History Of The Sunni-Shi'ite Split.

The Shi'ites are the result of a violent schism which followed the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD, and through the centuries have generally been the losers in a struggle to lead the Muslims and to divide power. That has left them with a sharp feeling of dispossession, of being a people denied their destiny by corrupt Sunni rulers. The split began with a fight over who should lead the Muslims after Muhammad's death.

One side held that direct descendants of the prophet should take up the mantle of "khalifa" (caliph - i.e., successor). They were Shi'at-Ali (partisans of Ali), after the prophet's cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi-Taleb, whom they favoured to become caliph. They became known as Shi'ites. But, in turn and through succeeding eras of Muslim rule, the Shi'ites were divided into a number of different sects. The one which believes it is the most orthodox is the Ja'fari Shi'ite community which follows 12 Imams - hence the "Ithna-'asharia", i.e, the Twelvers. The 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Muntazar (the Awaited - or what the Iranians call Wali-e Asr), a child who the faithful say went into hiding in 878 AD and is expected to return as al-Mahdi before the Last Judgment to establish justice on earth.

Prophet Muhammad (born in Mecca around 570 AD as Abul-Qasem Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttaleb ibn Hashem) founded Islam and began his preaching about 610. As his father had died before his birth, Muhammad was raised by his grandfather and later by his paternal uncle, Abu-Taleb who for a time was chief of the prominent Hashem clan of the Bani-Quraish Tribe. Muhammad's first-cousin, Ali ibn (son of) Abi-Taleb (born in Mecca around 600 AD), was among the first to become a Muslim, though still a boy, and later lived in Muhammad's household. Soon after the Hijra (Muhammad's migration to Medina in 622), Ali married Mahammad's daughter Fatima, from whom he later got two sons: Hassan and Hussein.

As Muhammed died the other side - the Sunnis - thought any worthy man could lead the Muslims, regardless of lineage, and chose Abu-Bakr al-Siddiq, an early convert to Islam and Muhammad's father-in-law as "Khalifat-Rasul-ul-Allah (successor of the Messenger of God - hence the first Caliph). "Sunni", derived from the Arabic "followers" of "al-Sunna", is shorthand for "followers of God's Law as pronounced by the Prophet".

All religious Shi'ites of the Ja'fari order nominally observe the advice of an ayatullah on how to follow the law of Islam, or shari'a, which he interprets in the modern context. For many Iraqis, this role now is fulfilled by Grand Ayatullah Ali al-Sistani.

The major Ja'fari Shi'ite holidays celebrate the now glorious martyrdoms of Imams Ali and Hussein, as typified by the pre-eminent Shi'ite 'Ashura', which marks the slaughter of Hussein by a Sunni caliph outside the Iraqi city of Karbala' in 680 AD. In Iraq and Iran, as well as in Lebanon's Shi'ite community now controlled by the Iran-sponsored Hizbullah, the event is marked by processions of men re-enacting their own passion play, many of whom self-flagellate with chains to the beat of drums. Such expressions are looked at with disgust by hardline Sunnis like the Salafis of the ruling Wahhabi order in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world, or Hizb u-Tahrir (HuT) in the world, who view the veneration of Hussein and other members of the prophet's family as a violation of "al-Tawhid" (unity of God, or monotheism).

It was not until the third Sunni Caliph Othman ibn 'Affan, a son-in-law of Muhammad, died in 656 that Ali became a Khalifa. But even then, Ali's accession was opposed by many members of Muhammad's Bani-Quraish Tribe, including Mu'awiya (who was later to found the Sunni Umayyad Empire). Ali's opponents included Muhammad's widow A'isha, daughter of Abu-Bakr, whom he eventually defeated together with her supporters in a battle. Ali never received the allegiance of all the Muslims, while he had to wage increasingly unsuccessful civil wars.

A key distinction between Ja'fari Shi'ite and Sunni beliefs is veneration of the 12 Imams. Ja'fari Shi'ites believe there were only 12 legitimate successors to Muhammad, and that the final imam - al-Mahdi - "disappeared when he was taken up in the arms of God". Many Shi'ites believe al-Mahdi will return to earth one day - supremacist Ayatullahs in Iraq and Iran now say his return is close - and play the role of Divine Saviour against all oppressive powers. The fact that Ja'fari Shi'ites have long been an oppressed minority - first under Umayyad and Abbasid Empires and later by the Ottoman Empire, and much later under Sunni-ruled states like Iraq and Saudi Arabia - has led to a strong identification with the injustice suffered by Hussein and have lent a political dimension to Ja'fari Shi'ite worship. 'Ashura' celebrations were banned under Saddam's Sunni/Ba'thist dictatorship and the Wahhabi royal family of Saudi Arabia, which feared they could lead to spontaneous uprisings.

Ali was slain outside his mosque in Kufa in January 661 by one of the Kharijites (outgoers) allegedly backed secretly by Mu'awiya. Ali's chief foe, Mu'awiya was quickly acknowledged as caliph. He became the 5th successor to Muhammad and moved this Umayyad caliphate from Medina to Damascus. For a time, Ali was cursed from the pulpits of Islam. On Mu'awiya's death in 680, many Sunnis and Shi'ites wanted to restore Ali's dynasty (the Alids) and invited his son Hussein to become caliph; but they failed to back him in an ensuing battle. Hussein and his 72 followers were slain at Karbala' in 680 by the forces of Mu'awiya's successor Yazid.

Bewailing penitently the death of Muhammad's grandson, Kufans swore vengeance against the Umayyads. They backed repeated insurrections by members of Ali's family, but without success. Yet the Alid cause soon gained support from other groups which joined the Shi'ite movement against the Sunni status quo. Hussein was martyred during the Hegira month on Muharram.

From then on, Karbala' has become a pilgrimage spot for the Shi'ites. Because every Shi'ite of consequence wanted to be buried near the tomb of Ali, the area between Kufa and Ali's shrine has become a huge cemetery and this, in turn, has become a city called Najaf - with Ali's shrine being in the centre. Every year during the month of Muharram, the Shi'ites mourn Hussein in a ten-day season of rituals, 'Ashura', and the ceremony marking the climax of this features males engaging in mass flagellation - often with bloody self lacerations - and condemning the guilty Sunnis.