Foreword
February 24, 2025The Extremist Shia
February 25, 2025BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents
Sects of the Shia
The Shia are divided into twenty different main sects
Among them: two are Kaysani, three are Zaidi, and fifteen[1] are Imami. Among all of them there are moderates and extremists, as we have seen before, but all of them agree on the concept that the Caliphate or the Imamah cannot rest on anyone else except the sons and grandsons of ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu, and if it falls outside this group, it is due to some external injustice or due to internal Taqiyyah. The Imamah, according to their doctrine, does not depend on public choice, and the common people have no say in it. It is a fundamental, textual, and a specific issue.
The Kaysaniyyah Shia
This sect is named after its founder, Kaysan[2], the bondsman of ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu and the student of Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyyah. Here follows a summary of the beliefs of this sect:
- They believed that the Imam is privy to the knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala.
- They believed that the Imam has knowledge of interpretation of events and hidden secrets.
- They also believed that the Imam alone has the right to interpret the Shari’ah, and obeying the Imam is the essence of the religion.
When Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyyah learnt of the claim made by the Kaysaniyyah that the Ahlul Bayt possess knowledge of all things, he said:
والله ما ورثنا من رسول الله إلا ما بين هذين اللوحين
By Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, we did not inherit anything from the Messenger of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala except what is between these two covers (i.e. the Qur’an).
He would distance himself from the Kaysaniyyah and their statements in private and in public. When Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyyah finally passed away, they said about him that he is ever-living and does not die and that he is concealed within Radwa[3] until he is granted permission to emerge. According to them, he is the awaited Mahdi.
The Kaysaniyyah went to the extremes in their belief in the all-encompassing divine knowledge of their Imams. They claimed that Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyyah had knowledge of all things and that he was entrusted with all secrets by his brothers al Hassan and al Hussain, as well as all knowledge of interpretation and hidden affairs. Their beliefs extended to the belief that the Imam alone can interpret the Shari’ah, which means that obeying and following him is obligatory, since obedience to him is obedience to the divine law.
Al Shahrastani says:
إن جميع الكيسانية يعتقدون أن الدين طاعة رجل وأن طاعتهم لذلك الرجل تبطل ضرورة التمسك بقواعد الإسلام كالصلاة والصوم والحج وهكذا
All of the Kaysaniyyah believe that the religion itself revolves around the obedience to a man, and that their obedience to this man obviates the need to adhere to the pillars of Islam, such as Salah, fasting, Hajj, etc.[4]
From here, the difference between the beliefs of the Saba’iyyah and the Kaysaniyyah becomes clear: the Saba’iyyah would say that a part of divinity is transferred to the Imam, so they ascribe a portion of divinity to him. The Kaysaniyyah, on the other hand, considered him a symbol of the divine knowledge. The two sects agreed upon the belief of the second-coming of the Imam. The Saba’iyyah believed that he will descend from his celestial hiding-place, whereas the Kaysaniyyah hold that nothing will be known about the Imam until his appearance, and this belief is expressed in the poetry of the poets who subscribed to the beliefs of the Kaysaniyyah. An example of this is in the statement of Kuthayyir ‘Azzah about Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyyah:
وسبط لا يذوق الموت حتى يقود الخيل يتبعها اللواء
تغيب لا يرى عنهم زماناً برضوی عنده عسل وماء
The grandson will not taste death until,
He commands an army followed by banners.
He has occulted, and unseen for some time,
in Radwa being fed from honey and water.
The influence of the Saba’iyyah has weakened as time went on, but elements of their doctrine became solidified and thus continued to grow and spread.[5] When Mukhtar al Thaqafi announced his claim to the Shia of Kufah—though he had once been a Khariji, then a Zubairi, and finally a Shia—he said to Sa’ib al Kalbi, “I am a man from the Arabs. I saw Ibn al Zubair seize the Hijaz and I saw Marwan seize Sham, and I am no less than either of these two men! Now, I have taken this land (i.e. Kufah), for myself so I am like them. However, I took up the cause of the Ahlul Bayt while the Arabs slept over it.” So, he became a Kaysani and announced the call to follow Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyyah (as the Imam).
The Saba’iyyah—the sect started by the Jew ‘Abdullah ibn Saba’—tricked him (i.e. Mukhtar) by telling him, “You are the Hujjah[6] of this era” and they goaded him on until he eventually claimed prophethood, made the claim that revelation had been sent down to him, and engaged in soothsaying and speaking in tongues.
The Zaidiyyah Shia
This sect takes its name from Zaid ibn ‘Ali ibn al Hussain ibn ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib radiya Llahu ‘anhuma. Zaid ibn ‘Ali used to be a student of Wasil ibn ‘Ata—the founder of the Mu’tazilah[7]—and he followed his rationalist tradition and some of his fundamental principles. In the book, Al Fakhra, it is mentioned about Zaid radiya Llahu ‘anhu:
كان من عظماء أهل البيت عليهم السلام علماً وزهداً وورعاً وشجاعة ودينا وكرماً
He was among the greatest personalities of the Ahlul Bayt radiya Llahu ‘anhum in terms of knowledge, ascetism, righteousness, bravery, religion and generosity.[8]
These are qualities that the Zaidiyyah have always stipulated for their Imams, and they have never glorified him, as others have done, to the utmost metaphysical extent. For this reason, they have won the admiration of some political and religious groups, including the Mu’tazilah, the ‘Ibadiyyah, and the Ahlus Sunnah. Zaid radiya Llahu ‘anhu did not claim that there is a divine scriptural foundation obligating the Imamah of ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu, and the Sabahiyyah sect supported him in this belief as well.
His school also permits the appointment of the lesser qualified candidate even when a more qualified candidate exists. He said:
إن على بن أبي طالب أفضل الصحابة إلا أن الخلافة فوضت إلى أبي بكر رضي الله عنه لمصلحة رأوها وقاعدة دينية راعوها من تسكين ثائرة الفتنة وتطييب قلوب الناس وسيف أمير المؤمنين على كرم الله وجهه من دماء المشركين من قريش وغير قريش لم يجف بعد والضغائن في صدور القوم من طلب الثأر كما هي فما كانت القلوب تميل إليه كل الميل ولا تنقاد إليه الرقاب كل الانقياد وكانت المصلحة أن يكون القائم بهذا الشأن أكثر ليناً وتودداً وتقدماً بالسن منه ولذلك يجوز أن يكون المفضول إماماً والأفضل قائم يرجع إليه في الأحكام
‘Ali ibn Abi Talib radiya Llahu ‘anhu is the best of the Sahabah, but the Caliphate was delegated to Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu. [In so doing,] they (i.e. the Sahabah) acted in the public’s best interest and observed religious principles in preventing the outbreak of sedition and calming the hearts of people. The sword of the Commander of the Faithful (i.e. ‘Ali) had not yet dried from the blood of the polytheists from Quraysh and others, so the grudges that existed in the hearts of some and the desire for revenge remained. So, the hearts did not incline toward him completely, nor did the necks submit to him completely. It was in the interest that the one in charge of this matter be more lenient, more friendly, and more advanced in age than him. Therefore, it is permissible for the lesser-qualified, or less-deserving (i.e. Abu Bakr) to be an imam, while the more qualified or more deserving is a leader to whom rulings can be referred.[9]
When the Shia of Kufah heard this statement, and that he did not disavow the Sheikhayn—Abu Bakr and ‘Umar radiya Llahu ‘anhuma—they rejected him, so the Zaidiyyah started calling them the Rafidah[10]. This sect is more moderate and closer in affection to the Ahlus Sunnah wa al Jama’ah than all the other Shia sects. Al Imam Zaid radiya Llahu ‘anhu followed a path of ijtihad[11] which kept him separate from the views of the Mu’tazilah from the very beginning, and protected him from the whims of the extremist sects, except that he benefited from some of the theories prevalent among the Khawarij and the Mu’tazilah.
Thus, he combined the Khariji application of explicitness and clarity in religion with the rationalism of the Mu’tazilah, without becoming a pure formalist, and at the same time not adopting all the principles of the Mu’tazilah.[12]
The Imamiyyah Shia
The Imami sect of the Shia is, in turn, divided into many groups and sects. This is due to the many internal doctrinal disputes they have encountered, which exceeds the amount of differences encountered by other sects. They transferred the Imamah from ‘Ali to his son, al Hassan, [citing the will and testament of ‘Ali], then to his (i.e. al Hassan’s) brother, al Hussain, then to his son, Zayn al ‘Abidin, then to his son, Muhammad al Baqir, then to his son, Jafar al Sadiq radiya Llahu ‘anhum. From this point, they split off into two sects:
1. The sect that confers the Imamah upon his son, Ismail, and they are the Ismailiyyah. This sect in turn broke of into a number of sects, of which three have survived to our present day:
- The Musta’liyyah[13] sect (Bohras).
- The Nizari sect (Agha Khanis).
- The Druze sect.
2. The sect that confers the Imamah upon Musa al Kazim, and they are the Twelver Shi’ites, also known as the Jafariyyah, and in Lebanon they are called al Mutawilah.
The Twelver sect is considered the most important group from among the many sects of the Imami Shia, and most of the Shia of Iraq, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, and Lebanon belong to this sect. The Nusayri sect split off from this group, and they are the sect we will be discussing in the following pages.
[1] Al Damluji: Al Uluhiyyah fi Mu’taqidat al Islamiyyah, 5/49.
[2] Al Shabi: Mabahith fi ‘Ilm al Kalam wa al Falsafah, pg. 64.
[3] A mountain between Makkah and Madinah. According to various sects of the Shia, this mountain is where the awaited Mahdi is in hiding and in a state of perpetual ‘ibadah.
[4] Al Shahrastani: Al Milal wa al Nihal, 1/109.
[5] Al Sayyadah al ‘Arabiyyah, pg. 62; Al Shahrastani: Al Milal wa al Nihal, 1/111; Al Isfahani: Al Aghani, 5/102.
[6] Lit. “Proof”. In Shi’ism, a hujjah is the physical embodiment of the religion of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala in a particular time.
[7] The Mu’tazilah were a group that emerged in the second century Hijri. In their attempts to explain the verses of the Qur’an dealing with the Sifat (divine attributes) of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, they went astray by using Greek logic and philosophy to deny certain attributes that are affirmed by Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala Himself.
[8] Al ‘Alawi: Al Fakhra fi Adab al Sultaniyyah, pg. 95.
[9] Al Shahrastani: Al Milal wa al Nihal, 1/138.
[10] Lit. “Rejecters”.
[11] Independent juristic reasoning reserved for the elite among the scholars.
[12] Al Shabi: Mabahith fi ‘Ilm al Kalam wa al Falsafah, pg. 133.
[13] Named after their proposed Imam, the 9th Fatimi Imam, al Musta’li.