Shiʿi & Sunni

• Succession to Muhammad

• Fatimah & Ali

• Hussein & Hasan

• Shiʿa / “Party” of Ali

• Imam

Shiʿi & Sunni

Early Shiʿi Groups• Kaysaniyah

• al-Mukhtar (622-87): leads revolt

• Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah (d. 700)

– Imam not descended from Fatima

– Imam goes into “hiding”

• Zaydis (740)

• Zayd = Hussein’s grandson

• Yemen

1. Sevener or Ismaʿili Shiʿism

• Jaʿfar al-Sadiq (d. 765): 6th Imam

• Ismaʿil ibn Jaʿfar (721-55)

• Musa al-Kazim (746-799)

• Agha Khan

The Druze

• Offshoot from Seveners / Isma’ilis

• 16th Imam: al-Hakim (996-1021)

• Ruler of Fatimid Empire (Egypt)

• About 1 Million

• Israel, Syria, Lebanon

2. Twelver or Imami Shiʿism

• 12 Imams through Musa al-Kazim (as 7th)

• 874: 12th Imam disappears

• “Occultation” or Hiding

• 941: Greater Occultation

Offshoots from 12er Shiʿism

• Groups identifying Ali, Fatima, Hasan, & Husein as divine or semi-divine

• Nusayris / Alawis

–Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, C. Asia

–Ali = incarnation of God

–Many restrictions not observed

Islamic Law

• Faqih

• Shari’ah

• Fiqh

• Ijtihad

• 5 schools – 1 Shiʿi, 4 Sunni

Legal “Categories”

• Things that must be done: prayer, ramadan, etc.

• Things that must not be done: drinking alcohol; murder

• Things that should be done: showing hospitality to strangers

• Things that should not be done: being cruel to animals