Sh\u012b\u02bfa Islam: History and Doctrines<\/p>\n
Ayatull\u0101h Ja\u02bffar Sub\u1e25\u0101n\u012b<\/p>\n
The Arabic word,\u00a0sh\u012b\u02bfa<\/em>, literally denotes \u2018a group of people who join together for a particular purpose\u2019 or \u2018a follower\u2019, as when the Qur\u2019an says: \u2018Verily among those who followed his way was Abraham.\u2019 (Q37: 83). In Islamic parlance, however, the word\u00a0sh\u012b\u02bfa<\/em>\u00a0has come to denote three rather different meanings. In one sense, it refers to those who love and support \u02bfAl\u012b and the descendants of him and F\u0101\u1e6dima who make the Prophet\u2019s Household (Ahl al-Bayt<\/em>). Loving the Prophet\u2019s Family is an Islamic duty ordained in the Qur\u2019an: \u2018Say: \u201cNo reward do I ask of you for this except the love of those near of kin\u201d\u2019 (Q42:23). In this sense, \u2018sh\u012b\u02bfa<\/em>\u2019 refers to all Muslims, because all of them (except those called\u00a0naw\u0101\u1e63ib<\/em>, or \u2018insulters\u2019) love the Prophet\u2019s Household, even though they may not acknowledge their position leadership. the Imam Shafi\u02bf\u012b \u2013 the founder of one of the four Sunn\u012b schools of law \u2013 wrote the following famous lines of poetry in praise of the Prophet\u2019s Household:<\/p>\n \u2018O Household of the Prophet!<\/p>\n Love of you was enjoined upon us by God.<\/p>\n For your dignity, it suffices<\/p>\n That prayer will not be accepted without saluting you.\u2019<\/p>\n Another sense of the word \u2018sh\u012b\u02bfa<\/em>\u2019 refers to those who believe Imam \u02bfAl\u012b was greater in knowledge and virtue than the other three caliphs (namely, Ab\u016b Bakr, \u02bfUmar and \u02bfUthm\u0101n) but still consider their reigns to be legitimate. This is especially true of the Baghdad school of\u00a0Mu\u02bftazila<\/em>. This meaning of \u2018sh\u012b\u02bfa<\/em>\u2019 can be found in\u00a0M\u012bz\u0101n al-I\u02bftid\u0101l<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Sayr A\u02bflam al-Nubal\u0101\u02be<\/em>\u00a0of Shams al-D\u012bn Mu\u1e25ammad al-Dhahab\u012b, who accuses some traditionists (mu\u1e25adithth\u012bn<\/em>) of holding\u00a0sh\u012b\u02bfi<\/em>\u00a0sympathies, including al-H\u0101kim al-N\u012bs\u0101b\u016br\u012b, who enjoys a high reputation for his role in the preservation of\u00a0a\u1e25\u0101d\u012bth<\/em>.<\/p>\n The third meaning of the word \u2018sh\u012b\u02bfa<\/em>\u2019 refers to those who follow Imam \u02bfAl\u012b and his descendants after the Prophet\u2019s death because they believe that the leadership of Muslims has been granted to \u02bfAl\u012b and his progeny. These people consider \u02bfAl\u012b to be the successor (wa\u1e63\u012b<\/em>) of the Prophet, pointing to the fact that \u02bfAl\u012b was known to possess that capacity and was referred to as the \u2018successor\u2019 in poems and speeches even during the Prophet\u2019s own life.<\/p>\n As H\u0101kim reports, when Imam \u02bfAl\u012b was martyred, his son, Imam \u1e24asan, gave a speech, declaring: \u2018I am the son of the Prophet and son of the Prophet\u2019s successor\u2019 (1\/172). Ibn Ab\u012b al-\u1e24ad\u012bd has also recorded a few pages of poetry in which the Prophet\u2019s Companions (\u1e63a\u1e25\u0101ba<\/em>) and successors (t\u0101bi\u02bf\u016bn<\/em>) have referred to \u02bfAl\u012b as \u2018the successor\u2019 (1\/143\u2013150). This is the meaning of Sh\u012b\u02bfa (henceforth capitalized) intended in the present book.<\/p>\n I would like to explain the beliefs of the Twelver Sh\u012b\u02bfa by answering a few questions:<\/p>\n 1) Did the situation towards the end of the Prophet\u2019s life necessitate the appointment of his successor by God or by the people?<\/p>\n 2) Was the dominant Islamic politics of that time in favor of designating leaders via appointment by God or by the Prophet or through elections and voting by the people?<\/p>\n 3) Which of these two options is actually supported by the Qur\u2019an and the Prophet\u2019s tradition?<\/p>\n 4) How do the Qur\u2019an and tradition present Imam \u02bfAl\u012b?<\/p>\n 5) Presuming that the Prophet had already declared his decision regarding his successor, why did the Muslims ignore this decision and not let \u02bfAl\u012b lead them?<\/p>\n 6) How and when did the Sh\u012b\u02bfa appear at the Prophet\u2019s time and after his death? How do the Twelver Sh\u012b\u02bfa designate their leaders?<\/p>\n The following chapters are intended to reveal that the appointment of Imam \u02bfAl\u012b by God is attested to by the Qur\u2019an and the Sunna.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is important to have a proper understanding of the situation of the Muslim community in Arabia at the time of the Prophet\u2019s death. By analyzing this situation, we aim to answer the first of our aforementioned questions and show that the social conditions of the time necessitated the appointment by God, via the Prophet, of a pious and knowledgeable man as the Prophet\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n The still-nascent Muslim community faced three dangers in the Prophet\u2019s final years. The first danger was posed by the Byzantines, who were effectively at war with Muslims. The Prophet had led an army of thirty-thousand fighters to a place called T\u0101b\u016bk to fight the Byzantines in the year 9\/630, but they had already withdrawn and no battle took place. In general, however, the Byzantine Empire aimed to capture the Arabian Peninsula and to overthrow the new Muslim nation.<\/p>\n The second potential danger came from the Sassanian Empire. Several years earlier, their king had received the Prophet\u2019s letter calling him to Islam. The king became so angry upon reading this letter that he ordered the Governor of Yemen to either detain the Prophet or cut off his head and send it to him.<\/p>\n The third source of danger was the hypocrites (mun\u0101fiq\u016bn<\/em>), who were always busy conspiring against the Muslims. Led by a man named Ab\u016b \u02bf\u0100mir, the hypocrites built what came to be called the Mosque of\u00a0\u1e0car\u0101r<\/em>\u00a0as part of a plot to assassinate the Prophet. Later, Ab\u016b \u02bf\u0100mir left Medina for Mecca to provoke the Meccan pagans against the Muslims before fleeing to Byzantine lands, but he kept in touch with his contacts within Muslim territory.<\/p>\n Due to these sources of trouble, the Prophet needed to appoint a capable and knowledgeable successor before his death. This would prevent any disagreements concerning the issue of succession, which could pave the way for the enemies of Islam to take advantage of the situation and accomplish their own goals. For example, when Ab\u016b Sufy\u0101n (who had outwardly converted to Islam but still remained a pagan at heart, and thus should be called a hypocrite), heard about the event of Saq\u012bfa (at which Ab\u016b Bakr was appointed the first Caliph after the Prophet), he went to \u02bfAl\u012b and, nam\u012bng him the true successor to the Prophet, hypocritically offered his allegiance. He said to \u02bfAl\u012b: \u2018I am here to pledge my allegiance to you and to tell you that I am ready to fill up Medina with an army of fighters to support your claim.\u2019 Aware of Ab\u016b Sufy\u0101n\u2019s plot to take advantage of the situation against the unity of Muslims, \u02bfAl\u012b replied: \u2018By God, you intend by this offer of allegiance to me nothing but destroying Islam, for you have been long preparing for this. I do not need your help.\u2019 Disappointed by \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s response, he would go around in Medina reciting the following lines of poetry to goad Ban\u016b H\u0101shim tribe (to which the Prophet and \u02bfAl\u012b belonged) into revolting against the Caliph appointed at Saq\u012bfa:<\/p>\n \u2018O, Ban\u016b H\u0101shim! Let not other tribes take away your prerogative,<\/p>\n Especially Ban\u016b Taym and Ban\u016b Uday!<\/p>\n You deserve leadership (of Muslims) and you should have it.<\/p>\n Nobody else deserves to be the leader but \u02bfAl\u012b.\u2019<\/p>\n (Ibn Ath\u012br 1\/325; Ibn \u02bfAbd Rabbah 2\/149)<\/p>\n As attested to by the Qur\u2019an\u2019s frequent references to the hypocrites in\u00a0s\u016bra<\/em>s 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 29, 47, 48, 57, 58, 59, and 63 (the last of which is actually entitled \u2018Munafiqun<\/em>,\u2019 i.e., the hypocrites), these persons were not a small unimportant group but a powerful underground faction within the community.<\/p>\n As Mu\u1e25ammad B\u0101qir \u1e62adr also notes in the introduction to his\u00a0T\u0101r\u012bkh al-Im\u0101miyya<\/em>, we can imagine three options for the Prophet with regards to the future of the Muslims:<\/p>\n First, the Prophet could leave the future of his followers wholly to themselves and worry leading them during his own life only. \u1e62adr rejects this possibility because he thinks that it is based on two unacceptable assumptions: First, that the Prophet\u2019s indifference to the future of the Muslims would not be harmful since they were able to solve their own problems and prevent any deviations in religion. For \u1e62adr, however, this assumption is unreasonable because the Prophet would be leaving people who, in their new faith, had never experienced an absence of leadership. Therefore, he could not be sure about their success without his own planning for their future. The second assumption that might justify the Prophet\u2019s lack of planning for the future of the Muslims is that the Prophet only cared about the situation of the Muslims in his own lifetime, and not about their future. But such an assumption is equally wrong, \u1e62adr adds because it is not the kind of attitude expected from prophets \u2013 people who dedicate their whole lives to helping human beings for the sake of God.<\/p>\n Secondly, \u1e62adr says it could be imagined that the Prophet, caring and worrying about the future, decided that his successor should be chosen by a council of the Helpers (An\u1e63\u0101r<\/em>) and the Emigrants (Muh\u0101jir\u012bn<\/em>), because they represented the entire Muslim community. But \u1e62adr rejects this option too. This is because the Prophet was living amongst people who had an established tribal system of leadership where the leader either inherited his status or obtained it by force. Furthermore, the Prophet had not familiarized the Muslims with, or prepared them for, engaging with and accepting a system of leadership that was based on councils and elections. He had not taught Muslims the rules, regulations, nature, and delimitations of such a kind of government. The lack of such teachings could be confirmed by the fact that while the first Caliph, Ab\u016b Bakr, was chosen via an agreement of sorts between some Emigrants and Helpers at Saq\u012bfa, the second Caliph, \u02bfUmar b. Kha\u1e6d\u1e6d\u0101b was appointed by the first Caliph, Ab\u016b Bakr, and the third Caliph, \u02bfUthm\u0101n, was chosen from a council of six individuals appointed by \u02bfUmar. In other words, the first three caliphs were appointed in three different ways.<\/p>\n The third and last option thus would be for the Prophet to appoint a knowledgeable and pious man as his successor and, in this way, prevent any possible conflict and confusion in the Muslim society. This is the option which the Sh\u012b\u02bfa argue for, based on a study of the Muslim society of the Prophet\u2019s day (\u1e62adr,\u00a0T\u0101r\u012bkh al-Im\u0101miyya<\/em>, 5\u201316).<\/p>\n We will provide more details on this topic in the next chapter.<\/p>\nChapter 1: The social situation at the time of the Prophet\u2019s death<\/h1>\n
The three dangers threatening the Muslim community<\/h2>\n
Three options for succession<\/h2>\n