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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Imam Al-sadiq The Religious Schools and Sects The days of abu Abd Allah at- Sadiq, peace be on him, were the days of religious schools, sects, ideas, desires, theology, research, misguidance, suspicion, and doubts.

Now, we will mention the origin of those groupings and schools in a brief manner, following the methods that we have adopted in this book because the enlargement upon the research will take us out of the plan of the book, and in the books on the religious schools and sects are many details. The Origin of the Islamic Groupings: Indeed, the Muslim nation divided into seventy- three groupings.

That was what our Truthful Trusty Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, said: “My nation will divide into seventy- three groupings.“[1] In this chapter, we want to study the well- known groupings in the time of at- Sadiq. We will devote our research to the origins of those groupings. We may refer to sub- groupings after we have mentioned the origins. Of course, this will suit our purpose and plan.

All Muslim sects belong to four groupings: the Murjeia, the Mu’tazila, the ShT’a, and the Khârijites.[2] So every Muslim sect belongs to one of these origins. Also at- Ghulät, though the other sects have regarded them as unbelievers, is a subdivision of the above mentioned origins.

These four origins are as follow: The Murjeia: We may say: Indeed, the Murjeia means today the Ash’arrs only, and they are the Sunnls in general according to the belief in this time, because there is no one who follows the school of the Mu’tazila in these times. Before at- Ash’ary, the Murjeia were many s&ts, and those sets were subdivisions of the SunnTs equivalent to the ShT’a and the Kharijites.

But when at- Ash’ry’s school of thought appeared, the Murjeia became another title for die SunnTs or for at- Ash’ry’s school in general. In (his book) atMilal and at- Nihal, al- Shahristäny said:” And it is said (that) at- lrja’ (delaying) (means) the delaying of ‘Au, peace be on him, from the first degree to the fourth (degree).” As you see, this is the thought of the SunnTs in general. 1 Sunan b. Majah: 2/1321. 2 The sects of ShT’a by Abn Mohammed al- Hasan al- Nobakhty: 17.

In al- Fasl: 2/88, b. Hazm has mentioned that they are five because he regards the Sunnis as a grouping equivalent to the Murjeia and the Mu’tazila.