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Orville Boyd Jenkins
A. Religious Groupings
1. Sunni. The Sunni are so called
because they believe that only the Sunna is authoritative for Islam. They
accept Qur'anic Law--the "orthodox" foundations of Qur'an and Hadith
and the Shari'a based on them. They accept no line of visible representatives
in the line of Muhammad. Government is based on current interpretation and
application of the Sunna. For the Sunnis, the term Imam is used for any
prayer/worship leader in a local mosque. This may be any Muslim, not a
hereditary leader.
2. Shi'a. This name comes from the
phrase shi'at ¢Ali, meaning "the party of 'Ali." This was the group
who supported' Ali as the Fourth Caliph (successor of Muhammad), and believed
that it should be his descendants that succeeded as Caliphs after his death.
Those who came to be known as the Sunni supported Mu'awiya of the Ummayad clan,
who had opposed' Ali during his life, and who seized power at Ali's death, then
declared that his son would be his successor. The Shi'a consider the Imams to
be the visible representatives of Muhammad, who are supposed to be
descendants of ' Ali.
The
Shi'as differ on who the rightful Imam is. Some believe the line of visible
Imams stopped with a "hidden Imam." However, the hidden Imam
does have visible representatives, who speak authoritatively to the umma (community
of believers) to give interpretation and direction in the current situation.
a.
There was a conflict over the rightful Seventh Imam in A.D. 765. Some
believe that Isma'il, rather than his brother Musa, (who were Fatimid
Egyptians) was the true Seventh Imam. This group are called Isma'ilis or
"Seveners." Some Isma'ilis believe that when Isma'il was reported to
have died before his father, he was actually hidden, and will return as the
Mahdi. Others believe he died, but his son Muhammad ibn-lsma'il, disappeared in
India and will return as the Mahdi. Others continue numbering the successors of
Isma'il as Imams.
The
Seveners suffered a major division in Egypt in 1094. One group followed Nizari and
another Musta'li as Imam. Nizaris are found in Syria, and in East Africa they
are represented in the Khoja Ismailis, followers of the Aga Khan (the 49th
Imam, whose home is in France). This group has retained from their Indian
heritage a belief in reincarnation.
The
Bohras are in the line following Musta'li, the younger son. The Bohras further
believe that the 21st Imam was "taken into concealment," being
represented now by "deputies." The Bohras are Indian (Dawoodi) and
Yemini (Sulaimani). Successive disputes over rightful successors have
progressively divided the Shi'as into numerous groups with different Imams.
Examples:
Khoja, Dawoodi (Bohra), origins in India, many in East Africa
Druze
in Lebanon, Nusayris (Nizaris) in Syria, Egypt
b.
One group in the 765 dispute recognized the second son, Musa, of the sixth
Imam, Jafar, as the true seventh Imam. This group believe that the line of
visible Imams continued to the Twelfth Imam. They believe that the
8-year-old Imam Muhammad "disappeared" in A.D. 878 and is in
concealment until the end of time, when he will be revealed as the Mahdi. They
are the Ithna 'Ashariyya (Ithnashari) or "Twelvers." The
Ithnasharis have a visible representative to give authoritative guidance. In
some areas these leaders are called Ayatollahs. This means "a word from
God," coming from ayat (word) and Allah (God). Ithnashari
Islam is the official religion in Iran and is the faith of the majority of
Muslims in Iraq. Many Indian Ithnasharis live in East Africa.
Examples:
Iraq; Iran: Safawi dynasty (before the overthrow of the Shah)
Revolutionary
Iranian leadership
Kenya
Ithnasharis
There
are many additional groups of the Shi'as. One notable group is the Zaidites,
who follow a different fifth Imam. The Zaidites maintained a ruling
dynasty in Yemen from the 9th century until recently.
3. Sufi. The Sufis comprise a broad
meditative mystical movement across Islam. As Sunnis, they believe in no
mediator between God and the individual. They often have a sense of personal "conversion,"
with an emphasis on the individual's personal relationship to God. Sufis are
prominent today in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, North Africa and Turkey. I am told
that most Somalis are associated with some Sufi order. Many Arabs in East Africa
are identified with Sufi orders.
Al-Hallaj
was a major Sufi figure who modeled himself after Jesus, and was rejected by
many of his own people because they said he had become a Christian (see The
Path of Love). Much Sufi literature is in poetry. This is consistent with
the meditative, personal worship orientation of the Sufis. One of the most
famous was a Moorish poet, Muhiy ad-din ibn al 'Arabi, of Andalusia (southern
Spain), writing in the twelfth century. Jalal ad-din ar-Rumi (Jalal of the
religion of Rome), writing in the thirteenth century, is the most famous of the
Persian mystic poets. Some Sufis have been great scholars. Abu Hamid
al-Ghazali, a significant philosophical theologian, was a major Sufi figure.
Some
Muslim leaders do not like to use the term or classification "Sufi."
This is because, first, they resist labels which tend to divide Islam. One
administrator of a mosque known as a Sufi mosque, said to me, "We are not
Sufi or any other name. We are all just Muslims." A second reason is that
the term may carry a negative or uncertain connotation because of (1) the early
historical rejection of Sufism's identification with Jesus or Christianity, and
(2) the excesses of some Turkish and Egyptian orders (like the whirling
dervishes).
4. Ahmaddiya. This group believe the
Mahdi/Messiah returned in the Indian Hazrat Ghulam Ahmed in 1835. They have a
well-organized missionary society and publishing program worldwide. Ahmed
claimed to be Jesus in another life as the returned Mahdi/Messiah. He meant to
unite all true Muslims and Christians into the one true religion. He was
rejected by both. Ahmaddiya world headquarters is in Lahore, Pakistan.
Ahmaddiyas are refused permission to make the Hajj, because the Pakistan
government has reported to Sa'udi officials that the Ahmaddiyas are not true
Muslims.
B. Political Systems. Many different
social and governmental systems are found in various Muslim countries. Here are
just a few examples of the combinations of religious sect with political form.
1. Sunni--Military: Sudan, Libya
Royal:
Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan.
2. Shi'a--Royal: Iran, under the
Safawi Shah
Old
Fatimid dynasty of Egypt, Syria
Hierarchical
dictatorship: Revolutionary Iran under Khomeini
Representative
democracy (or parliamentary dictatorship): Iran under an Ayatollah with Majlis
and a president
3. Secular--Democratic dictatorship:
Turkey, Egypt. Muslim, but non-"lslamic" politically. Both Turkey and
Egypt have moved to systems more like full Western secular republics. Turkey
has had full civilian constitutional rule since 1982. Syria's constitution
declares Syria to be a Socialist State, but specifies that the president shall
be a Muslim.
OBJ
Originally published in An Outline Introduction to Islam (Nairobi: Communication Press, 1991.)
Posted on Thoughts and Resources 22 March 2004
Last edited 23 November 2007
Orville Boyd Jenkins, Ed.D., Ph.D.
Copyright © 1991, 2004 by Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use. Other rights reserved.
Email: orville@jenkins.nu
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