The Imam is to be concerned with daily matters as well as the spiritual and unmanifested world. His functions are at once human and cosmic Nasr , The "Twelve Imams" are mediators for mankind Donaldson , Sunni Muslims. The above beliefs of the "Twelvers," which give legitimacy to the verbal and written comments of "The Twelve Imams," are categorically rejected by the Sunnis, who do not consider the institution of hereditary "Imamate" as part of the Islamic faith.
All the prophets of Allah recognized by Islam, such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ, and Muhammad, are seen as having been divinely ordained to guide human beings to worship Allah and seek His mercy. However, even the progeny of prophets are considered to be denied the privilege of the closeness and the blessings of Allah if they fail to practice His commandments. A typical expression of this belief is the Koranic passage,.
And remember that Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain commands which he fulfilled. Allah said: I will make thee Imam to the Nations. Abraham pleaded: "And also Imams from my offspring! The Sunni Muslims do not place any human being, including the Twelve Shiite Imams, on a level equal to or even close to the prophets.
The Sunni view is that nowhere in the Koran is it mentioned that the twelve Shiite Imams are divinely ordained to lead Muslims after the death of Muhammad.
Muslims should be guided by words such as those in Muhammad's last "Hajj" sermon, known as the Sermon of the Mount, in which he addressed all of humanity:. One is the "Book of Allah," and the other is my "tradition" Zaheer , The Sunni Muslims believe that no one can intercede between Allah and human beings.
Say: To God belongs exclusively [the right to grant] intercession. To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. In the End, it is to Him that ye shall be brought back Koran Shiite Muslims. According to Shiism, the Twelve Imams can intercede between mankind and Allah. The Apostle of Allah said to Ali: " - - - You and your descendants are mediators for mankind as they [human beings] will not be able to know God except through your introduction" Donaldson , Consensus and analogy can be applied by those scholars who are highly knowledgeable in the Koran, the traditions of the prophet, and Islamic law, and practice the faith in every facet of their lives.
The sources of Muslim law in Shiism are somewhat similar to those in Sunni Islam, namely the Koran, Muhammad's practices, consensus, and analogy. However, the determination of consensus is related to the views of the Imams, and more freedom is given to analogy than in Sunni Islam Nasr , Sunni Muslims strongly believe that the redemption of human beings is dependent on faith in Allah, His prophets, acceptance of Muhammad as the final prophet, and belief in righteous deeds as explained in the Koran.
The mercy of Allah will determine the redemption of all human beings. Even the prophet Muhammad is at the mercy of Allah. There are many other verses in the Koran which enumerate that the basis of paradise is the mercy of Allah and the righteous deeds of human beings according to the Koran and Hadith. Shiite Muslims are guaranteed paradise if they obey and follow Muhammad and the Twelve Imams. They are considered righteous Muslims, and the Twelve Imams are particularly respected because of their relationship to Ali and his wife Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad.
Sunnis believe that Ali and his two sons, Hassan and Hussain, were highly respected by the first three Caliphs and the companions of Muhammad. Any righteous and knowledgeable Sunni Muslim can serve as an Imam with the prime function of leading the prayers and interpreting the Koran and Hadith provided he is well versed in these subjects.
Sunnis also consider it heretical to impute to human beings attributes of Divine nature such as infallibility and the knowledge of all temporal and cosmic matters. The highest ranking present-day Imams Ayatollahs are believed to receive their guidance and spiritual enlightenment directly from the "Twelve Imams," who stay in continuous contact with their followers on earth every day through contemporary spiritual leaders.
The Ayatollahs thus play a vital mediatory role. Because of their spiritual role, Ayatollahs cannot be appointed by governments, but only by consensus of other Ayatollahs. Differences in Religious Organization The differences between Sunni and Shiite Islam are more than theological and historical. They are embedded in the social and political structure of the Middle East.
Sunnis and Shiites form distinct communities. Conversions from Shiism to Sunnism and vice versa are rare, and Sunnis and Shiites are expected to marry members of their own community. The vital moments of life-marriage, birth, and death-are commemorated within the framework of the rituals of the community.
Members of each community learn about Islam within the traditions of their own faith, and under the guidance of their faith's religious teachers. Despite these traditions, the political loyalties of Sunnis and Shiites are affected by their country of citizenship and nationality. In , Iran, a Shiite country whose language and culture are Farsi Persian , was invaded by Iraq, an Arab country with a Sunni leadership but a Shiite majority in the population.
Despite Iranian appeals, most Iraqi Shiites remained loyal to Iraq, performing military service when required during the Iran-Iraq war. Both Sunni and Shiite Islam are organized in ways that reflect their beliefs. In view of the emphasis of mainstream Shiism on the role of the Imamate, it is not surprising that the Shiites have a more elaborate religious hierarchy than Sunni Muslims.
With the exception of post-revolutionary Iran, the Shiite clergy has been more independent of the government than religious officials have been in Sunni Muslim countries. Shiite religious officials have had less need to rely on secular governments for money to finance their activities, since they control substantial religious endowments. In the Shiite communities, the most important appointments to senior religious positions are made by Shiite religious officials, not by the state.
In Sunni countries, in contrast, it is typical for governments to exercise control over the appointment of senior religious officials. These governments have also assumed the right to allocate large religious endowments through government ministries created for that purpose. For the Shia, the Imam is the inheritor of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
Imams thus have a special religious role that the Sunni caliphs did not possess. According to the Shia, God granted Muhammad special wisdom, which he transmitted to Ali, the first Imam.
This wisdom then passed to the other descendants of Ali and Fatima. The Imams are not prophets. Both Shia and Sunnis agree that prophecy ended with the death of Muhammad. However, in the Shia view, the Imams are infallible. Because God preserves them from sin and error, their judgment on religious and worldly affairs is perfect.
Moreover, their insight allows them to interpret scripture in ways that take into consideration the changing circumstances of daily life.
In some ways, the Shia Imams fulfill the role of community consensus in the Sunni tradition. Whereas in Sunni Islam, religious understanding emerges from the common agreement of the Islamic community, particularly the religious scholars ulama , in Shiism understanding comes from the expert guidance of the Imams. The Imams provided religious guidance to their followers and contributed to the development of Shia thought.
However, with the exception of Ali, the Sunni caliphs—Umayyad and Abbasid—never allowed the Imams to assume their roles as religious and political leaders of the Muslim community.
The Sunni authorities persecuted and harassed the Imams and their followers. Husayn complied with the request and left Mecca with a force of 72 fighting men and their families. The Daudi Bohras have also incorporated many Hindu customs in their marriage and other ceremonies. Yahya was eventually tracked down by the Umayyads and killed in CE. By the middle of the 9th century CE, the Zaydis shifted their attention away from Iraq and concentrated their activities in regions far removed from the centres of Abbasid power.
These regions included Daylam , in northern Iran, and Yemen, where two Zaydi states were soon founded. The Zaydis did not recognise a hereditary line of Imams, nor did they attach any significance to the principle of designation, nass.
According to Zaydi doctrine, if an Imam wished to be recognised, he would have to assert his claims publicly in an uprising khuruj , in addition to having the required religious knowledge.
Many Zaydi Imams were learned scholars and authors. In contrast to the Twelvers and the Ismailis, the Zaydis excluded underage males from the Imamate. They alsorejected the eschatological idea of a concealed Mahdi and his expected return. However, the Zaydis developed the doctrine of hijra ,the obligation to emigrate from a land dominated by unjust, non-Zaydi rulers.
However, this designation was unclear and obscure, so that its intended meaning could be understood only through investigation. Religious knowledge, the ability to render independent rulings ijtihad , and piety were emphasised as the qualifications of the Imam. The list of the Zaydi Imams has never been completely fixed, although many of them were unanimously accepted by their followers. There were, in fact, periods without any Zaydi Imam, and at times, there was more than one Imam.
In law, the Zaydis initially relied on the teachings of Zayd b. By the end of the 9th century, however, four legal schools had emerged on the basis of the teachings of different Zaydi scholars, including Imam al-Qasim ibn Ibrahim al-Rassi d.
In CE, Hasan b. Subsequently, the Daylami Zaydis were divided into two rival factions, the Qasimiyya and the Nasiriyya. There was much antagonism between the two Zaydi communities of northern Iran who often supported different leaders. Matters were further complicated by ethnic differences and the close ties that existed between the Qasimiyya Zaydis and the Zaydis of Yemen.
Subsequently, the Zaydis were further weakened because of incessant factional quarrels among different pretenders. The descendants of al-Hadi eventually quarreled among themselves and failed to be acknowledged as Imams, thus undermining Zaydi rule in the Yemen. In the 11th century, the Yemeni Zaydis experienced further problems because of schismatic movements in their community.
The Zaydi Imamate was briefly restored in the Yemen by Ahmad b. The Yemeni Zaydis were at times obliged to develop better relations with the Sunnis against their own doctrines. In later centuries, as the Zaydi Imams extended their rule to the predominantly Sunni lowlands of Yemen, the Zaydis attempted to achieve a certain doctrinal rapport with their Sunni subjects.
On the other hand, the Yemeni Zaydis maintained their traditional hostility toward the Sufis, even though a Zaydi school of Sufism was founded in Yemen in the 14th century. The Zaydis also had prolonged conflicts with the Yemeni Ismailis and wrote numerous polemical treatises in refutation of Ismaili doctrines. The later Qasimi-Zaydi Imams ruled over Yemen on a purely dynastic basis until , although they still claimed the title of Imam.
Albany, New York, Cole, Juan. London, Keddie, N. New Haven, Leiden, The Netherlands: E. Lieden, The Netherlands: E. Momen, Moojan. An Introduction to Shiite Islam.
Nanji, Azim. Little, ed. Leiden, , pp. Fyzee, revised by I. Poonawala, asThe Pillars of Islam. New Delhi, Sachedina, Abdulaziz. Serjeant, R. Arberry, ed. Cambridge, , vol. Abd al-Karim. Kazi and J. Flynn asMuslim Sects and Divisions. Muhammad Husayn. Wellhausen, Julius. Ostle and S. Amsterdam, Vincent J. Cornell published by Praeger in The historical formation of the worldwide Muslim community or Umma Academic Article.
What is Shi'a Islam? The Nizari Ismailis The seat of the Nizari Imamate moved to Iran, where the Ismailis had already succeeded, under the leadership of Hasan-i Sabbah, in establishing a state comprising a network of fortified settlements.
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