ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Shi'ism and Its Types During the Early Centuries Creedal Shiism Concerning the dissociation of the Shi'i sect from the Sunni community one may say that the area of divergence grew gradually and from political issues it extended to matters pertaining to religion and culture.

During the early years the main problem was that of government and the conflict between the State's religious policies and attitudes and the demands of the Shi'ah led to a divergence in the realm of ideas. These differences could relate to legal and doctrinal issues as well as to political notions. It should be noted that among the followers of Imam Ali ('a) there were different groups that were attached to him for different reasons.

Among them there were those who considered him a worthy ruler but who in the course of time came to follow other , including those who were associated with the ruling regime as well as others. Later we find the clear instance of Zaydi Shiis who followed Hanafi fiqh or independent persons among the and the Tabi'in living in Iraq. In view of that which has been said, this phenomenon was a Shi'ism of the political type and a variety of Iraqi Shi'ism.

Naturally, such persons did not acquire their religious knowledge solely from the ; they could be Mu'tazilis or followers of some other tendency. Among those who were Mu'tazilis from a doctrinal point of view, and among those who were Hanafis from a ritual and legal point of view, there were not few those who had a kind of pro-Ali or Shi'i inclination. Abu Hanifah himself was one of such individuals due to his support of Zayd ibn Ali and al-Nafs al-Zakiyyah.

As against this, there existed another tendency which consisted of total obedience to the Imams of the The Shi'is who possessed this tendency followed the Imams in all matters of doctrine and law, and in the field of hadith they considered only the narrations of the Imams as authoritative.

Although this tendency might not have been completely manifest until the last quarter of the 1st/7th century when doctrinal and legal issues became the prime issues of the day in Muslim society, yet it is evident that the movement that emerged under this name during the time of Imam Baqir and Imam Sadiq ('a) has had its historical roots and background. This tendency may be called creedal Shi'ism (tashayyu' i'tiqadi).