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 19: The Demographic Concentration of the Shi‘ah As stated earlier, during the first three centuries AH, the Shi‘ah were scattered across and living in many parts of the Muslim lands.

Yet, the demographic concentration and center of the Shi‘ah were in certain regions, which during the first century AH were places such as Medina, Yemen, Kufah, Basrah, Mada’in, and Jabal ‘Amil. During the second century AH, in addition to these regions, places such as Qum, Khurasan, Tabaristan, Baghdad, Jabal, and Africa became among the regions where the Shi‘ah were demographically concentrated. Now we shall explain these regions one by one.

The Shi‘ah-Populated Places during the First Century Hijri During the first century AH, Shi‘ah-populated places were confined to Hijaz, Yemen and Iraq. The residents of these regions were Arabs and considered to be the pioneering Muslims. Shi‘ism in Hijaz and Yemen was traceable back to the period of the Holy Prophet (S).

Iraq which was conquered after the demise of the Prophet (S) also became the residence place of Yemeni tribes and the government of Hadhrat ‘Ali ( ‘a ) accelerated the spread of Shi‘ism in that place.[^1] a.

Medina The name of Medina {Madinah} was “Yathrib” before the hijrah and the people there consisted of two Yemeni tribes, the Aws and Khazraj, re-named “ Ansar ” after the advent of Islam (after the hijrah to be exact), and three Jewish tribes, namely the Banu Qaynuqa‘, Banu Nadhir and Banu Quraydhah.

When the Noble Messenger (S) migrated there, its name was changed into “ Madinah an-Nabi ” {the City of the Prophet} and on account of the constant mention of the word “ Madinah ” {Medina} it was called as such. Medina was the political capital of the first three caliphs (Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman), and Quraysh who were the staunchest adversaries of the Prophet’s Household { ahl al-bayt } lived there.

Despite this, the Ansar still constituted the majority of the inhabitants of Medina who were always sympathetic to the descendants of the Prophet (S) and during the political squabbles, they took ’s ( ‘a ) the side. The distinguished Shi‘ah sahabah living in the mentioned city were constantly telling the truth to the people.