Among Islamic scholars, there is no consensus on when the split in Islam occurred and its two main branches were formed – Sunnis and Shi’ites. This is especially true of the Shi’ites, since they constitute a minority and, accordingly, have been criticized in religious literature as a sect or group that formed later and broke away from the majority of Muslims. This article analyses the main views on the issue of the emergence of Shi’ism, according to which Shi’ites and Shi’ism: 1) existed already during the life of the Prophet Muhammad; 2) emerged after the death of the Prophet and as a result of the elections for caliphate; 3) originated in the last years of Caliph Uthman's reign; 4) developed after Uthmans assassination; 5) arose after Imam Ali's assassination; 6) emerged after events at Karbala and Imam Husains assassination. Studying the arguments for each point of view, I concluded that only the first two of them are the most well-reasoned and therefore generally accepted among scholars. In turn, the first point of view is more recognized by Shi’a scholars, who consider the most faithful companions of the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali as the first Shi’ites. Sunni scholars, on the other hand, tend to recognize the emergence of Shia Islam either after the death of Muhammad or after Uthman's death and the Caliphate of Ali. Also, quite interesting are the various names used in literature to refer to Shi’ites. The emergence of the terms “Rafidis”, “Turabis”, and “Alawites” is closely related to this issue and were also discussed in this article.
Key words: Shi’ism, Islam, History of Religion, Early Islam, Sunnism
DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662-2024-4-59-67
About the author
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Akif Tahiiev – PhD, Research Fellow at the Department of Islamic Law; University of Religions and Denominations (основное место работы); Qom, Iran; Research Fellow at the Department of Socio-Cultural Diversity; Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity; Göttingen, Germany; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |