The Islamic World to 1600
The issue of who should succeed Muhammad as leader of the Islamic faith polarised two groups in Islam early in the religion's history. The majority accepted Abu Bakr as the first caliph, but a small group believed that Muhammad wanted his son-in-law, Ali, to lead the Muslims. As we shall see later in this chapter, Ali did become the fourth caliph in 656, but he was quickly overthrown when the Umayyad dynasty was established. From that point on, authority was divided in the Islamic world. Ali's followers (known as Shi'ites after the phrase Shi'a Ali, or partisans of Ali) did not recognise the Umayyad caliphate or its successors. Instead, they followed the leadership of Ali's descendents, who they called Imams, or spiritual leaders. Shi'ite Muslims believe that there were 12 Imams after Ali, as the title was passed down in hereditary succession. The 12th Imam is believed to be in hiding, which he entered into in the 9th century to avoid persecution. This group of believers is known as the Twelver Shi'ites; today they represent the majority of Shi'ite Muslims. They believe that the 12th Imam will return at the Day of Judgement.
The Imamate is the central Shi'a feature that differentiates it from Sunni Islam. Most Islamic practices have remained the same in Sunnism and Shi'ism, but the Shi'ite belief in the Imamate sets the two groups apart. Shi'ites believe that there have always been Imams since the time of creation, including Adam, the first Imam. Unlike Sunni Caliphs, who also lead the Islamic world in secular matters, Shi'ite Imams are spiritual leaders, and their followers believe they transmit the mystical aspects of God to humanity. The Shi'ite belief in the eventual return of the 12th Imam, called the Mahdi, is also a central feature of this form of Islam. The belief that the Mahdi will return to lead the forces of good against evil in an apocalyptic battle before the Day of Judgement is so important to Shi'ites that it overshadows life in the human world, which is seen as a corrupt and immoral place. Although Shi'ites are a minority of Muslims, they are a majority in modern Iran. The belief in the Imamate is so strong that during the Iranian Revolution in 1979 many Shi'ites believed that the Ayatollah Khomeini was the 12th Imam returning.
We will read more about Ali's succession to the caliphate later in this chapter, and we will continue to look at Shi'ite history as this tutorial continues. Shi'ites played a role in the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, and also figured prominently in the 16th century Safavid dynasty in Iran, the first Shi'ite dynasty.
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