As
I am studying Islam I found an article on why and how a split
happened in Islam to give two sects by an eminent scholar Hussein
Abdulwaheed Amin. Here I want to share that important information
with my readers.
IntroductionThe
Shia shahadah (1st declaration of faith) states:
"There
is no god but Alláh, Muhammad is the Messenger of Alláh, Alí is
the Friend of Alláh. The Successor of the Messenger of Alláh And
his first Caliph."
If
you are already familiar with standard Sunni beliefs, you will
immediately notice the addition to the shahadah regarding Imam Ali
(ra), cousin of the Prophet (pbuh), husband of his daughter Fatima,
father of Hassan and Hussein and the second person ever to embrace
Islam. The term Shia or Shi'ite derives from a shortening of Shiat
Ali or partisans of Ali, companions of Ali. Whereas Sunni means those
who follow the life style of prophet Mohammad called Sunnah. Shia
prefer to follow life style of Ali rather than that of Mohammad.
Islam
as a freedom tool of Arabs against the Sassanid, Ali accepted and not
as a path to God. In that context Ali became first soldier by
accepting Islam. Often his acceptance of Islam is misunderstood as
his acceptance of Islam as his faith. His followers also do not know
this. As
for path to the Almighty, he had already chosen Sufism. Old records
if quoted, we see that Hanif community to which Mohammad belongs were
practicing Sufism for faith with other Arab practices by way of
cultural heritage. (Notable example of how a cultural practice passes
as religious practice in Islam they practice circumcision, this is
actually an Arabic cultural practice and has nothing to do with
Islam, otherwise it would have been included as one of the (sixth)
pillars of Islam) Often cultural practices are taken as religious
practices creating much misunderstanding about them. Islam as a
Freedom fighting tool later on became empire building tool for later
on rulers destroying freedom of other people.
HistoryAli
is the central figure at the origin of the Shia / Sunni split which
occurred in the decades immediately following the death of the
Prophet in 632. Sunnis regard Ali as the fourth and last of the
"rightly guided caliphs" (successors to Mohammed (pbuh) as
leader of the Muslims) following on from Abu Bakr 632-634, Umar
634-644 and Uthman 644-656. Shias feel that Ali should have been the
first caliph and that the caliphate should pass down only to direct
descendants of Mohammed (pbuh) via Ali and Fatima, They often refer
to themselves as ahl al bayt or "people of the house" [of
the prophet]. Shia did not approve of the first three Rashiduns. The
strife has its roots in this bias.
When
Uthman was murdered in his house by protesters, because he had
altered the true copy of Quran. Ali finally succeeded to the
caliphate. Ali was, however, opposed by Aisha, wife of the Prophet
(pbuh) and daughter of Abu Bakr, who accused him of being lax in
bringing Uthman's killers to justice. After Ali's army defeated
Aisha's forces at the Battle of the Camel in 656, she apologized to
Ali and was allowed to return to her home in Madinah where she
withdrew from public life.
However,
Ali was not able to overcome the forces of Mu'awiya Ummayad, Uthman's
cousin and governor of Damascus, at the Battle of Suffin, Mu'awiya's
soldiers stuck verses of the Quran onto the ends of their spears with
the result that Ali's pious supporters refused to fight them. Ali was
forced to seek a compromise with Mu'awiya, but this so shocked some
of his die-hard supporters who regarded it as a betrayal that he was
struck down by one of his own men in 661.
Mu'awiya
declared himself caliph. Ali's elder son Hassan accepted a pension in
return for not pursuing his claim to the caliphate. He died within a
year, allegedly poisoned. Ali's younger son Hussein agreed to put his
claim to the caliphate on hold until Mu'awiya's death. However, when
Mu'awiya finally died in 680, his son Yazid usurped the caliphate.
Hussein led an army against Yazid but, hopelessly outnumbered, he and
his men were slaughtered at the Battle of Karbala (in modern day
Iraq). Hussein's infant son, Ali, survived so the line continued.
Yazid formed the hereditary Ummayad dynasty. The division between the
Shia and (what came to be known as) the Sunni was set.
An
opportunity for Muslim unity arose in the 750's CE. In 750 except for
a few who managed to flee to Spain, almost the entire Ummayad
aristocracy was wiped out following the Battle of Zab in Egypt in a
revolt led by Abu Al Abbass al-Saffah, after he converted to Shia
faction he got support of considerable non-Arab Shia group. It was
envisaged that the Shia spiritual leader Jafar As-Siddiq,
great-grandson of Hussein be installed as Caliph. But when Abbass
died in 754, this arrangement had not yet been finalized and Abbas'
son Al Mansur murdered Jafar, seized the caliphate for himself and
founded the Baghdad-based Abbassid dynasty. After they established as
Caliph changed to Sunni sect to get support of Arabs who were Sunni.
This shift added more bitterness in the two sects. Which prevailed
until the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258. Fight,
between the supporters of Ummayad and supporters of Ali, is
representative rift showing the fight between the Islam and the
Sufism in essence.
However,
today's Shiats are not aware of this fact.
After
acquiring power of Caliph Abbassid again converted to Sunni sect from
Shia and this shows very clearly that Sunni sect represents Arab
faction of Islam and Shia represent non-Arab faction of Islam or what
is contemptuously called Mawali by Arabs. Today we observe that Arabs
exclusively belong to Sunni sect and non-arab belong to Shia as a
rule. We also see some faction of non-Arab Muslims consider
themselves as Sunni but true Arabs do not accept them as on par with
them. We presently see fights between Sunni and Shia forces fighting,
killing each others.
Sunnis
and Shias agree on the core fundamentals of Islam - the Five Pillars
- and recognize each others as Muslims. Though on surface it appears
that Shia have accepted five pillar concept in actual practice they
do not practice them for example first pillar says Allah is god and
only god and Mohammad is his messenger and nobody else but Shia
believe in practice that Ali is above Mohammad since they consider
Ali as friend of Allah and Mohammad as his messenger; a friend is
always bigger than messenger that clearly shows that Shia actually do
not accept first pillar. Second pillar tells to pray five times every
day; Shia recommend to pray only three prayers. Third pillar says,
charity and that being a universal goodness we see it in all
religions and so nothing special about it. Fourth pillar says,
fasting during Ramadan month that is not regularly practiced by all
Shia. Fifth pillar says pilgrimage to Mecca. Shia do pilgrimage to
many other places where their imams are resting in peace and also
they visit many durghas of Sufi Pir (Wallis). This shows that Shia
are not particular about these five pillars and that Sunni consider
as violation of Islamic fundamental laws. This is one cause for
dissent in them. About pilgrimage we see Indian and other Muslims
calling them as Sunni also visit durghas of many Pir and so they are
also violating this pillar. These are given as reasons why true Arabs
do not accept them (Hindustani Muslims) as on par with them. There
are other causes for significant differences between the two forms of
Islam and these are what tend to be emphasized. Many Sunni's would
contend that Shia seem to take the fundamentals of Islam very much
for granted, shunting them into the background and dwelling on the
martyrdoms of Ali and Hussein. This is best illustrated at Ashura
when each evening over a period of ten days a Shia commemorate the
Battle of Karbala, with a wailing Imam whipping the congregation up
into a frenzy of tears and chest beating. It is alleged that instead
of missionary work to non-Muslims, the Shia harbor a deep-seated
disdain towards Sunni Islam and prefer to devote their attention to
winning over other Muslims to their group. Sunni complain that Shia
look down upon them as inferior Muslims and at the same time Sunni
look down upon Shia as inferior Muslims! This attitude of both
factions clearly shows that there is no chance that they can come
together and end this schism. There is ongoing violent strife between
Sunnis and Shias in Pakistan, both are non-Arab communities. On the
other hand, in recent years there has been significant co-operation
between the two groups in the Lebanon. And some of the most dynamic
developments
in
Islam today are taking place in Shia-dominated Iran. However, all
these co-operations are base on one expectation from other side that
they accept the other to be superior to them! We know that such an
expectation is not possibly approved by the other. Such expectations
actually worsen the schism further.
Practical
Differences
On
a practical daily level, Shias have a different call to prayer, they
perform wudu and salat differently including placing the forehead
onto a piece of hardened clay from Karbala, not directly onto the
prayer mat when prostrating. They also tend to combine prayers,
sometimes worshiping three times per day instead of five. A Shia also
has some different Hadith and prefers those narrated by Ali and
Fatima to those related by other companions of the Prophet (pbuh).
Because of her opposition to Ali, those narrated by Aisha count among
the least favored. Shia Islam also permits muttah - fixed-term
temporary marriage - which is now banned by the Sunnis. Muttah
was originally permitted at the time of the Prophet (pbuh) and is now
being promoted in Iran by an unlikely alliance of conservative
clerics and feminists, the latter group seeking to downplay the
obsession with female virginity which is prevalent in both forms of
Islam, pointing out that none of the Prophet's thirteen wives was a
virgin when he married them. Here the critics do not understand that
prophet married many women to bring about alliances between different
Arab tribes and not for sex. Those marriages were actually political
alliances. If ordinary Muslim accept that as an example to emulate,
it will be blasphemy.
In
India Muttah is practiced by some Shias like Bohra to introduce Arab
blood in their clan because their high priests believe that unless
they have that blood they cannot be considered as true Muslims! They
invite Yemeni Arabs and allow their women (wife, sister, daughter) to
sleep with them until she becomes pregnant of him. The child thus
born is considered as gift of Allah!
All
discussed we finally conclude that these two factions will continue
to exist and also continue to fight so long as there is this creed of
Islam.
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