Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

1 2Islam i n World Cult u r e ss u c c e s s o r. Most Muslims were convinced that Muhammad had died not onlywithout leaving sons but also without making any clear and undisputed statementon who was to succeed him or how the community was to be governed.Some, however, contended that in fact Muhammad had appointed a successorin a statement he made at Ghadir Khumm. This group claimed that theProphet had designated his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib to take hisplace as leader of the community. Those who argued for Ali as successor wereto become known as the Shi’a (“partisans [of Ali]”), who have remained a minorityin the broader Muslim population to this day.Most Muslims, however, rejected these arguments for determining Muhamma d ’s successor, contending that they had not been present at Ghadir Khummand that they did not believe the event even took place. Thus they saw no reasonto submit to Ali’s leadership and instead were left to find other ways to determinethe succession to Muhammad. Furthermore, some who had initiallysupported Ali’s leadership of the community became disillusioned and split toform their own community, and they have come to be known as the Kharijites.The divisions between these various groups did not disappear when the immediatepolitical struggles were resolved. Instead, the groups continued alongparallel historical tracts, developing complex elaborations of ideas on the religiousimplications of their political histories and sometimes dividing even furtheramong themselves over variant interpretations of these developments.To d a y, Shi’ites form a ruling majority in Iran, and their place in the administrationof a post–Saddam Hussein Iraq—where they also form a demographicmajority—is yet to be determined. Most Shi’ites in both of those countriesare of the Ithna’ashirite sect, which acknowledges a succession of twelvespiritual leaders (also referred to as imams) in the line of Ali. This group comprisesthe largest number of Shi’ites in the world today. However, there arealso a number of other Shi’ite groups, including the Zaydis and variousbranches of the Isma’ilis, who comprise significant (but mostly minority) segmentsof the Muslim populations of Yemen, Pakistan, India, and a number ofcountries in sub-Saharan Africa. In East Africa, one finds populations of Ibadisas well, latter-day followers of the Kharijites who also form a ruling majority inc o n t e m p o r a ry Oman.H o w e v e r, throughout the history of Islam, the majority of Muslims were notKharijites or Shi’ites of any type. Rather, they were of the orientation that latercame to refer to itself as “Sunni,” or more properly, the ahl al-sunna wa’l-jama’a,“people of the way [of the Prophet] and the community.” The Sunnis determinedsuccession to leadership of the community not through familial descentbut through a consensus of the leaders of the community. The first foursuccessors chosen in this way were all personal friends and companions ofMuhammad, and within the tradition, they came to be referred to collectivelyas the four “rightly guided caliphs.”