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Shiism in the Course of History 1 - Al-Shia The Scientific and Cultural Website of Shia belief Shiism in the Course of History 1 2021-06-24 495 Views Shia , Shi'ite , Shi'sm , History of Shi'ism Scholars and researchers have expressed different views concerning the birth of Shiism and its first appearance. Others too have attempted to evaluate it, approaching it from the point of view of their respective ideological and intellectual predispositions.

Some people believe that Shiism arose after the death of the Messenger of Allah, (PBUHH) and that its defining essence took shape when his set about selecting his successor. Thus, the historian al-Ya’qubi writes: “A number of the Migrants and the Helpers refused to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr, inclined as they were to favour Imam Ali (PBUH). Al-‘Abbas b. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, al-Fadl b. al-‘Abbas, al-Zubayr, Khalid b. Sa’id, al-Miqdad, Salman, Abu Dharr, ‘Ammar, al-Bara’a, Ubayy b.

Ka’b were part of this group.” (1) al-Mas’udi, also a famous historian, writes: “Salman al-Farisi was a Shi’i from the very outset, and ‘Ammar b. Yasir was known as a Shi’i throughout his life.

When ‘Uthman was elected to the caliphate, he remarked: ‘It is not the first time you have denied the caliphate to the one deserving it!’ Abu Dharr was similarly an outstanding proponent of Shiism.” (2) Another group of scholars place the emergence of Shiism during the Caliphate of Imam Ali (PBUH), while others suggest that it began to take root towards the end of the Caliphate of ‘Uthman. Still, others regard Imam al-Sadiq, (PBUH), as the founder of Shiism.

Some people again imagine Shiism to be the result of a wish for revenge nurtured by the Iranians, so that its origins may be considered essentially political. Then there are those who see Shiism as a contingent phenomenon in Islamic society and history, without any strong presence or substance.

They imagine it to have gradually expanded in Islamic society as the result of certain social and political developments at a relatively advanced point in Islamic history, There are even those who assert this segment of the Islamic Ummah to be the brainchild of an imaginary personality by the name of ‘Abdullah b. Saba, based on this assumption all their judgements concerning Shiism and concluding that Shiism is nothing more than an anomaly.