ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books History of Shi'ism: From the Advent of Islam up to the End of Minor Occultation Lesson 9: The Periods of Historical Development of the Shi‘ah The Shi‘ah during the Period of the First Four Caliphs The Shi‘ah during the reigns of the first three caliphs, viz.

Abubakr, Umar and ‘Uthman, has distinctive features which can be expressed in the following manner: During the reigns of these three caliphs, the Shi‘ah were subjected to many pressures with the exception of the initial days after the event of Saqifah.

It can even be said that many of the Shi‘ah were deprived of key positions on account of their being Shi‘ah.[^1] After the event of Saqifah which brought about dichotomy on the issue of leadership over the Muslims and led to the division of Muslims into two main groups, the Ahl as-Sunnah were referring to the caliphs of the time on the scientific, jurisprudential, ideological, and other problems, whereas the Shi‘ah were referring to ‘Ali ( ‘a ).

The Shi‘ah’s practice of referring to ‘Ali ( ‘a ) regarding scientific issues, jurisprudence and other Islamic sciences in general, continued with the pure Imams ( ‘a ) after the martyrdom of ‘Ali ( ‘a ). The reason behind the Sunni-Shi‘ah difference in jurisprudence { fiqh }, hadith , tafsir {exegesis of the Qur’an}, kalam {scholastic theology}, among others is this very fact that the reference authorities of these two groups were different and distinct from each other.

Just as ‘Ali ( ‘a ) had unofficial political and military cooperation from afar with the caliphs of the time as far as protection of the lofty interests of Islam was concerned,[^2] a number of distinguished Shi‘ah among the also assumed military and political positions with the consent of Imam ‘Ali ( ‘a ).