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CHAPTER 5
7. SHI’ISM: KHARIJITE THEORY OF CALIPHATE
As regards the theory of the Caliphate, there is a very serious difference of opinion between the Shiites and the Sunnites; this difference has, unfortunately, been the basic cause of estrangement between these two major sections of the Muslim society, the harmful effects of which are still extant today. The Shi’ah jurists believe God alone to be the real source of Khilafat and political power.
7.1 Imamiyah
According to the Shi’ah, an Imam possesses the Divine authority to rule over this earth. They believe that, the Imam is appointed by God; therefore, according to them, the common people have no authority to choose their Khalifah. The finality of the decisions of the Imam, according to the Shi’ite theory, are flawless. A Shi’ite Imam, as believed by them, is the embodiment of all the sciences and learning, as well as Herculean intellect and achievements. Orthodox Shi’ahs further believe their Imams to have possessed Attributes of God. According to them, God, Himself, appears on the earth in the person of the Imam; the first as Hadrat ‘Ali. Those Shi’ahs, who believe in the transference of the Imamate in the progeny of Hadrat ‘Ali and Hadrat Fatimah, are known as Imamiyah; they reject the authority of the First Three Caliphs of Khilafat-e-Rashidah and repudiate the Imamate of Hadrat Abu-Bakr Siddiq, Hadrat Umar Farooq, and Hadrat Uthman Ghani.[60]
7.2 Hadrat Zaid
Hadrat Zaid bin Imam ‘Ali Zain ul-Abideen was martyred in Kufah by the Shi’ahs in the month of Muharram, 122 Hijri / 739 CE (during the Caliphate of Hisham bin Abdul Malik Marwani). After his martyrdom, the dead body of Hadrat Zaid was secretly buried; however, Yusuf bin ‘Umar Thaqfi, governor of Kufah, (Iraq), disinterred and desecrated it, severed its head, and sent it to Damascus. Hadrat Imam Zaid was a disciple of the famous Mu’tazilite Imam, Wasil bin ‘Ata, and followed the Hanafi[61] – Sunni school of thought in many religious matters. Imam Azam Abu Hanifah was a supporter Hadrat Zaid. However, in the third century Hijri, the beliefs of the Zaidiyah sect coincided with those of ordinary Shi’ahs (Ithna’Ashris); in the 6th Hijri century, most of the people in the Haram-i-Ka’ba followed the Zaidiyah tenets.
7.3 The Ithna’ Ashris
There was no serious difference of opinion, among the Shi’ahs, in the case of Imamate, up to the time of Hadrat Imam Ja’far Sadiq; but after him, the Imamiyah were divided into two sections. One section of them followed the Imamate of his elder son, Ismail, and was later known as Ismailiyah (an esoteric) sect.[62] The other group accepted the Imamate of Hadrat Ja’far Sadiq’s younger son, Musa Kazim, and has since been known as Ithna’Ashris (twelvers).[63] The Shi’ah believe that, the world cannot survive without an Imam, revealed or concealed. This belief was rife in pre- Islamic Iran. The Iranians during this period too believed their kings to be innocent – incapable of committing a sin or error. This belief coincides also with that of Roman Catholicism, as regards their Pope. In Islam, the originator of this dogma was Abdullah bin Saba, a Jew from Yemen (Saba), who had accepted Islam during the third Caliphate of Uthman.
7.4 The Kharijite Theory of Caliphate
The Kharijites are divided into three groups, as regards the question of the Islamic Caliphate. One of them avers that everybody (excepting a slave and a woman), irrespective of race or tribe; is entitled to be chosen as Caliph; the second group is in favour of canceling finally the institution of Caliphate itself; and the third is nihilistic, condemning all forms of government; hence, it rejects the Caliphate, too the Kharijites were the counterparts of the Shiites, rejecting both Hadrat Uthman and Hadrat Ali, but accepting Hadrat Abu-Bakr and Hadrat Umar.
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