Zaydism Its Origins And Beliefs

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   Yemeni Zaidism   Yahya ibn al Hussain ibn al Qasim al Rassi emerged in Yemen, who came from Hijaz in 284 AH (897 CE). He proclaimed himself as the Imam and was nicknamed al Hadi. He was a great, diligent scholar. He learned the fundamentals (the science of theology) from his teacher Abu al Qasim al Balkhi al Mu’tazili; his opinions in the […]

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   Sources of Imam al Hadi’s Jurisprudence   Imam al Hadi Yahya ibn al Hussain relied on deriving his fiqh, in which he exercised discretion and chose as his doctrine, on evidence narrated from his predecessors. Some of these were mursal (narrations with a broken chain of transmission) and some were mawquf (statement attributed to a Companion), and he did not pay attention to […]

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   Opening the Door to Ijtihad   Despite the clear differences between the Zaidi Hadawi school and the Sunni tradition, the former has a commendable and praiseworthy feature unique among other Islamic schools: the door to ijtihad (independent reasoning) is open for those proficient in its sciences and skilled in its arts. This includes knowledge of Qur’anic verses related to legal rulings, ahadith, the […]

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   Restricting Imamah to the Descendants of Hassan and Hussain   Just as Imam al Hadi was concerned with spreading his doctrine, which began to appear during his reign in some regions of Najd and Yemen that came under his influence, he and the subsequent Imams in Yemen were also concerned with the matter of Imamah, restricting it to the descendants of the two […]

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   Ihtisab   According to the Zaidiyyah, if the land is devoid of a person who can fulfil all or most of the conditions of Imamah, then a righteous man should rise for the purpose of reformation and accountability by enjoining good and forbidding evil. He should forbid wrong with his tongue and, if necessary, his sword, according to its degrees, and command good […]