Ithna Ashariyah: Difference between revisions

Imami Shi’ite also links Husayn’s martyrdom at Karbala with the imam’s power to grant [[intercession]] in paradise to those who honor Husayn through acts of ritual commemoration.

[[ʿAli Zayn al-ʿAbidin]] (d. 714), [[Muhammad al-Baqir]] (d. 733), and [[Jaʿfar al-Sadiq]] (d. 765), the fourth, fifth, and sixth imams, inaugurated the era of devotional, theological, and juridical formulations of the Ithna ʿAshariyah. Whereas for the Muslim community in general the second half of the eighth century was a period of political and social unrest, for the Shiʿa it was the critical phase of self-definition in the face of competing and politically supported religious expression. The replacement of the [[Umayyad]]s by the [[ʿAbbasid]]s in 748 and the political turmoil that ruled in the central lands of the caliphate afforded these imams necessary time to shape the future direction of the Ithna ʿAshariyah. Through the spiritual and intellectual leadership of al-Baqir and al-Sadiq, the Shiʿi developed distinctly Shiʿi Quranic exegesis, through well-documented Prophetic [[hadith]]s (reports), including ones related by the imams, and a highly sophisticated juridical tradition, which subsequently earned them a distinct recognition in the larger community as the followers of the Jaʿfari madhhab (rite).

The succeeding imamate of al-Sadiq 's descendants, from [[Musa al-Kazim]] (d. 799), the seventh imam, to [[Muhammad al-Mahdi]] (disappeared in 874 to return as the Mahdi, “divinely guided” leader of the ummah [community], at the End of Time), the twelfth and last imam, was the most difficult period for the Ithna ʿAshariyah. The imams lived either incarcerated or under surveillance for suspected activities against the caliphate. The Shiʿa were faced with unrelenting ʿAbbasid atrocities and had little or no access to their imams. Under those conditions, the imams appointed their nuwwab (personal deputies), who conveyed their teachings and collected religious dues, such as the khums (originally a fifth of the spoils of war) and zakat (alms), from their followers. This deputyship gradually evolved into the influential religious institution among the Shiʿa that culminated in the [[wilaya]] (comprehensive guardianship) of the qualified mujtahid (or faqih; jurist-theologian) under the Qajar and post-Qajar jurists.

==Occultation Period==

During al-Kazhim 's imamate, the concept of an imam in ghaybah (occultation), who continued to direct his community 's affairs through his trusted associates, found theological and legal expression in the hadiths attributed to the imams al-Baqir and al-Sadiq. The requirement of taqiyah (prudential concealment of one 's true belief) as a strategy of survival in the midst of the hostile majoritarian Sunnis also became more pronounced among the Shiʿa at this time.