Texts of Islam

Islam: Chapter Six: The Dissidents of the Community: Introduction

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This is an excerpt from a historical or religious studies text — likely a survey or introduction to Islam — tracing the origins of Islam's major sectarian divisions in the decades following the Prophet Muhammad's death. The central argument is that the Muslim community's fracture stems from the contested succession to the Caliphate, particularly the election of 'Uthmān over 'Alī in 644 CE and 'Uthmān's subsequent murder in 656, an act that created an unresolvable moral dilemma for the community since both approving and condemning it could be seen as wrong. From this crisis emerged two dissident movements: the Khārijīs ("Seceders"), radical pietists who declared 'Alī an apostate for accepting arbitration and justified killing fellow Muslims on that basis, and the Shī'a, the loyalist faction of 'Alī who elevated him and his descendants to near-prophetic status and continued resisting Umayyad rule. The text emphasizes that 'Alī's appeal was as much social and economic as religious — he was associated with demands for equal distribution of conquest spoils — which helps explain the depth and durability of Shī'ī loyalty. A distinctive claim is that the revolution of 750 CE that toppled the Umayyads, though launched in the name of the Prophet's family, was covertly hijacked by the 'Abbāsid line, leaving the Shī'a perpetually disappointed and further subdivided.

Islam: Chapter Six: The Dissidents of the Community: Introduction

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