Product Code Database
Zaydism (), also referred to as Fiver Shi'ism, is a branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali's unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate.
Zaydism is one of the three main branches of Shi'ism, with the other two being Twelverism and Ismailism.Zaydism is typically considered the Shia branch that is closest to Sunni Islam, although the "classical" form of Zaydism (usually referred to as Hadawi) historically changed its stance on Sunni and Shia traditions multiple times, to the point where Zaydis' simply accepting Ali as a rightful successor to Muhammad was enough to consider them Shia. Twelver Shias sometimes consider Zaydism to be a "fifth Madhhab" of Sunni Islam.
Zaydis regard rationalism as more important than Quranic literalism and historically were quite tolerant towards Shafi'i Sunnism, a religion of about half of the Yemenis. Most of the world's Zaydis are located in northern Yemen and Najran, Saudi Arabia.
The Zaydis formed the states in what is now known as northern Iran (Tabaristan, 864 Common era, by Hasan ibn Zayd, expanded to Daylam and Gilan) and later in Yemen (893 CE, by al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya). The Zaydis on the Caspian Sea were forcefully converted to Twelver Shi'ism in the 16th century.
The Zaydis in Yemen had initially lived in the highlands and the northern territories, but extent of their dominance away from their capital of 7 centuries, Saada, had been changing over time. Rassid dynasty was established after an Ottoman Empire invasion in the 16th century. After another interaction with Ottomans, a new succession line was started in the 19th century by Muhammad bin Yahya Hamid ad-Din. With minor interruptions, these two dynasties ruled in Yemen until the creation of Yemen Arab Republic in 1962. While the rulers ostensibly conformed to Hadawi law (thus the "imamate"), the doctrines had to be modified to allow hereditary, as opposed to traditional merit-based, selection of imams.
The end of imam rule in 1962, with the new rulers in Yemen no longer conforming to the requirements of Zaydism, caused Zaydi scholars to call for the restoration of the imamate. This contributed to the North Yemen Civil War that lasted from 1962 to 1970. The national reconciliation of 1970 paused the fighting with traumatized Zaydis following three main routes:
| + Batri vs. Jarudi |
| Ali was clearly named by Muhammad. |
| Ali's opponents were apostates and can be cursed. |
| Only the most worthy candidate shall become an imam. |
| Only Ali's and Fatima's descendants have legal authority. |
| Raj'a, taqiyya, and bada are accepted. |
Zaydis' theological literature emphasizes social justice and human responsibility and their political implications—i.e., Muslims have an ethical and legal obligation by their religion to rise up and depose unjust leaders, including unrighteous and .
Unlike Twelver and Isma'ili Shi'ism, Zaydis do not believe in the ismah and reject the notion of nass imamate,
but believe that an Imam can be any descendant of Hasan ibn ʻAlī or Husayn ibn ʻAlī. Zaydis believe that Zayd ibn Ali, in his last hour, was betrayed by the people in Kufa.Zaydis reject anthropomorphism and instead take a Rationalism approach to scriptural uses of anthropomorphic expressions, as illustrated in works such as the Kitāb al-Mustarshid by the 9th-century Zaydi imam al-Qasim al-Rassi.
The Jarudiyya were active during the late Umayyad Caliphate and early Abbasid Caliphate. Its views, although predominant among the later Zaydis, especially in Yemen under the Hadawi sub-sect, became extinct in Iraq and Iran due to forced conversion of the present religious sects to Twelver Shi'ism by the Safavid dynasty. Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution. Nikki R Keddie, Yann Richard, pp. 13, 20
The second group, the Sulaymaniyya, named for Sulayman ibn Jarir, held that the Imamate should be a matter to be decided by consultation. They felt that the companions, including Abu Bakr and 'Umar, had been in error in failing to follow 'Ali but it did not amount to sin.
The third group is known as the Batriyya, Tabiriyya, or Salihiyya for Kathir an-Nawa al-Abtar and Hasan ibn Salih. Their beliefs are virtually identical to those of the Sulaymaniyya, except they see Uthman also as in error but not in sin.Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, At-tarikh aṣ-ṣaghir 'an ash-shia al-yamaniyeen (Arabic: التاريخ الصغير عن الشيعة اليمنيين, A short History of the Yemenite Shi‘ites), 2005 Referencing: Momen, pp. 50, 51. and S.S. Akhtar Rizvi, "Shi'a Sects"
The term rafida was a term used by Zayd ibn Ali on those who rejected him in his last hours for his refusal to condemn the first two Caliphs of the Muslim world, Abu Bakr and Umar. The Waning of the Umayyad Caliphate by Tabarī, Carole Hillenbrand, 1989, p. 37 Zayd bitterly scolds the "rejectors" ( rafidha) who deserted him, an appellation used by Salafis to refer to Twelver Shi'a to this day. The Encyclopedia of Religion Vol.16, Mircea Eliade, Charles J. Adams, Macmillan, 1987, p. 243. "They were called "Rafida by the followers of Zayd...the term became a pejorative nickname among Sunni Muslims, who used it, however to refer to the Imamiyah's repudiation of the first three caliphs preceding Ali..."
According to Zaydi traditions, Rāfiḍa referred to those who deserted and refused to support Zayd ibn Ali, who had a favourable view of the first two Rashidun Caliphs.
In Twelver accounts, Imam Ali al-Ridha narrated how his grandfather, Ja'far al-Sadiq, also supported Zayd ibn Ali's struggle:
Jafar al-Sadiq's love for Zayd ibn Ali was so immense that he broke down and cried upon reading the letter informing him of his death and proclaimed:
However, in other hadiths, narrated in Al-Kafi, the main Shia book of hadith, Zayd ibn Ali is criticized by his half-brother, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, for his revolt against the Umayyad Dynasty. According to Alexander Shepard, an Islamic Studies specialist, much of Twelver hadith and theology was written to counter Zaydism.'"Al-Kulayni’s Sectarian Polemics: Anti-Zaydi and Anti-Ghulat Hadiths in Twelver Literature". Center for the Study of Middle East, Global and International Studies Building, 5 November 2019. 'https://www.academia.edu/video/lvaQP1
The Alavids established a Zaydi state in Deylaman and Tabaristan (northern Iran) in 864;Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, At-tarikh aṣ-ṣaghir 'an ash-shia al-yamaniyeen (Arabic: التاريخ الصغير عن الشيعة اليمنيين, A short History of the Yemenite Shi‘ites), 2005 Referencing: Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature it lasted until the death of its leader at the hand of the Sunni Samanids in 928. Roughly forty years later, the state was revived in Gilan (northwest Iran) and survived until 1126. Historically, there was a small community of Zaydi Kurds between Iran and Iraq.كتاب دائرة المعارف: من سليكون الى صلاح الدينية. ١٠, Volume 10, Buṭrus al- Bustānī, 1898, pp. 614
From the 12th–13th centuries, Zaydi communities acknowledged the Imams of Yemen or rival Imams within Iran.Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, At-tarikh aṣ-ṣaghir 'an ash-shia al-yamaniyeen (Arabic: التاريخ الصغير عن الشيعة اليمنيين, A short History of the Yemenite Shi‘ites), 2005 Referencing: Encyclopedia Iranica
The Buyid dynasty was initially Zaidi as were the Banu Ukhaidhir rulers of al-Yamama in the 9th and 10th centuries.Madelung, W. "al-Uk̲h̲ayḍir." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. [1]
The leader of the Zaidi community took the title of Caliph. As such, the ruler of Yemen was known as the Caliph. Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, a descendant of Imam Hasan ibn Ali, founded this Rassids state at Sa'da, al-Yaman, in c. 893–897. The Rassid Imamate continued until the middle of the 20th century, when a 1962 revolution deposed the Imam. After the fall of the Zaydi Imamate in 1962 many Zaydi Shia in northern Yemen had converted to Sunni Islam.
The Rassid state was founded under Jarudiyya thought;Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, At-tarikh aṣ-ṣaghir 'an ash-shia al-yamaniyeen (Arabic: التاريخ الصغير عن الشيعة اليمنيين, A short History of the Yemenite Shi‘ites), 2005 however, increasing interactions with Hanafi and Shafi'i schools of Sunni Islam led to a shift to Sulaimaniyyah thought, especially among the Hadawi sub-sect.
In the 21st century, the most prominent Zaidi movement is the Shabab Al Mu'mineen, commonly known as Houthis, who have been engaged in an uprising against the Yemeni Government, causing a grave humanitarian crisis in north Yemen.
Some Persian and Arab legends record that Zaidis fled to China from the Umayyads during the 8th century.
On 21 September 2014, an agreement was signed in Sana'a under United Nations patronage essentially giving the Houthis control of the government after a decade of conflict. Tribal militias then moved swiftly to consolidate their position in the capital, with the group officially declaring direct control over the state on 6 February 2015. This outcome followed the removal of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012 in the wake of protracted Arab Spring protests. Saudi Arabia has exercised the predominant external influence in Yemen since the withdrawal of Nasser's Egyptian expeditionary force marking the end of the bitter North Yemen Civil War.
There is a wide array of domestic opponents to Houthi rule in Yemen, ranging from the conservative Sunni Islah Party to the secular socialist Southern Movement to the radical Islamists of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and, since 2014, the Islamic State – Yemen Province.
|
|
