The Shia Islam [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

This book, which we have called
Shi'ite Islam, seeks to clarify the true identity of Shi'ism which
is one of the two major branches of Islam - the other being Sunnism. It
deals in particular with the way Shi'ism originated and later developed,
with the type of religious thought present in Shi'ism, and with Islamic
sciences and culture as seen from the Shi'ite point of
view.

The Meaning of Religion (din), Islam, and Shi'ism

Religion. There is no doubt that
each member of the human race is naturally drawn to his fellow-men and
that in his life in society he acts in ways which are interrelated and
interconnected. His eating, drinking, sleeping, keeping awake, talking,
listening, sitting, walking, his social intercourse and meetings, at the
same time that they are formally and externally distinct, are invariably
connected with each other. One cannot perform just any act in any place or
after any other act. There is an order which must be observed.

There is, therefore, an order which
governs the actions man performs in the journey of this life, an order
against which his actions cannot rebel. In reality, these acts all
originate from a distinct source. That source is man's desire to possess a
felicitous life , a life in which he can react to the greatest extent
possible the objects of his desire, and be gratified. Or, one could say
that man wishes to provide in a more complete way for his needs in order
to continue his existence.

This is why man continually conforms
his actions to rules and laws either devised by himself or accepted from
others, and why he selects a particular way of life for himself among all
the other existing possibilities. He works in order to provide for his
means of livelihood and expects his activities to be guided by laws and
regulations that must be followed. In order to satisfy his sense of taste
and overcome hunger and thirst, he eats and drinks, for he considers
eating and drinking necessary for the continuation of his own happy
existence. This rule could be multiplied by many other instances.

The rules and laws that govern human
existence depend for their acceptance on the basic beliefs that man has
concerning the nature of universal existence, of which he himself is a
part, and also upon his judgment and evaluation of that existence. That
the principles governing man's actions depend on his conception of being
as a whole becomes clear if one meditates a moment on the different
conceptions that people hold as to the nature of the world and of man.

Those who consider the Universe to be
confined only to this material, sensible world, and man himself to be
completely material and therefore subject to annihilation when the breath
of life leaves him at the moment of death, follow a way of life designed
to provide for their material desires and transient mundane pleasures.
They strive solely on this path, seeking to bring under their control the
natural conditions and factors of life.

Similarly, there are those who, like
the common people among idol-worshipers, consider the world of nature to
be created by a god above nature who has created the world specially for
man and his goodness. Such men organize their lives so as to attract the
pleasure of the god and not invite his anger. They believe that if they
please the god he will multiply his bounty and make it lasting and if they
anger him he will take his bounty away from them.

On the other hand, such men as
Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians, and Muslims follow the "high path" in this
life for they believe in God and in man's eternal life, and consider man
to be responsible for his good and evil acts. As a result they accept as
proven the existence of a day of judgment (qiyamat) and follow a
path that leads to felicity in both this world and the next.

The totality of these fundamental
beliefs concerning the nature of man and the Universe, and regulations in
conformity with them which are applied to human life, is called religion
(din). If there are divergences in these fundamental beliefs and
regulations, they are called schools such as the Sunni and the Shi'ite
schools in Islam and the Nestorian in Christianity. We can therefore say
that man, even if he does not believe in the Deity, can never be without
religion if we recognize religion as a program for life based on firm
belief. Religion can never be separated from life and is not simply a
matter of ceremonial acts.

The Holy Quran asserts that man has no
choice but to follow religion, which is a path that God has placed before
man so that by treading it man can reach Him. However, those who have
accepted that religion of the truth (Islam) march in all sincerity upon
the path of God, while those who have not accepted the religion of the
truth have been diverted from the divine path and have followed the wrong
road.

Islam etymologically means
surrender and obedience. The Holy Quran calls the religion which invites
men toward this end "Islam" since its general purpose is the surrender of
man to the laws governing the Universe and man, with the result that
through this surrender he worships only the One God and obeys only His
commands. As the Holy Quran informs us, the first person who called this
religion "Islam" and its followers "Muslims" was the Prophet Abraham, upon
whom be peace.

Shi'ah, which means literally
partisan or follower, refers to those who consider the succession to the
Prophet - may God's peace and benediction be upon him - to be the special
right of the family of the Prophet and who in the field of the Islamic
sciences and culture follow the school of the Household of the Prophet.

PART I: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SHI'ISM

CHAPTER I: THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF SHI'ISM

Shi'ism began with a reference made for
the first time to the partisans of Ali (shi'ah-i ' Ali), the first
leader of the Household of the Prophet, during the lifetime of the Prophet
himself. The course of the first manifestation and the later growth of
Islam during the twenty-three years of prophecy brought about many
conditions which necessitated the appearance of a group such as the
Shi'ites among the companions of the Prophet.

The Holy Prophet during the first days
of his prophecy, when according to the text of the Quran he was commanded
to invite his closer relatives to come to his religion, told them clearly
that whoever would be the first to accept his invitation would become his
successor and inheritor. Ali was the first to step forth and embrace
Islam. The Prophet accepted Ali's submission to the faith and thus
fulfilled his promise.

From the Shi'ite point of view it
appears as unlikely that the leader of a movement, during the first days
of his activity, should introduce to strangers one of his associates as
his successor and deputy but not introduce him to his completely loyal and
devout aides and friends. Nor does it appear likely that such a leader
should accept someone as his deputy and successor and introduce him to
others as such, but then throughout his life and religious call deprive
his deputy of his duties as deputy, disregard the respect due to his
position as successor, and refuse to make any distinctions between him and
others.

The Prophet, according to many
unquestioned and completely authenticated hadiths, both Sunni and Shi'ite,
clearly asserted that Ali was preserved from error and sin in his actions
and sayings. Whatever he said and did was in perfect conformity with the
teachings of religion and he was the most knowledgeable of men in matters
pertaining to the Islamic sciences and injunctions.

During the period of prophecy Ali
performed valuable services and made remarkable sacrifices. When the
infidels of Mecca decided to kill the Prophet and surrounded his house,
the Holy Prophet decided to emigrate to Medina. He said to Ali, "Will you
sleep in my bed at night so that they will think that I am asleep and I
will be secure from being pursued by them?" Ali accepted this dangerous
assignment with open arms. This has been recounted in different histories
and collections of hadith. (The emigration from Mecca to Medina marks the
date of origin of the Islamic calendar, known as the hijrah.) Ali
also served by fighting in the battles of Badr, Uhud, Khaybar, Khandaq,
and Hunayn in which the victories achieved with his aid were such that if
Ali had not been present the enemy would most likely have uprooted Islam
and the Muslims, as is recounted in the usual histories, lives of the
Prophet, and collections of hadith.

For Shi'ites, the central evidence of
Ali's legitimacy as successor to the Prophet is the event of Ghadir Khumm
when the Prophet chose Ali to the "general guardianship" (walayat-i
'ammah) of the people and made Ali, like himself, their "guardian"
(wali).

It is obvious that because of such
distinctive services and recognition, because of Ali's special virtues
which were acclaimed by all, and because of the great love the Prophet
showed for him, some of the companions of the Prophet who knew Ali well,
and who were champions of virtue and truth, came to love him. They
assembled around Ali and followed him to such an extent that many others
began to consider their love for him excessive and a few perhaps also
became jealous of him. Besides all these elements, we see in many sayings
of the Prophet reference to the "shi'ah of Ali" and the "shi'ah of the
Household of the Prophet."

The Cause of the Separation of the Shi'ite Minority from the Sunni Majority

The friends and followers of Ali
believed that after death of the Prophet the caliphate and religious
authority (marja'iyat-i 'ilmi) belonged to Ali. This belief came
from their consideration of Ali's position and station in relation to the
Prophet, his relation to the chosen among the companions, as well as his
relation to Muslims in general. It was only the events that occurred
during the few days of the Prophet's final illness that indicated that
there was opposition to their view. Contrary to their expectation, at the
very moment when the Prophet died and his body lay still unburied, while
his household and a few companions were occupied with providing for his
burial and funeral service, the friends and followers of Ali received news
of the activity of another group who had gone to the mosque where the
community was gathered faced with this sudden loss of their leader. This
group, which was later to form the majority, set forth in great haste to
select a caliph for the Muslims with the aim of ensuring the welfare of
the community and solving its immediate problems. They did this without
consulting the Household of the Prophet, his relatives or many of his
friends, who were busy with the funeral, and without providing them with
the least information. Thus Ali and his companions were presented with a
fait accompli.

Ali and his friends - such as 'Abbas,
Zubayr, Salman, Abu Dharr, Miqdad and 'Ammar - after finishing with the
burial of the body of the Prophet became aware of the proceedings by which
the caliph had been selected. They protested against the act of choosing
the caliph by consultation or election, and also against those who were
responsible for carrying it out. They even presented their own proofs and
arguments, but the answer they received was that the welfare of the
Muslims was at stake and the solution lay in what had been done.

It was this protest and criticism which
separated from the majority the minority that were following Ali and made
his followers known to society as the "partisans" or "shi'ah" of Ali. The
caliphate of the time was anxious to guard against this appellation being
given to the Shi'ite minority and thus to have Muslim society divided into
sections comprised of a majority and a minority. The supporters of the
caliph considered the caliphate to be a matter of the consensus of the
community (ijma') and called those who objected the "opponents of
allegiance." They claimed that the Shi'ah stood, therefore, opposed to
Muslim society. Sometimes the Shi'ah were given other pejorative and
degrading names.

Shi'ism was condemned from the first
moment because of the political situation of the time and thus it could
not accomplish anything through mere political protest. Ali, in order to
safeguard the well-being of Islam and of the Muslims, and also because of
lack of sufficient political and military power, did not endeavor to begin
an uprising against the existing political order, which would have been of
a bloody nature. Yet those who protested against the established caliphate
refused to surrender to the majority in certain questions of faith and
continued to hold that the succession to the Prophet and religious
authority belonged by right to Ali. They believed that all spiritual and
religious matters should be referred to him and invited people to become
his followers.

name="The Two Problems of Succession and Authority in Religious Sciences">The
Two Problems of Succession and Authority in Religious Sciences

In accordance with the Islamic
teachings which form its basis, Shi'ism believed that the most important
question facing Islamic society was the elucidation and clarification of
Islamic teachings and the tenets of the religious sciences. Only after
such clarifications were made could the application of these teachings to
the social order be considered. In other words, Shi'ism believed that,
before all else, members of society should be able to gain a true vision
of the world and of men based on the real nature of things. Only then
could they know and perform their duties as human beings - in which lay
their real welfare - even if the performance of these religious duties
were to be against their desires. After carrying out this first step a
religious government should preserve and execute real Islamic order in
society in such a way that man would worship none other than God, would
possess personal and social freedom to the extent possible, and would
benefit from true personal and social justice.

These two ends could be accomplished
only by a person who was inerrant and protected by God from having faults.
Otherwise people could become rulers or religious authorities who would
not be free from the possibility of distortion of thought or the
committing of treachery in the duties placed upon their shoulders. Were
this to happen, the just and freedom-giving rule of Islam could gradually
be converted to dictatorial rule and a completely autocratic government.
Moreover, the pure religious teachings could become, as can be seen in the
case of certain other religions, the victims of change and distortion in
the hands of selfish scholars given to the satisfaction of their carnal
desires. As confirmed by the Holy Prophet, Ali followed perfectly and
completely the Book of God and the tradition of the Prophet in both words
and deeds. As Shi'ism sees it, if, as the majority say, only the Quraysh
opposed the rightful caliphate of Ali, then that majority should have
answered the Quraysh by asserting what was right. They should have quelled
all opposition to the right cause in the same way that they fought against
the group who refused to pay the religious tax (zakat). The
majority should not have remained indifferent to what was right for fear
of the opposition of the Quraysh.

What prevented the Shi'ah from
accepting the elective method of choosing the caliphate by the people was
the fear of the unwholesome consequences that might result from it: fear
of possible corruption in Islamic government and of the destruction of the
solid basis for the sublime religious sciences. As it happened, later
events in Islamic history confirmed this fear (or prediction), with the
result that the Shi'ites became ever firmer in their belief. During the
earliest years, however, because of the small number of its followers,
Shi'ism appeared outwardly to have been absorbed into the majority,
although privately it continued to insist on acquiring the Islamic
sciences from the Household of the Prophet and to invite people to its
cause. At the same time, in order to preserve the power of Islam and
safeguard its progress, Shi'ism did not display any open opposition to the
rest of Islamic society. Members of the Shi'ite community even fought hand
in hand with the Sunni majority in holy wars (jihad) and
participated in public affairs. Ali himself guided the Sunni majority in
the interest of the whole Islam whenever such action was necessary.

name="The Political Method of the Selection of the Caliph">The Political
Method of the Selection of the Caliph by Vote and Its
Disagreement with the Shi'ite View

Shi'ism believes that the Divine Law of
Islam (Shari'ah), whose substance is found in the Book of God and in the
tradition (Sunnah) of the Holy Prophet, will remain valid to the Day of
Judgment and can never, nor will ever, be altered. A government which is
really Islamic cannot under any pretext refuse completely to carry out the
Shari'ah's injunctions. The only duty of an Islamic government is to make
decisions by consultation within the limits set by the Shari'ah and in
accordance with the demands of the moment.

The vow of allegiance to Abu Bakr at
Saqifah, which was motivated at least in part by political considerations,
and the incident described in the hadith of "ink and paper," which
occurred during the last days of the illness of the Holy Prophet, reveal
the fact that those who directed and backed the movement to choose the
caliph through the process of election believed that the Book of God
should be preserved in the form of a constitution. They emphasized the
Holy Book and paid much less attention to the words of the Holy Prophet as
an immutable source of the teachings of Islam. They seem to have accepted
the modification of certain aspects of Islamic teachings concerning
government to suit the conditions of the moment and for the sake of the
general welfare.

This tendency to emphasize only certain
principles of the Divine Law is confirmed by many sayings that were later