Page 8 - World Religions I - Islam

magnificent enclosure was later built over the tomb of Uthman, only to be destroyed
by the Saudi regime in 1926.
 Ali
• Ruled AD 656-61
• He was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. Ali was the son of Abu Talib,
Muhammad's uncle and protector. In AD 623, he married the Muhammad's eldest
daughter, Fatimah, shortly after emigrating to Medinah.
• He is considered to be the first male convert to Islam. 16 Traditions vary, but place Ali
as having accepted Islam between the ages of 10 and 13.17
• History records that he was not a successful, and even unpopular, leader.18
• He was elected Caliph at a time of unrest and mounting difficulties. He
immediately had to put down a rebellion led by several of Muhammad's
companions, in which Aisha, the widowed favorite wife of Muhammad, took part.19
• After a reign marked by turmoil, Ali was mortally wounded by a Kharijite insurrectionist
who stabbed him with a poison-tipped sword in AD 661 in Kufa, Iraq.20
• He was buried in a secret grave, which was later revealed to be in Najaf, Iraq.21 The
story of Ali's burial place casts useful light on how he was regarded in reality, and not in
later hagiography. The actual place of his burial was immediately forgotten; it was
"miraculously" rediscovered more than 100 years later when the Caliph Harun
ar-Rashid was out hunting and he "heard his cousin Ali calling to him." Harun obviously
had this mystical experience in order to curry favor with contemporary Shi'ites, but it
shows at the time of Ali himself no one thought of him in the terms which Shi'ites were
to ascribe to him later.
• Differing views on his succession have split the Muslim community-known as the
Ummah-into the Sunni and Shi'a branches.

• Shi'a Islam constitutes 10-20% of Muslims and is the second largest denomination of Islam.
o Shi'as (or Shi'ites) believe in the political and religious leadership of Imams (religious, spiritual, and political
leaders), who they believe are the true caliphs and rightful successors of Muhammad.
 Shi'ites reject the legitimacy of the first three Muslim caliphs- Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman-and
claim that Ali was the first Imam. Shi'as vilification of the venerated first three Caliphs is repellant
to Sunni Muslims, and is the greatest single difference between the two branches. While the
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traditional origin of Shi'ism relates to the theory that Ali should have been the immediate
successor to Muhammad, the first stirrings of this idea appeared nearly a hundred years after
Ali's death.32
 Shi'ites believe that the Imams possess divine knowledge and spiritual authority (known as
ismah) and have the role of providing commentary and interpretation of the Qur'an.
• According to Shi'ism, Ali and the Imams who descended from him are beings of
superhuman virtue possessing miraculous gifts and absolute spiritual and temporal
authority.22
 Shi'ites consider Imams to be those who extend from the Ahl al-Bayt ("People of the House"), the
family of Muhammad.
o Shi'ites themselves are divided into three principal groups, each containing further subdivisions and
offshoots.23 The differences among the various Shi'ite groups hinge in part upon the identity of the
Imams, that is, which of Ali's descendants inherited his authority and spiritual power, and also upon the
question of the extent and nature of this authority.33
 Twelve-Imam Shi'ism, also called "Twelvers." The largest division by far, and the official religion of
Iran since the Safavid dynasty came to power in AD 1501.

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