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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books History of Shi'ism: From the Advent of Islam up to the End of Minor Occultation Lesson 15: The Shi‘ah and ‘Alawi Uprisings during the Period of Umayyad Caliphate The Shi‘ah uprisings and armed confrontations commence at Karbala’ and the ‘Ashura’ movement, but we shall not touch on the topic of Karbala’ for the meantime.

After the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn ( ‘a ) in the 60s AH, two Shi‘ah uprisings—that of the Tawwabun and Mukhtar—took place whose leaders were not ‘Alawis but rather common pious Shi‘ah. (We discussed them at length earlier.) As these two uprisings were staged by Shi‘ah, they boasted a completely Shi‘i nature.

There is no difference of opinion concerning the leaders of the Tawwabun that they were from among the companions of the Prophet ( ‘a ) and Shi‘ah of the Commander of the Faithful ( ‘a ).[^1] We have also stated in detail the view of leading Shi‘ah figures and rijal scholars who unanimously believed in his good intention and the authentic narrations identified the slander against him coined by his opponents.

With respect to the impact of the movements in the spread of Shi‘ism, it must be said that the Tawwabun movement was short-lived and as such, it had no opportunity to propagate Shi‘ism though it was important in terms of the qualitative spread of the Shi‘ah faith, deepening the love for the ( ‘a ) in the hearts making the Shi‘ah more devoted and firm in their beliefs.

The uprising of Mukhtar, however, was effective in the spread of Shi‘ism and Mukhtar was able to add non-Arabs in the ranks of the Shi‘ah as it was not like that earlier.[^2] Since that time, Shi‘ism spread in the eastern part of the Muslim territories, and we could see its peak in the movement of the black-wearing ones and the ‘Abbasids.

The chain of ‘Alawi uprisings which took place during the latter part of the Umayyad rule had a sort of relationship with the movement of the ‘Abbasids because Banu Hashim—including both the ‘Alawis and the ‘Abbasids—were united during the period of the Umayyad caliphate and there was no conflict between them. In fact, the first two ‘Abbasid caliphs, Safah and Mansur, had earlier paid allegiance to Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah who was one of the descendants of Imam al-Hasan ( ‘a ).

After the victory of the ‘Abbasids, however, the same Muhammad along with a number of his family members was killed by the ‘Abbasid caliph Mansur.