ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A History of Muslim Philosophy Volume 1, Book 3 Chapter 37: Political Theory Of The Shiites The death of the Prophet of Islam ushered an era which is known as the period of the Orthodox Caliphate (11 – 41/632 – 661).

The supporters of ‘Ali the fourth Caliph in the chronological order 35 – 41/646 – 661), were known as the Shi’ah which literally means a faction, a supporting group in the sense that they supported ‘Ali’s claim to succession after the death of the Prophet, both as a temporal ruler and a religious leader. It may be stated authoritatively that ‘Ali’s claim to the Caliphate was not regarded by his supporters and adherents as a political ambition.

On the contrary, it was considered that he had been ordained by Providence to succeed the Prophet and the Prophet himself had placed the question of succession beyond any doubt by his testament, as it were, at Ghadir al-Khumm.[^1] During the Caliphate of ‘Uthman, ibn Saba’ of Yemen, who had settled ultimately in Egypt, openly preached that the first three Caliphs were usurpers as distinguished from ‘Ali who was divinely ordained to succeed the Prophet as his executor or plenipotentiary (wasi) .

The extreme Shi‘ites (Ghulah) believed that the Prophet himself was reincarnated in the form of ‘Ali and “that the divine spirit which dwells in every prophet was transferred at Mohammad’s death to ‘Ali and from ‘Ali to his descendants who succeeded him in the Imamate.” It would be pointless, so far as we are concerned, to access and evaluate the truth of the claim made by the Shi‘ites that ‘Ali had been designated as the Prophet’s successor by the Prophet himself in accordance with the command of God, but it is necessary to point out that the Shi‘ites, whether holding moderate or extreme views, refused, as it were, from the beginning to concede with the ijma‘ has any authority to confer any person the right to govern a Muslim State.

They maintained that at all times a living descendant of ‘Ali, whether concealed (mastur) or unconcealed, demands and receives allegiance from the Muslims and is in point of fact the only rightful Caliph (temporal ruler) and Imam (religious leader) of the Islamic peoples. It may perhaps be added that the term Shi‘ah was invested with all its dogmatic connotations after the coming into power of the ‘Abbasids.

In the Beginning the word only meant a group of people which were in favour of the succession of ‘Ali to the Caliphate.