During the second century Hijrah (i.

During the second century Hijrah (i.e., two centuries after the migration of the from the city of Makkah to the city of Madina—the event which marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar), the Abbasid caliphs officially patronized the four Sunni schools of thought which were popularized by the enthusiasm of some of their leaders.

As for the Shi‘a, after the assassination of Imam ‘Ali, they followed the leadership of his son Hassan, and after him his brother Husayn, and the subsequent nine imams who were the descendants of Husayn.

They followed them on the firm basis of evidence in the Noble Qur’an and the tradition of who explicitly repeated on many occasions that he [the Prophet] would be followed by twelve imams and that they would all be from the tribe of Quraysh.[^7] Therefore, Shi*‘*ism can be termed as the following of the Noble Qur’an and the tradition of as conveyed by his family, whom he appointed (i.e., the Ahlul Bayt).

After the , the Shi‘a followed the twelve divinely ordained imams as successors of the , as will be seen in the subsequent sections. [^1]: al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, Vol. 2, 74 [^2]: Noble Qur’an, 28.15 [^3]: Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-Mizan, Vol. 2, 354 [^4]: Tawzih al-Dala΄il fiTashih al-Fada΄il, 505 [^5]: Ibid., 507 [^6]: Ibn Asakir, “The History of the City of Damascus” Section: Biography of Imam ‘Ali [^7]: Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim, Vol. 2, 191; Sahih al-Tirmidhi, Vol.

2, 45; Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Vol. 5, 106; Sunan Abu Dawud, Vol. 2, 207 Previous…