. Understanding the meaning and significance of the Shi’a religion is impossible without taking a look on Ali’s religious, political, and personal life. It would be fair to say that Ali played the social, political, and religious role in the emergence and expansion of the Shi’a Muslim trends. Shi’a supporters hold mostly common beliefs with other Muslims, including the Sunni groups, but the principal differences is in the Shiites’ commitment to imamate. The latter is fairly regarded as the distinctive feature of Shi’a Islam. Ali’s personality played the dominant role in the division of the Islamic community and the rapid expansion of Shi’a Islam. The belief in Ali’s chosen by the Prophet Muhammad to be his successor is the foundation of Shi’a religion. The whole story of Shi’a Islam and its evolution is a long history of numerous schisms, which transformed the vision of the Islamic tradition and led to the emergence of the two distinct Islamic trends. Most of the discussed schisms took place due to the irreconcilable conflicts on who had the primary right to inherit the Imamate. Today, Shi’a Islam reflects the history of bloody fights and numerous conflicts, which were equally painful and inevitable. The supporters of Shi’a Islam have grown into a powerful religious force, which cherishes its traditions and ideals and is willing to defend them in the face of the religious opposition. BIBLIOGRAPHY Akhter, S. Faith & Philosophy of Islam. Gyan Publishing House, 2009. Al-Shia. “Shia Islam: Conceptual foundations.” Al-Shia, accessed online, http://www.alshia.com/html/eng/books/history/origins-development-shia-islam/03.htm Amil Imani. “Genesis of Shi’a Islam.” Amil Imani, accessed online, http://www.amilimani.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=116&Itemid=2 Federal Research Division. United Arab Emirates: A country study. Kessinger Publishing, 2004. Halm, H. Shi’ism. Edinburgh University Press, 1991. Shia. “Sayings of Imam Ali.” Shia.org. Accessed online, http://www.shia.org/sayings.html Read More