Quraish: Encyclopedia II - Quraish - Clans and the Caliphate

Quraish - Clans and the Caliphate

The split between the Shi'a and Sunni branches of Islam centers over the successor to Muhammad. The Sunnis believe Abu Bakr was elected as Muhammad's successor while the Shi'a believe Muhammad appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor.

Part of Shi'a belief stems from the fact that Ali was a member of Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim. Abu Bakr, while a close companion of Muhammad, came from the Banu Taim clan.

The second Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, was from the Banu Adi clan.

The third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, was the Umayyad clan.

When Ali was made caliph after the death of Uthman, the Caliphate was in the hands of the Banu Hashim, but he was almost immediately challenged by Muawiyah, who was a member of the Umayyad clan. After Ali's assassination, the Shi'a hoped his son Hasan would become Caliph, but he deferred to Muawiyah, who established the Umayyad line of Caliphs.

After the death of Muawiyah, his son Yazid became Caliph but was almost immediately challenged by Ali's younger son, Hussein, who would not swear allegiance to Yazid for a number of reasons, among which is that the Caliphate was not supposed to be hereditary. Yazid was a corrupt man but had more military strength than Hussein and Hussein was viciously killed at the Battle of Karbela. This event further added fuel to what would lead to a full schism between Shi'a Islam and Sunni Islam.

The fact that Muhammad's descendants through Ali would be continually persecuted by Umayyad Caliphs did not help the matter.

It seems that initially, the difference between Shi'a Islam and Sunni Islam was simply over politics. Only under the later Abbasid Caliphs would actual doctrinal religious differences arise.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Clans and the Caliphate", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki