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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Imamate and Leadership The Position of the Messenger of God With Respect To the Future of Islam ( 19 ) Lesson Two The Most Noble Messenger peace and blessings be upon him and his family was well aware that after he had departed for the proximity of his Exalted Lord the community would lose its unifying foundation fall into a whirlpool of division and dissent and be full of struggle and disorder.

The newly established Islamic community was composed of the migrants - including the Bani Hashim die Bani Umayyah 'Adiyy and Taym - on the one hand and the Helpers (ansar)-subdivided into the Aws and Khazraj tribes- on the other. Once the matchless leader that was the Prophet had departed ambitions arose on every hand and instead of being concerned with the interests of Islam men sought to capture leadership and rule for themselves wishing to transform divine leadership into tribal rule.

The varying aspirations and tendencies that arose left no firm unifying bond in place among people a profound tragedy that the Prophet had foreseen and to which he had alerted his followers: "My ummali will divide into seventy three factions only one of which will attain salvation the other factions being destined for hellfire." ( 1 ) The greatest blow that was struck against the unity of Islam after the death of its founder sowing the seeds of dissension among Muslims was the difference of opinion relating to the question of rule and leadership.

It led to wars rebellions and bloody struggles sundering the unity of the ( 20 ) Muslims and scattering their unified ranks.

If indeed the Prophet had not made some provision for the painful situation - a situation he foresaw -; if he had not attempted to prevent the emergence of the vacuum that would have threatened the very existence of Islamic society quitting this worldly stage without any plan for safeguarding his ummah from misguidance would this not have created great problems with respect to government and the administration of affairs?

The gravity of future problems was moreover apparent even without the receipt of communication from the Origin of Revelation and unseen agents.