FROM THE BIRTH OF ISLAM UNTIL TODAY:
TASHAYYU (SHIA SECT) AS A GOVERNMENTAL
IDEOLOGY
Eng.
Mir ALIZADE
Following the death of Prophet Mohammed, a
period called the “Period of Four Caliphs” took place in the
history of Islam. Prophet Mohammed was a religious leader
and at the same, he had to rule the state which he had
established as a president and a political leader. So, there
was a need for a leader who would rule the country after the
death of the prophet. The Caliphs, described as political
leaders who also used the religious authority, were not both
religious and political leaders as was Prophet Mohammed.
Hashemi and Umeyye were the two families of
the Ghoreysh Tribe which dominated Mecca before Islam; these
two families continuously competed to rule Mecca. After
Prophet Mohammed, there was no problem regarding the
leadership during the periods of Abu-Bakr and Omar, who,
together with the prophet, belonged to the Hashemi family.
The replacement of Omar after his death by Osman from the
Umeyye family and his practices favoring his own family
resurfaced the pre-Islam political contentions. As a result
of this unrest, 3rd Caliph Osman was assassinated and Imam
Ali replacing him was not quick enough to illuminate this
murder. This fact was used by the Governor of Damascus,
Mu'awiyah who was from the Umeyye family as a pretext and he
declared himself the caliph. Thus, two caliphs emerged in
the Islamic State at the same time.
A fight took place between Imam Ali and
Mu'awiyah at a place called Saffayn. When Mu'awiyah
understood that he would lose the fight, he held up Koran to
determine an arbitrator. However, Ali insisted on continuing
fighting until Allah gave a command. Some of those from Imam
Ali’s army stood in front of him and wanted him to accept
appointing an arbitrator. Imam Ali unwillingly accepted it.
Imam Ali agreed with these individuals on the idea that one
from his side and one from the side of Mu'awiyah would be
appointed as arbitrators. Then, Mu'awiyah chose Amr bin
el-Ass. While, Imam Ali wanted to choose Abdollah bin Abbas,
but those from his army who were against him forced him to
choose Abu-Musa el-Eshari. As it is known, Imam Ali was
dismissed by the decision of the arbitrators. Mu'awiyah, was
appointed as the caliph. Thus, the injustice sustained by
Mu'awiyah became further stronger.
A group which emerged following these fights
and was called the “Outsiders” believed that both Ali and
Mu'awiyah were wrong in these fights. The Outsiders were
initially subordinate to Ali as the fourth caliph. But,
later on they wanted to resort to an “Arbitrator” for the
solution of the problem and opposed Ali. After a short
while, there was only one caliph left, since Mu'awiyah
survived the assassination which was planned by the
Outsiders and targeted the both leaders, but Ali died. When
Mu'awiyah did not keep the promise given to the sons of Ali
called Hasan and Husayn that after his death they would
become the Caliph and declared his (Mu'awiyah’s) son Yezid
his successor, the disagreements surfaced again.
When Mu'awiyah’s son Yezid, after becoming
the Caliph, made Imam Ali’s son be murdered in Karbala, this
clearly revealed the division in Islam. In short,
“attributing a religious appearance to the struggle for
political leadership” which emerged with the death of
Prophet Mohammed led to the division of Islam and the
emergence of two sects called “Sunni” and “Shia”.
Actually Shia had emerged during the period
of the 3rd Caliph Osman. However, during Imam Ali’s period,
it developed and spread without his contribution. Shia first
began in Egypt and then spread on to Iraq, and finally Iraq
became the centre of the Shia. The reason for this is the
fact that during his rule Imam Ali stayed in Iraq, and the
Iraqis saw and appreciated his virtues.
Shia, agreed that “Imam Ali was a caliph
chosen by our Prophet and was his most prominent sahabe
(consists of those close to the Prophet)”. According to the
Shia, eleven Imams had come and formed the basic teaching of
Shiism. On the other hand, the Twelfth Imam (Imam-i Ghaib)
is yet to come. The Twelfth Imam is expected as a Mehdi
(Rescuer). The groups of the Shia Sect include Sebeiyye
founded by a Jewish individual called Abdullah Bin Sebe,
Gurabiye, Imamiye adopted by the Shia living today in Iran,
Iraq and Pakistan, Isnaasheriyye, etc.
Towards the end of the first thirty years of
the second century of the Hegira era, while the bloody
fights which occurred as a result of the oppression of the
sons of Umeyye and the reforms continued, an invitation was
made “on behalf of the Prophet’s family” in the Khorasan
region of Iran. The main starter of this invitation was an
Iranian commander called Abu Moslem. He revolted against the
Umayyads and tried to overthrow the Ummayyad rule. In the
end, sons of Abbas took over the control in the name of Ahl
al-Bayt. In the beginning, they behaved in a friendly manner
towards people and the son of Ali. They even massacred the
sons of Umeyye “for the sake of taking the revenge of the
Alawite martyrs”. But after a short while, they also adopted
the oppressive behavior of the sons of Umeyye as a method
and were as good as them in being unfair and remaining
indifferent to the Islamic principles. Abu Hanife, who was
the leader of one of the four Ehl-i Sunna sects, was
imprisoned by Abbasi Mensur and was subjected to certain
types of torture. Ahmad Hanbeli, founder of another Ehl-i
Sunna sect, was whipped. Cafer Sadegh, the sixth Imam of
Shia, was martyred with poison after long-lasting tortures
and torments. Meanwhile, Abbasids killed the Alawites group
by group and buried some of them alive.
During the period of Abbasid Caliph Harun,
the Islamic Empire spread and gained strength. The treasure
flowing into “Dar ol Khilafe” known as Beytulmali (Treasury)
of the Muslims was spent for the oppression applied by those
calling themselves caliphs against people and for their
ambitions. The situation of Shia did not change with the
collapse of the Umayyad State and the takeover of the
control by the sons of Abbas. In the meantime, only the
names of the cruel enemies changed.
With the start of the 3rd century, Shia
could take a deep breath. The reason for this was the facts
that many philosophical and scientific books were translated
from Greek and Syriac into Arabic; people inclined towards
learning rational and evidence information; in addition,
Abbasid Caliph Mamun (195-218 Hegira-Ghameri) was interested
in the rational evidences about the sects and as a result
the freedom granted by him with regard to speaking about
sects and religions spread everywhere. Shia scholars, taking
advantage of this freedom, did their best in scientific
works as well as in notifying the sect of the Prophet’s
family.
On the other hand, the second reason was the
fact that Abbasid Caliph Mamun appointed the Eighth Imam of
Imamiyye Shia as his vizier and successor for political
reasons. In this way, the Alawites and the Shia supporters
remained at least a bit far from the injustice of the state
authorities and were able to benefit somewhat from the
freedom. However, this did not last long. The sharp end of
the sword was again headed towards the Shia. Everything was
forgotten again and the past started to be repeated during
the period of Abbasid caliph Motevekkel (232-247 H.G) who
had an enmity especially towards Ali and his supporters. The
destruction of the tomb of the third imam of Imamiyye Shia
in Karbala was realized upon his order.
In the fourth century of the Hegira era,
there were certain reasons such as the weakening of the rule
of the sons of Abbas and the emergence of the Ale Bouveyh
sultans, which contributed to the spread and strengthening
of the Tashayyu (Shia sect) schools. Ale Bouveyh sultans,
who were Shia, had a complete influence and effect on
Baghdad, which was the center of the caliphate, and on the
Caliph himself. This power enabled the Shia to notify their
sects distinctly and clearly against claimers of sects that
were different to the Shia sect and always suppressing the
Shia depending on the power of ruling. According to the
opinion of historians, Shiite had covered the whole or a
large part of the Arabian Peninsula except for the big
provinces in the fourth century. In addition, residents of
certain provinces such as Bahrain, Oman and Sa de were
Shiites. Kufe, which historically was known to be the center
of Ahl al-Sunna and was considered to be the center of the
Shiites, as well as a large part of the province of Basra
competing in sectarian terms consisted of Shiites, and
similarly, there were lots of Shiites in the provinces of
Trablos, Nablos, Taberiyye and Aleppo. A certain part of
Iran’s Ahwaz and gulf coasts consisted of those belonging to
the Shia sect. From the fifth century until the end of the
ninth century, the inclination towards Shia and the increase
in Shia continued as in the fourth century.
“Hudabende”, one of the Mongol rulers, chose
the Shia school and then the Mongol sultans who ruled in
Iran for long years allowed the spread of the Tashayyu
schools. The Qaraquyunlu and Aqquyunlu sultans, who ruled in
Tabriz and the governments of whom reached up to the Persian
and Kerman borders behaved in the same way. The sectarian
power of Shia, of course, changed depending on the
governments and states of the time. As a matter of fact, a
new page was turned over when the Ayyubi Dynasty took over
the control. During this period, the Shiites living in the
regions of Egypt and Samat were deprived of sectarian
freedom and many of them were put to sword.
In short, it is possible to state that there
was an increase in Shia, though it was a banned sect, in
terms of influence during the period covering the fourth and
ninth centuries. The power and the sectarian freedom, on the
other hand, depended on the sects of the rulers and the
appropriateness of the political atmosphere. During this
period, the Shia sect was not declared to be an official
sect in any of the Islamic countries.
