In the traditional Islamic atmosphere where faith in the...

In the traditional Islamic atmosphere where faith in the revelation is naturally very strong, the Sunni-Shi'ite polemics which have gone on for over thirteen centuries, and which have become especially accentuated since the Ottoman-Safavid rivalries dating from the tenth/sixteenth century, have never resulted in the rejection of Islam by anyone from either camp.

In the same way the bitter medieval theological feuds among different Christian churches and schools never caused anyone to abandon Christianity itself, for the age was one characterized by faith.

But were Christianity to be presented to Muslims beginning with a full description of all the points that separated, let us say, the Catholic and Orthodox churches in the Middle Ages, or even the branches of the early church, and all that the theologians of one group wrote against the other, the effect upon the Muslims' understanding of the Christian religion itself could only be negative.

In fact a Muslim might begin to wonder how anyone could have remained Christian or how the Church could have survived despite all these divisions and controversies. Although the divisions within Islam are far fewer than those in Christianity, one would expect the same type of effect upon the Western reader faced with the Shi'ite-Sunni polemics.

These controversies would naturally be viewed by such a reader from the outside and without the faith in Islam itself which has encompassed this whole debate since its inception and has provided its traditional context as well as the protection and support for the followers of both sides. Despite this difficulty, however, Shi'ism must of necessity be studied and presented from its own point of view as well as from within the general matrix of Islam.

This task is made necessary first of all because Shi'ism exists as an important historical reality within Islam and hence it must be studied as an objective religious fact. Secondly, the very attacks made against Islam and its unity by certain Western authors (who point to the Sunni-Shi'ite division and often fail to remember the similar divisions within every other world religion) necessitate a detailed and at the same time authentic study of Shi'ism within the total context of Islam.

Had not such a demand existed it would not even have been necessary to present to the world outside Islam all the polemical arguments that have separated Sunnism and Shi'ism.