Chapter One
Origin of Shi'ism :
Political or Religious?
1. Introduction
In the political writtings of the Sunnis, it is asserted that Sunni Islam is the "Orthodox Islam" whereas Shi'ism is a "heretical sect" that began with the purpose of subverting Islam from within. This idea is sometimes expressed by saying that Shi'ism began as a political movement and later on acquired religious emphasis.
This anti-Shi'a attitude is not limited to the writers of the past centuries, even some Sunni writers of the present century have the same views. Names like Abul Hasan 'Ali Nadwi, Manzur Ahmed Nu'mani (both of India), Ihsan Zahir (of pakistan), Muhibbu 'd-Din al-Khatab and Musa Jar Allah (both from Middle East)
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come to mind.1 It is not restricted to the circle of those that graduated from religious seminaries and had not been in touch with the so-called acadimic world. Ahmed Amin (of Egypt) and Fazlur Rahman (of Pakistan) fall in this category.
Ahmed Amin, for example, writes:
"The truth is that Shi'ism is a refuge wherein which
everyone who wishes to destroy Islam on account
of enmity or envy takes shelter. As such, persons
who wish to introduce into Islam the teachings of
their Jewish, Christian or Zoroastrian ancestors
achieve their nefarous ends under the shelter of
this faith."2
Fazlur Rahman is an interesting case. After graduating from the Universites of Punjab and Oxford, and teaching at the Universities of Durham and McGill, he worked as the Director of the Central Institute of the Islamic Research in Pakistan till 1968. He lost his position as the result of the controversy arising from his view of the Qur'an. Then he migrated to the United States and became Professor of Islamic Studies, at the University of Chicago. In his famous book
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1. These writers represent the Salafi/Wahhabi camp.and their anti Shia works had been distributed world-wide with the courtesy of the petro-dollers of certain Middle-East countries, especially after the Sunni masses started getting inspiration by the revolution of Iran which was led by Shi'a ulama.
2. Fajru 'Islam, p.33 as quoted and then refuted by Muhammad Husayn Kashiful 1-Ghita, Aslu sh-Shi'a wa Usuluha (Qum: Mu'assasa al-Imam Ali, 1415) p.140, 142; also see the latter's English translation, The Shi'a Origin and faith (Karachi :Islamic seminary,1982).
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Islam, used as a textbook for undergraduate levels in Western uninversities, Dr. Fazlur Rahman presents the following interpretation about the origin of Shi'ism.1
"After 'Ali's assassination, the Shi'a (party) of 'Ali in Kufa demanded that Caliphate be restored to the house of the ill-fated Caliph. This legitinist claim on behalf of the 'Ali's descendandts is the beginning of the Shi'a political doctrine ... .
"This ligitimsim, i.e. the doctrine that headship of the Muslim Community rightfully belongs to Ali and his descendants, was the hallmark if the original Arab Shi'ism which was purely political ... .
"Thus, we see that Shi'ism became, in the early history of Islam, a cover for different forces of social and political discontent ... But with the shift from the Arab hands to those of non-Raab origin, the original political motivation developed into a religious sect with its own dogma as its theological postulate ... Upon this were engrafted old oriental beliefs about Divine light and the new metaphysical setting for this belief was provided by Christian Gnostic Neoplatonic idea."
He further comments; "This led to the formation of secret sects and just as Shi'ism served the purposes of the politically ousted, so under its cloak the spiritually displaced bagan to introduce their old ideas into Islam"2
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1. Fazlur Rahman, Islam (chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976) P.171-172.
2. Ibid, P.173.
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It is in this background that I find it extremely difficult to understand how a learned scholar, from Shi'i background, could echo somewhat similar ideas about the origin of Shi'ism by writting:
"Most of these early discussions on the Imamte took at first sight plititical form, but eventually the debate encompassed the religious implications of salvation. This is true of all Islamic concepts, since Islam as a religious phenomenon was subsequent to Islam as political reality."1
"From the early days of the civil war in A.D. 656, some Muslims not only thought about the question of leadership in political terms, but also laid religious emphasis on it."2
Referring to the support of Shi'a of Kufa for the claim of leaders for 'Alids, the learned author writes:
"This support for the leadership of the "Alids at least in the beginning, did not imply any religious underpinning ... The claim of leadership of the Alids, became an exaggerated belief expressed in pious therms of the the traditions attributed to the Prophet, and only gradually became part of the cardinal doctrine of the Imamate, the pivot on which the complete Shi'ite creed rotates."3
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1. Abdulaziz Abdulhusein Sachedina. Islamic Messianism : The Idea of Hadi in Twleve Shi'ism (Albany; State University of New York, 1981) p.4, Dr. Sachdina studied at the Universities of Aligarh (India), Mashhad (Iran) and Toronto. Islamic Messianism is a revised version of his doctoral thseis presented to the University of Toronto in 1976.
2. Ibid, p.5.
3. Ibid, p.6.
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After explaining the failures and the martyrdom of the religious leaders who rose against the authorities, he writes:
"This marked the beginning of the development of a religious emphasis in the role of the 'Alid Imams ..."1
2. The Beginning of Islam
The Sunnis as well as the Shi'as believe that Islam is primarily a religion whose teaching are not limited to the spiritual realm of human life but also encompass the political aspect of society. Inclusion of political ideals in the religion of Islam does not mean that Islam started or was basically a political movement. look at the life of Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w). The Prophet's mission began in Mecca. There is nothing in the pre-hijra progam of the Prophet that looks similar to a political movement. It was primarily and fundamentally a religious movement.
Only after the hijra, when the majority of the people of Medina accepted Islam, the oppotunity for implementation of Islamic social order arose and so Prophet Muhammed (a.s.w) also assumed the position of the political leader of the society. He signed agreements with other tribes, sent ambassadors to kings and emperors, organised armies and led Muslim forces, sat in judgement, appointed govenors, deputees, commanders, and judeges, and he also
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1. Ibid, p.18
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collected and distributed taxes. Nonetheless, Islam was first a religious movement that later on encompassed political aspects of society. So to say that "Islam as a religious phenomenon was subsequent to Islam as a political reality" is historically an incorrect statement.
