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The Sunni Shia Split and Conflict – Early Events

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Sunni Shia Split and Conflict History

After the death of Prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam), Muslims came under
the rule of a caliphate system and stayed united under the initial four caliphs for a period

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of about 30 years. In Islamic history, these first fours caliphs are also known as the
“Rashidun (the rightly guided) Caliphs” or “Khlifat Ar-Rashidah” in Arabic.
The four Rashidun caliphs who ruled the Muslims and the Islamic territories were Caliph
Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq, Caliph Umar Ibn Khattab, Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan, and Caliph
Ali Ibn Abu-Talib.

Early Signs of Disunity in the Era of the ‘Rashidun Caliphate’

(Khilafat Ar-Rashidah)

The rule under the first two caliphs (Abu Bakr and Umar) is considered as the golden
period in Islamic history as both caliphs maintained law and order under their continually
expanding territories and Muslims stayed united under the two caliphs. However, signs of
discord and disunity started to surface under the rule of the third caliph, Uthman Ibn
Affan (RA). This disunity eventually led to multiple rebellions that led to the unfortunate
assassination of Caliph Uthman, and multiple battles under the reign of Caliph Ali Ibn
Abu-Talib. Another unfortunate consequence of these rebellions was the split of a
segment of Muslims in two separate sects from the mainstream Islam. The first was the
sect of ‘Khawarij’ whereas the other came to be known as the ‘ Shia’ or ‘Shiite’. The
circumstances leading to the split of both are unrelated to each other. While the
‘Khawarij’ didn’t continue as a prominent sect per se, the “Shia” doctrine continued to
strengthen and currently make up 10% – 13% of the overall Muslim population. Sunnis on
the other hand comprise of 87% – 90% of the overall Muslim population. (Reference: Pew
Research Center)

This article looks back in Islamic history and provides a brief background on the
circumstances that led to the schism of the ‘Shia’ from the mainstream Muslims. As facts

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differ between what has been narrated by Shia and Sunni historians, the facts in this
article are based on facts as documented by Muslim Sunni historians.

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Start of the ‘Fitnah’ by Abdullah Ibn Saba against Caliph

Uthman Ibn Affan

Islamic Sunni historians (e.g. Ibn Taymiyyah and many others) attribute the roots of the
Shia movement to a person named Abdullah Ibn Saba. According to the historians,
Abdullah Ibn Saba was a Yemeni Jew who had migrated from Yemen to Madinah and
became a Muslim. Reflecting back on the actions of Abdullah Ibn Saba and having
observed that his efforts primarily centered around instigating disunity among Muslims,
some historians allege Abdullah Ibn Saba’s conversion to Islam as a cover to start a rift
between Muslims.

Right from the start, Abdullah Ibn Saba focused his efforts to turn Muslims against the
sitting caliph, Uthman Ibn Affan. To do so, he first started to publicly question Caliph
Uthman’s decisions related to the appointment of certain Muslim governors from the clan
of Banu Umayyah, which was the clan that the caliph also hailed from. At the time, the
Muslim rule had expanded to include areas in and around Makkah and Madinah (present
day Saudi-Arabia), Alexandria (present day Egypt), Damascus (present day Syria), Kufah
(present day central Iraq), and Basrah (present day southern Iraq). Besides, expansions
were also continuing in other parts of the Arab world, present day Russian states, Eastern
Europe, Northern Africa, and other regions. As these ongoing expansions were bringing
their own challenges, Caliph Uthman appointed only those governors whom he saw fit to
keep the Muslims united and to maintain law and order in the new territories. In this
pursuit, he ended up appointing a number of governors from his own clan of ‘Banu
Umayyah’. Abdullah Ibn Saba used this fact to accuse Caliph Uthman of favoritism. The
caliph responded to these allegations by reminding his masses that some of

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his appointments across the Muslim caliphate were before his reign (e.g. Muawiyah Ibn
Sufiyan was appointed governor of Syria by Caliph Umar) and for the others, he felt the
need to appoint only those in critical positions whom he could trust to maintain law and
order within the Muslim territories.

Noting that Abdullah Ibn Saba and some of his cohorts were behind instigating this
unrest, some of Caliph Uthman’s companions advised the caliph to take a stronger stance
to stem this ‘fitnah’ (sedition) before the situation got out of control. However, as Caliph
Uthman was known to be a mild mannered and lenient individual, he didn’t want to use
forceful measures and as a result was unable to control Ibn Saba who continued to fan
these flames to build support for his cause of ousting the caliph from power.

The Early Beginnings of the Shia (Shiite) Movement

As Abdullah Ibn Saba was determined to overthrow the caliph, Ibn Saba started to profess
his love and admiration for Ali Ibn Abu-Talib on the grounds that Ali Ibn Abu-Talib was
from the family of the Prophet (Ahl-ul-bayt). In this pursuit, he also started to turn
Muslims against the first two Caliphs (Abu Bakr, and Umar) by reminding Muslims how
Ali Ibn Abu-Talib had not initially accepted the rule of Caliph Abu Bakr after his
selection by the prominent companions of the prophet. In this context, although it’s true
that Ali Ibn Abu-Talib had delayed giving his pledge to Caliph Abu Bakr after he was
sworn in as the first Muslim caliph, the reasons were not what Abdullah Ibn Saba was
making people believe through his false interpretations of historical events and Quranic
verses. Most historians have noted (and as confirmed by Ali Ibn Abu-Talib and Ayesha,
the wife of the prophet) that Ali didn’t immediately pledge his support for Caliph Abu
Bakr primarily because of his objection of not being consulted in the caliph selection
process, especially when Ali was very close to the prophet. The reason for this was that
after the death of the prophet when Ali was busy with the funeral arrangements of the
prophet, a number of prophet’s companions had gathered separately and insisted to

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immediately appoint a caliph to ensure Muslim unity, and maintain law and order. As they
started the conversation, people from the Ansar (actual inhabitants of Madinah) and
those who were the Muhajireen (Muslims who had immigrated from Makkah and settled
in Madinah) made their arguments related to the appointing of the first caliph of the
Muslims from their respective groups. That meeting between the prominent companions
eventually resulted in the appointment of Abu Bakr as the first caliph of the Muslims.
Historians also note that during those discussions, Ali was never mentioned as a
candidate.

However, as is confirmed by many accounts, Ali Ibn Abu-Talib was satisfied with the
appointment of Abu Bakr and later pledged his allegiance to him putting the matter of
brief disagreement between them to rest. Abdullah Ibn Saba, however, had sought to
reignite those flames by reminding everyone of that incident from approximately 20 years
earlier and used that as an excuse to sow discord and disunity between Muslims.

As Abdullah Ibn Saba based his rebellious movements on the basis of professing his love
for Ali Ibn Abu-Talib, his supporters started to be known as ‘Shiat Ali’, which means
‘party of Ali’. Initially, the ‘Shiat Ali’ group primarily comprised of Muslims from Egypt
(Alexandria) and Iraq (Kufah and Basrah) because Abdullah Ibn Saba was better able to
garner support for his cause in those cities as they were away from the caliphate capital of
Madinah where the caliph and his companions had better control of the city. Later, as the
‘Shiat Ali’ grew in number, they approached Madinah to remove Caliph Uthman from
power and to instead appoint Caliph Ali as the caliph. An important point to note here is
that while Abdullah Ibn Saba and his ‘Shiat Ali’ wanted to remove Caliph Uthman from

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power so they could appoint Ali as the next caliph, Ali Ibn Abu-Talib himself never gave
credence to their evil plans. This is explained further later in the article.

The Assassination of Caliph Uthman

As the ‘Shiat Ali’ approached the city of Madinah, they laid a siege to Caliph Uthman’s
house. Although Caliph Uthman’s supporters and companions were ready to fight Ibn
Saba’s rebellion and the rioters, Caliph Uthman insisted that he didn’t want Muslim blood
spilled because of him. The group of companions that offered the caliph their support
included most of Prophet Muhammad’s companions and even included Ali Ibn Abu-
Talib’s own sons (Hassan Ibn Ali and Hussein Ibn Ali) who stood to guard Caliph
Uthman’s house based on the orders from their father, Ali. However, as Caliph Uthman
had instructed his companions not to engage in any violent fights, the ‘Shiat Ali’ managed
to break into Caliph Uthman’s house and ultimately assassinated the caliph.

After his assassination, Ali Ibn Abu Talib, didn’t want to become the caliph because he
never supported Abdullah Ibn Saba or his plans. However, Ibn Saba and his supporters
started to demand that Muslims of Madinah appoint a caliph by choosing one from Ali Ibn
Abu Talib, Talhah Ibn Ubaidullah, and Zubair Ibn Awwam Al-Asadi (all three
were prophet’s companions). Ibn Saba also announced that if the people of Madinah
didn’t select a caliph from these three, then he would execute all of the three candidates.
Despite these threats, Talhah and Zubair immediately barricaded themselves and declined
to accept the position regardless of the consequences. As Muslims in Madinah wanted to
avoid more bloodshed, they convinced Ali to accept the reigns of the caliphate.
Consequently, Ali Ibn Abu Talib became the fourth caliph of the Muslims.

Attributing Divinity to Caliph Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

During later years, Abdullah Ibn Saba became more extreme about his views about Ali
Ibn Abu-Talib and started attributing divinity to him. He did so by misinterpreting
Quranic verses and other false reports and ahadith (sayings of the prophet). As mentioned
earlier, while Abdullah Ibn Saba continued to profess his immense love for Ali Ibn Abu-
Talib (including attributing divinity to him), Ali never approved of his evil thinking. In
fact, later during his reign as a caliph, Ali repeatedly warned Ibn Saba from attributing
any divinity to him (Ali) as they were contradictory to the basic tenets of Islam. However,

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Abdullah Ibn Saba didn’t relent from doing so. As a result, Caliph Ali ordered his
imprisonment and later executed him for his crimes.

History is not clear on whether other supporters of Caliph Ali also joined Abdullah Ibn
Saba in attributing divinity to Caliph Ali Ibn Abu-Talib. The only present day group that
comes close to attributing such claims are the Alawites in Syria. Sunni scholars like Ibn
Taymiyyah therefore consider them to be out of the fold of Islam. Even the present day
mainstream Shia, who although revere Caliph Ali, don’t approve of attributing divinity
attributes to Ali. They instead refer to these sects as “Ghulat”, which means ‘those who
exaggerate’. This is discussed in further detail in a Shia book called ‘al-Rijaal of Abu-
Umar Muhammad Ibn Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Kashi’, a book considered authentic by
many Shiites.

Breaking away of the Shia from the Sunni

Although Abdullah Ibn Saba had visited many cities to get people to rally behind his
cause of denigrating the three caliphs and to remove Caliph Uthman from power in an
effort to replace Uthman with Caliph Ali, his support was strongest in Kufah. This is why
during the time when Ali Ibn Abu-Talib was the caliph and was experiencing his own
issues with ruling over Syria, he moved the center of his caliphate from Madinah to Kufah
where he had considerable support. This support for Ali and for his family continued in
the future even after his death and until the time of Hussein Ibn Ali when Hussein was
invited by the people of Kufa to lead them at a time when Yazeed Ibn Muawiyyah (a
Caliph from the Banu Umayyah clan) had become the ruler of the Muslim territories, and
they expressed their support to him to defect from the rule of Yazeed. This is one of the
primary reasons that Shias (Shiites) have a strong presence in present day Iraq, especially
in and around the cities of Kufa and Karbala.

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A few years later after the death of Caliph Ali, the ‘Shiat Ali’ eventually supported the
movement of another person named Mukhtar Al-Thaqafi (in the city of Kufah) who
according to Sunni historians further gave shape to some of the beliefs of the Shia that
continue until the present day. According to Sunni historians, Mukhtar had started his
rebellious movement to avenge the death of Hussein Ibn Ali (son of Ali Ibn Abu-Talib)
but did so by falsifying a lot of facts and in the process killed many from those who
supported the Banu Umayyah caliphate (which followed the caliphate of the first four
caliphs and who were primarily Sunnis) in later years. However, many in history consider
Mukhtar’s efforts to pursue the killers of Hussein Ibn Ali to gain the respect of the ‘Shiat
Ali’ group instead of him being true to the cause. It goes without saying therefore that
while Sunni historians accuse Mukhtar of committing many evils and killings and label
him as “Mukhtar the Liar”, the Shia consider him as a revolutionary who led a rebellion
against the Banu Umayyah (Umawi) caliphate to avenge the killing of Imam Hussein.
Recently, in 2012, the Iranians produced a Persian TV series called Mokhtarnameh to
commemorate his life.

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The following are pictures of Shia Mosques and Sites:

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References

Click here to listen to the summary of those events.

The Story of Islam, Muslims, and

the Caliphate

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History of Islam

Read an Islamic lecture on Shia history

Additional Resources on Shia Sunni

— End

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6 comments… add one

 ABDUL-KARIM ADAM

So glad to be receiving these articles. It will surely keep me and my immediate family
better informed and also strenghten our faith. May the almighty ALLAH richly bless you.
AMEEEEN.

 farida musa

Very educating. Jazakallahu khairan

 Jarod Glass

As-salaam-alakum

Thanks for sharing this is one of your best ones yet.

 Anonymous

Very educative. The like of Abdullah bin Saba are still amidst the Muslim ummah today.

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Jazakumullahu khair for the environment.

 ibrahim muhammad

thank you and God bless for what you have done in Islam

 AbdulHameed wasiya

Shkrn for wonderfl info abt our deen..may Allah save us all frm the evils of shiasm in our
communities…ameen!

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