By Babatunde Jose
Prophet Muhammad (570-632 CE), in his mission as a messenger of Allah, united most of the Arabian Peninsula under Islam. After he died in 632 CE, his close friend and confidant, Abu Bakr (r. 632-634 CE) took over his temporal position as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate 632-661 CE. Rashidun or ‘rightly guided’, as the first four caliphs are called by mainstream Muslims: Abu Bakr 632–634, Umar 634–644, Uthman 644–656, and Ali 656–661.
Three decades after the prophet, the empire rapidly spread into neighboring lands of the Byzantine Empire (also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire) and the Sassanian Empire (Neo-Persian, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests); by 656 CE, the Muslims held dominion over all of Levant (Eastern Mediterranean region with its largest cities: Amman; Aleppo; Beirut; Damascus; Jerusalem), Syria, Iraq, Khorasan, Egypt, a portion of the North African strip, and several islands of the Mediterranean.
The extra-cultural, extra-territorial and multivarious spread of Islam was bound to create divisions within it ranks. Secondly the interpretations of its book and the traditions of the prophet by diverse successors were also bound to create problems of diversity in interpretations.
Islam’s great emphasis on unity, could not prevent diversity on the formal level, nor could Islam have integrated a vast segment of humanity with diverse ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds without making possible diverse interpretations of its teachings.
The most important elements among those that unite the vast spectrum composing Islam is its orthodox manifestations, this term being understood in a metaphysical as well as a theological and juridical manner is the testimony (shahada): (lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāhu muḥammadun rasūlu llāhi). “There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God”. By virtue of the shahada, all Muslims confirm the unity of the divine principle and accept the prophethood of Allah’s Messenger. It is this that admits one to the Islamic fold.
There is total unity in the acceptance of the Quran as the revelation of God. Muslims also agree about its text and content; although the exegetical meaning can, of course, differ from one sect to another.
Muslims also agree concerning the reality of the afterlife, although again there are various types and levels of interpretation of the teachings of the Quran and the Hadith concerning eschatological matters.
Muslims are also united in the main rituals performed, ranging from the daily prayers to fasting to making the pilgrimage.
These definable factors are powerful elements that unify Islam and the Islamic world. The presence of these factors is ubiquitous and can hardly be denied even externally.
Within this unity, which is perceptible even to outsiders however, diversity exists on various levels—exegetical, legal, theological, philosophical, social, and political.
Throughout the history of Islam therefore, there have existed diverse interpretations of the Quran and Hadith, different schools of law, many theological and philosophical interpretations, and political claims on the basis of the interpretation of religious texts.
Many interpret the Quran to suit their whims and caprices and to reinforce their stands on issues, however controversial. In the process they read and interpret the Quran out of context and often become very rigid in their stands, leading to charges of fundamentalism and radicalism. With these positions, violence is inevitably the result. Simple concepts such as Jihad, which connotes to strive in the ways of Allah become misinterpreted and weaponized and, in the process, become veritable battle cries for so-called holy wars. Yet, all recite this same Quran which has remained unchanged for over 1,400 years.
These differences have sometimes led to, not only, fierce religious rivalries, but also wars, a phenomenon that is, however, not unique to Islam. Differences, however, have never been able to destroy the unity of Islam as either a religion or a civilization.
It was in reference to the danger of excessive theological and religious dispute that the Prophet said that the Islamic community would divide after him into seventy-two schools, of which only one would be completely in the right and would possess the complete truth.
Thirty years after Muhammad’s death, the various factions of the Islamic faith were embroiled in a civil war known as the Fitna. Many of Muhammad’s relatives and companions were involved in the power struggle, and the war finally stabilized when Mu’awiyya, the governor of Syria, took control of the Caliphate. This marked the great ‘schism’ and the emergence of the sects.
Three sects of Islam developed and emerged at the conclusion of the Fitna, they are Shiites, Sunni and kharijis: The schism started with the ascendancy of Ali ibn Abi Talib to the caliphate. And his subsequent assassination.
Ali ibn Abi Talib was the Prophet’s cousin and an early convert to Islam, a brave warrior, and his son-in-law by marriage to the Prophet’s daughter Fatima. Ali had been considered by his followers for the position of caliph as early as the death of Muhammad, but was not raised to the position until the death of ‘Uthman in June 17, 656 AD.
After the assassination of Uthman, Ali was raised to the caliphate by his supporters who claimed that he ought to have succeeded the prophet ab initio as a result of his filial relationship but not everyone agreed. The result was that the Muslim community became split, and a civil war broke out. This was the first Fitna, an important Arabic word denoting both a civil war and time of trials or temptation, when the unity of the Muslim community was seriously threatened.
Ali’s election was initially opposed by a faction in Medina led by a number of friends and associates of the Prophet, including the Prophet’s wife A’isha. Both sides in late 656 met in battle near Basra in Iraq. It is said that the conflict is known as the Battle of the Camel, because A’isha watched it from camel-back. Ali’s forces carried the day, and he moved the seat of the Caliphate to Kufa in Iraq.
However, ‘Uthman’s widow was still bent on avenging the death of her husband. She enlisted the help of Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, who was at the time the governor of Syria and son of Abu Sufyan (old foe of the prophet). Mu‘awiya’s followers called for an arbitration, and Ali was forced to agree, but some of his followers objected and abandoned him; they became known as kharijis, from the Arabic verb kharaja (to go out) because they left Ali’s army. The term later became extended to a number of both violent and non-violent movements who objected to the activities or beliefs of the majority of the Muslims.
Ali was by now also opposed by the kharijis, whom he defeated in battle in 659. Ali was eventually assassinated while praying in the mosque at Kufa, by a khariji named Ibn Muljam.
Some proclaimed Ali’s son al-Hasan as the new caliph, but he too was assassinated at Karalla but supporters of Ali’s family did not give up, and they continued to assert the claims of the Prophet’s family, through the line of Ali, to the caliphate.
Thus, he and his family, especially those born of Fatima, who were direct descendants of the Prophet, became foci for protest movements. Supporters of Ali became known as shi‘at Ali, “the party of Ali,” which we anglicize as “Shi‘ites.”
Main Islamic sects are, therefore, Sunni (ahl al sunnah Al-Jamaah, “followers of the sunnah of the Prophet) and Shi’ites, and the Khwariji sect, which is generally rejected by Islamic scholars as illegitimate and is today only practiced in Yemen and Oman.
Some Islamic sects that have materialized since the 7th century Fitna, such as The Nation of Islam, are not regarded as legitimate Muslims by Sunni Muslims.
Nearly all Muslims belong to one of three groups: Sunnis, Shi’ites, and Kharijites. This last group comprises those who opposed the claim of both Ali and Mu‘awiyah to the caliphate. Kharijites have always been few in number and today their inheritors, known as Ibadis, remain confined to Oman and southern Algeria.
The most important division within Islam is between Sunnism and Shi’ism. The vast majority of Muslims, that is, about 86 to 87 percent, are Sunnis, a term that comes from ahl al sunnah Al-Jamaah, “followers of the sunnah of the Prophet” and the majority.
About 13 to 14 percent of Muslims are Shiites, they in turn are divided into Twelve-Imam Shiites, Isma’ilis, and Zaydīs. The Twelve-Imams, or Ithnā ashariyyah or Twelvers, are by far the most numerous, comprising some 150 million people living mostly in present-day Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, the Persian Gulf States, eastern Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and India.
Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain have majority Twelve-Imam Shi’ite populations, while in Lebanon the Shi’ites constitute the largest single religious community.
The Isma’ilis played an important role in Islamic history and established their own caliphate in Egypt during the Fatimid Caliphate in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Today, however, they are scattered in various communities, mostly in a number of towns of Pakistan and India, but also with important concentrations in East Africa, Syria, and the Pamir and Hindu Kush regions of Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. They also have a notable community in Canada, consisting mainly of emigrants from East Africa, India, and Pakistan.
Isma’ilis are divided into two main branches, one with its center in India and the other in scattered communities under the direction of the Aga Khan, whose followers consider him their Imam (or spiritual and temporal leader). It is difficult to give an exact figure for the members of this community, but altogether the Isma’ilis are estimated to be a few million in number.
We could summarize that though the two main sects within Islam Sunni, and Shiites, agree on most of the fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam, a bitter split between the two goes back some 14 centuries. The split originated with a dispute over who should succeed Prophet Muhammad as leader of the Islamic faith he introduced.
Next, we look at the different traditions within the Sunni branch of Islam.
Barka Juma’at and happy weekend.
SUPPLICATION:
O Allah, we beseech You to alleviate the suffering and adversity facing the people of Nigeria. Fa inna Ma-al-usri Yusraa’. So, verily with every hardship there is a relief (Quran 94:8). May Allah (SWT) bring an end to all our difficulties in this country and ease all our affairs.
O Lord! Empty our hearts from self-love and fill them instead with love for you.
O Lord! You, Yourself, have promised that there is ease with any hardship. Relieve Your people from the great difficulties and hardships originated from their enemies.
O Lord! Your gifts and bounties endowed to us are abundant. Bestow on us the success of being grateful for them.
So, praise Allah for His kindness, be thankful for what He has left for you, seek recompense from Him for what He has taken, and seek consolation with those that are troubled.
Have patience, no matter what the difficulty and no matter how dark the road ahead seems. For truly, with patience comes victory, and with difficulty relief follows close behind.
May Allah soothe our pains. Amen
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