Origin Of Shia Islam The article covers the origin of Shia Islam. Shia Islam originated as a response to questions of Islamic religious leadership which became manifest as early as the death of Muhammad in 632 CE. The issues involved not only whom to appoint as the successor to Muhammad, but also what attributes a true successor...
History Of Shia Islam This article covers the History of Shia Islam. Shi‘a Islam, also known as Shi‘ite Islam or Shi‘ism, is the second largest branch of Islam after Sunni Islam. Shias adhere to the teachings of Muhammad and the religious guidance of his family (who are referred to as the Ahl al-Bayt) or his descendants known as Shia...
What Is Shi’a Islam? Shi’a Islam or Shi`ism (Arabic شيعة, Persian: شیعه) is the second largest school within Islam. Shi’a Muslims adhere to the teachings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his Ahlul Bayt (family). Shi’as believe that the Imam – their preferred title for the political and religious leader of the Muslim community must belong to...
Hadith Of Jesus Praying Behind Mahdi Hadith of Jesus Praying Behind Mahdi (حدیث نماز خواندن عیسی به امامت مهدی) refers to a collection of hadith related to the prophecy that Jesus will follow Mahdi’s lead in salat (prayer) after he descends. Mahdi is the twelfth Imam for Shia and salat is the Islamic practice of worship of...
Man La Yahduruhu Al-Faqih Man La Yahduruhu Al-Faqih (مَنْ لَا يَحْضُرُه ٱلْفَقِيه, ‘He Who has no Jurisprudent’ with Him) is a Hadith collection by the famous Twelver Shia Hadith scholar Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAli ibn Babawayh al-Qummi, commonly known as Ibn Babawayh or Sheikh al-Saduq (lit. The Truthful Scholar). This work is included among the Four Books of...
The Big Shield (Jawshan Kabir) The Big Shield or Jawshan Kabir (Jawshan Kabeer , Al-Jawshan al Kabir, جَوْشَن ٱلْكَبِير) is a Islamic prayer that contains 1001 names and attributes of God. Jawshan means “steel plate” or “mail” and thus the name of the prayer refers to Muhammad’s heavy armor in battle. According...
Shia View Of Ali This article covers the Shia view of Ali. Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a member of the Ahl al-Bayt. Shias regard Ali as the first Imam and consider him, along with his descendants, to be one of the...
Outline of Islam Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God (Allah), and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. It is the world’s second-largest religion with over 1.8 billion followers or 24% of the world’s population, most commonly known as Muslims. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 50 countries. Islam teaches...
Muslim World The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religion of Islam, or to societies where Islam is practiced. In a modern geopolitical sense, these terms refer to countries where Islam is widespread, although there are...
Second Fitna The Second Fitna or the Second Islamic Civil War was a period of general political and military disorder and conflicts in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad caliphate. It followed the death of the first Umayyad caliph Mu’awiya I in 680 and lasted for about twelve years. The war involved the suppression of two challenges...
Hadith Of Gabriel In Sunni Islam, the Hadith of Gabriel (ḥadīth Jibrīl) is the single most important hadith (report on the words and actions of the Prophet Muhammad), of the last prophet of Islam. Its narrative contains the best summary of the core of Islam: Islām (إسلام), which is described with the “Five Pillars of Islam,” Īmān (إيمان), which is described with the...
Ismailism Ismailism ( الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah; اسماعیلیان, Esmâ’īliyân) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Ismāʿīlī get their name from their acceptance of Imam Ismaʻil ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja’far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelvers who accept Musa al-Kadhim, younger brother of Ismaʻil, as the true Imām. Ismailism rose at one point to...
Zaidiyyah Zaidiyyah or Zaidism (الزيدية az-zaydiyya, adjective form Zaidi or Zaydi; occasionally known as Fivers) is one of the Shia sects closest in terms of theology to the Ibadi and Muʿtazila schools. Zaidiyyah emerged in the eighth century out of Shi’a Islam. Zaidis are named after Zayd ibn ʻAlī, the grandson of Husayn ibn ʻAlī and the son of their...
The Twelve Imams The Twelve Imams (ٱلَأَئِمَّة ٱلْٱثْنَا عَشَر, al-ʾAʾimmah al-ʾIthnā ʿAšar; دوازده امام, Davâzdah Emâm) are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Shia Islam, including that of the Alawite and Alevi sects. According to the theology of Twelvers, the Twelve Imams are exemplary human individuals who not only rule...
Twelver Twelver (ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; ʾIthnā ʿAšarīyah, شیعه دوازدهامامی, Šī’eh-ye Davâzdah-Emâmī), also known as Imamiyyah (إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shia Islam. The term Twelver refers to its adherents’ belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as the Twelve Imams, and their belief that the last Imam, Imam al-Mahdi, lives in occultation and will reappear as the promised Mahdi. According to Shia tradition,...
Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali ibn Abi Talib (عَلِيّ ٱبْن أَبِي طَالِب, ʿAlī ibn ʾAbī Ṭālib; 13 September 601 – 29 January 661) was a cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who ruled as the fourth caliph from 656 to 661. He is one of the central figures in Shia Islam and...
Shabakism Shabakism is the name given to the beliefs and practices of the Shabaks in the disputed territories of Northern Iraq. Most Shabaks regard themselves as Shia, but some identify as Sunnis. Despite this, their actual faith and rituals differ from Islam, and have characteristics that make them distinct from neighboring Muslim populations. Nevertheless, the Shabak people also go on pilgrimages...
Shahada The Shahada (الشهادة aš-šahādah,”the testimony”) is an Islamic creed, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, declaring belief in the oneness of God (tawhid) and the acceptance of Muhammad as God’s prophet. The declaration, in its shortest form, reads (right to left in Arabic): لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱلله lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh muḥammadun rasūlu llāh...
Madhhab A madhhab ( مذهب maḏhab, “way to act”; pl. مذاهب maḏāhib) is a school of thought within fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The major Sunni madhhabs are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE and by the twelfth century almost all jurists aligned themselves with a particular madhhab. These four...
Shia Islam Shia Islam or Shi’ism is one of the two main branches of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor and the Imam (leader) after him, most notably at the event of Ghadir Khumm, but was prevented from the caliphate as a result...