The Shi’a-Sunni Split, Part 3

So, the more that I thought about this post, the more I kept on thinking it would be a crash-course in Middle Eastern history, and honestly, in my ~1500 word cap for this post, I simply could not do it justice.  As a result, I decided to BRIEFLY describe the succession of Caliphates and explain how they allowed Shi’a to survive.  Mind you, there’s been a lot of other people who have claimed to be Caliphs.  Later Ottoman Sultans began identifying as Caliphs, the Ahmadiyya Muslim movement in northern India has a Caliph – even ISIS has a Caliph.  It really doesn’t take much to call yourself something, but only a handful of people have had the capability to realize the actual power of a Caliph.

Europe and the Middle East in 750

So to start today’s story, we’re going to fast forward to the year 750, which is, I admit, skipping a lot.  The Byzantines had more or less given up on the whole idea of maintaining their African empire, as the local Berber and Vandal populations had risen up against them while the Umayyad armies swept across the Maghreb.  Under the newly-converted Berber Tariq ibn Ziyad (whose story I’ll tell you someday), the Muslim armies conquered essentially all of Spain, aside from the mountains in the north, where the Basques held out.  Meanwhile, the Byzantines had been too busy dealing with the Slavs and Avars in the North and the Lombards in Italy to wage a prohibitively expensive war against the Umayyads.

The Umayyad popularity was largely based on their battlefield success.  In fifty years, they had conquered Visigothic Spain, Sindh, in what is now Southern Pakistan, the Caucasus Mountains, and all of the northern coast of Africa.  A series of defeats in the mid-8th Century, however, left the Umayyads with very few friends.  The first of these came in 718, at the Siege of Constantinople, in which an army of as many as 120,000 Arabs (likely exaggerated but technically possible at the time).  The Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian’s signature victory had a number of consequences within his own empire, but in the Caliphate, it set off a chain reaction of losses.  In 725, in India, against the Kingdom of Avanti, the Muslim armies suffered what appears to have been a major defeat.  Very little information still exists about this, but the momentum of Muslim conquest in India clearly slowed after this.  Meanwhile, in the West, what was at least at the time considered a major defeat at the hands of the Franks in Battle of Tours resulted in the abrupt halt of Muslim advances into Europe (I know some people like to downplay Tours, but I’ve never heard a good explanation as to why a follow-up expedition was never even planned).

The lack of historical material about the latter two battles makes their importance somewhat difficult to determine, but what happened soon afterward, with the overthrow of the Umayyad clan, would imply that these were hardly inconsequential to the people of the time period.  The revolt of the Abbasid clan in 750 saw everyone save the Arab tribal establishment turn on the unpopular Caliphs.  Even the Shias sided with the mainline Abbasids.  The Umayyads would re-emerge six years later in modern Spain and Portugal and would set up their own “Caliphate” there, but they would never expand their influence much beyond the Iberian Peninsula.

Now, what does all this have to do with the Shi’a, you might ask?  I’m glad you did, because that makes a great segue into my next point… Multiple different Islamic states is what preserved the existence of the Shi’a faith.  For the first 150~ years of Islam’s existence, the entire faith was under a single political head.  With the Umayyad revolt in Spain, and sixty years later, the Tahirids’ revolt in Persia would make the break-up of the Islamic Empire permanent. With this development, the descendants of Ali could flee to more tolerant nations to escape persecution.

In 909, the first Shi’ite state was established in North Africa.  Over the remainder of the 10th Century, they would come to control Egypt and would establish the city of Cairo.  Under the Caliph Mansur, the Shias would come to control Jerusalem.  Mansur’s an interesting guy in a lot of ways, and his disappearance in 1021 is almost a fitting end to such a bizarre life.  All that was found of him was his donkey and bloodstained garments.

Mansur changed his policy on religious minorities several times, even saying a couple of things that almost sound like he thought all religions were basically the same (this is not orthodox Islamic teaching).  He was known to impulsively condemn men to death, and he and his men destroyed the famed Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem  This led to his moniker “the Mad Caliph” in the West, but in Isma’ili Shi’a, he is considered a sage teacher.

The Crusades, which broke out less than a century after the death of Mansur, would weaken both the Fatimids and the Abassids so greatly that both of them would suffer on as puppet governments for another century and a half, until the Mongol invasions acted as an impetus for their final overthrow.  The fragmentation of the Islamic Empire allowed for the survival of fringe groups like Shi’a, which, in the top-down regime of the Caliphs, would not have been able to survive.

Today, four majority-Shi’a countries exist – Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain, with significant minorities existing in Pakistan, India, Lebanon, and Syria.

Distribution of Islamic Sects and Schools

Now, about 1300 years removed from the Shi’a-Sunni split, more splits have occurred within the sects themselves, although within the Sunnis, most all Hanafis would call the Maliki Muslims, the Shafi’i would call the Hanbali Muslims, etc.  The only intra-sect split that has become a large, faith-determining issue is the Isma’ili-Jafari split in Shi’a.  For the most part, however, Shias and Sunnis do not consider one another to be true followers of the prophet.

So, hopefully this somewhat meandering post covers the bases that my first two posts did not.  If you have additional questions, feel free to comment, and I’ll do what I can to answer.  Some questions might be better posed to an actual Muslim, however. 🙂

Thanks for reading,

Paul

The Shi’a-Sunni Split, Part 1

So this is a delicate subject, and I’m going to try to treat it as such, but before I start, I should note that I am not a Muslim.  As a result, many of my comments will perhaps seem critical of the faith.  Do not misconstrue it as such, but simply know that this is my view of the matter, and I find that there is a concerning lack of understanding of how and why this split happened.  Today, we’re just going to be laying the groundwork for the split, going through the Battle of the Camel (you’ll know what that means by the end) and covering some basics of Islamic theology such as the Umma.  By the end of this series hopefully you’ll understand the basics of the Shi’ite-Sunni split, as well as a little about other major groups such as the Ibadi and Sufi.  A short disclaimer here, I learned most of what I know of Islam from Sunnis, and what I know of the Shi’a comes from my own research.  As a result, I might phrase things in a way that sounds a little Sunni-esque.  This is not intentional, it’s just the way I learned it.  There will be no images (aside from one diagram) used for these posts out of respect for the Islamic faith.

So, let’s begin.  Islam teaches about much of what would be considered the Judeo-Christian Old Testament.  Adam, Noah, Abraham, and others are all mentioned in the Qu’ran, and Muhammad, in many ways, viewed himself as the last in a succession of prophets going back to more or less the creation of man.  On the other hand, Muhammad viewed himself quite differently than the others, for it was his message by which people would be saved.  As a result, all Muslims recite the Shahada “the testimonial word,” that declares, “There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God.”  Typically, the Muslim god is called “Allah” in English, but Allah simply means “God” in Arabic.  From here on out, I’ll be using Allah to reference the Muslim deity.

Along with Shahada, Sunnis believe Muhammad mandated four other principal teachings, which are today known as the “Five Pillars of Islam.”  These are:

Shahada.  An almost mantra-like expression of faith, upon which the believer is to meditate.  This is the first step one takes in order to become a Muslim.

Salat.  This is the Islamic tradition of prayer, which consists of five daily prayers – Fajr, Dhuhr, ‘Asr, Maghrib, and ‘Isha.  These prayers may be performed anywhere, but if available, prayer in a mosque is best.

Zakat.  One of the originally most attractive features about Islam is charity.  Today, Muslims donate more to charity than any other active faith, and in the highly stratified society that Muhammad presented his message in, this resonated with people.  Like Salat, Zakat breaks down into five basic parts: on must declare one’s to Allah his intent to give, the zakat must be given on the day it is due, afterwards one may not exaggerate one’s spending, the giver must give zakat according to what he has, and the zakat must be given in the place where one earned it.

Sawm: Sawm handles the entire Muslim diet, but specifically it refers to ritual fasting, particularly during the month of Ramadan.  This year, Ramadan will start on June 6 and will continue until July 5.  During Ramadan, Muslims may not eat while the sun is still up, although special exceptions are granted by most groups to diabetics, nursing mothers, the old and infirm, etc.

Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca.  This is to be done during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah (will be September 2 to October 2 in 2016), and every Muslim is obliged to do this at least once in their life.  Once within a certain distance of Mecca, the traveler will don the Ihram a simple garment of two white sheets.  Whilst in Mecca, one walks around the Kaaba seven times, touches the Black Stone known as Istilam and symbolically “stones the devil.”

Now, non-Sunnis might phrase the Five Pillars differently, but pretty much none of them would dispute that the Five Pillars are good things to do.  Please note that the Five Pillars of Islam are not listed in the Qu’ran.

Shi’a promotes an alternative set of pillars, which are more theological in nature rather than practical.  Most Shi’ites would say that you need to understand these five tenants before practicing the five Sunni pillars, called Usul-e-Deen.

1. Tawheed: The Oneness of Allah.  This one’s pretty self-explanatory.
2. ‘Adl: The Justice of Allah.  Also, not hard.
3. Nabuwat: Prophethood/Apostleship.  In essence, this is about the nature of the succession of prophets all the way down to Muhammad.
4. Imamat: Leadership (more on this next time, but this is the first difference between Shi’a and Sunni)
5. Mi’ad: The Day of Judgment.  Shi’ites do not believe that they will ever see God.  This is a somewhat contentious issue.

From there, a Muslim may practice Islam with the ten Furu’-e-Deen, which includes the Sunni Five Pillars.  For the sake of brevity, I won’t go into all those, because we have a little history to get to.

Anyway, one of Muhammad’s most attractive teachings was the Umma – that when one becomes a Muslim, one’s old identity is gone and one is absorbed into the new tribe and nation of Allah.  For a man from arguably the most powerful Arab tribe (the Quraysh) to offer membership to all in his tribe was revolutionary, and although Arab tribal identity did not evaporate overnight (largely due to some events we’ll cover next time), Islam and the Umma offered something that the traditional faiths could not – unity.

After Muhammad died, people began to realize that he hadn’t really left much of a succession plan.  Like I said before, this is not meant to be a critique of Muhammad; it’s just an observation.  Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s good friend, became the first Caliph in 632, upon the Prophet’s death, but he died two years later, leaving the Caliphate to Umar.  Under Umar, Islam experienced its most rapid growth, sweeping over Palestine and Egypt, but upon his death in 644, it was less clear as to who should be the new Caliph.  Ali ibn Abi Talib was Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, but he was passed over for Uthman ibn Affan.  Uthman, fair or not, was increasingly viewed as nepotistic, and on July 17, 656, he was murdered by a mob of protestors.

Muhammad, Uthman, and Ali’s Family Tree.  Their names are in purple.

What followed is known as the First Fitna.  After the death of Uthman, the Umayyad clan desired to keep the Caliphate within their line.  Ali, however, contended that the Banu Hashim clan (both his and Muhammad’s clan) held the superior claim.  Muawiyah, the de facto leader of the Umayyads, viewed Ali as having been complicit in the death of Uthman.  While Muawiyah assembled his forces in Syria, Aisha, Muhammad’s widow, took an army of 30,000 to Basra, where she was met by Ali.  In the ensuing battle, Aisha was counseled to mount the camel and ride through the battle (hence the name “Battle of the Camel” to get the men to stop fighting one another.  Aisha’s forces crowded around the camel to keep their leader safe, but Ali’s forces managed to cut the back legs of the camel, and Aisha fell from her mount.  She fled, only to be captured by Ali.

Ali pardoned her, but Aisha would never again involve herself in politics.  Although the situation seemed to have calmed itself, the lines had already been drawn between to camps in the Islamic world.  The full Shi’ite-Sunni split had not yet fully begun, but the gap between the two factions could not be resewn.

To be continued… 🙂