Zaidiyyah
Zaidiyya, Zaidism or Zaydism (Arabic: الزيدية az-zaydiyya, adjective form Zaidi or Zaydi) is a Shī'a madhhab named after the Imām Zayd ibn ʻAlī. Followers of the Zaidi fiqh are called Zaidis (or occasionally, Fivers by Sunnis).
Zaidis constitute about 40-45% of the population in Yemen while Ja'faris and Isma'ilis make up 2-5%.[1] There are approximately 1.4 million Zaidis in Saudi Arabia.[2] They are primarily in the western provinces and constitute a mix of natives from Mecca and conquered territories such as Jizan, as well as Yemeni migrant workers.
Contents |
[edit] First Five Zaidi Imāms
 |
|---|
| Beliefs and practices |
| Succession of Ali Imamate of the Family Mourning of Muharram Intercession · Ismah The Occultation · Clergy |
| Views |
| The Qur'an · Sahaba Mu'awiya I · Abu Bakr Umar |
| Holy days |
| Ashura · Arba'een · Mawlid Eid ul-Fitr · Eid al-Adha Eid al-Ghadeer Eid al-Mubahila |
| History |
| Twelver · Ismāʿīlī · Zaidi The verse of purification Mubahala · Two things Khumm · Fatimah's house First Fitna · Second Fitna The Battle of Karbala Persecution |
| Ahl al-Kisa |
| Muhammad · Ali · Fatimah Hasan · Husayn |
| Some companions |
| Salman the Persian Miqdad ibn Aswad Abu Dharr al-Ghifari Ammar ibn Yasir Bilal ibn Rabah |
The Zaidis, Twelvers and Ismailis recognize the same first four Imams but differ on the fifth, after followers of Zayd ibn Ali, leader of a . After Zayd ibn Ali, the Zaidis recognized descendants of Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali to be eligible for the imamate. Other well known Zaidi imams in history were Yahya ibn Zayd, Muhammad al Nafs az-Zakiyah and Ibrahim ibn Abdullah.
| Muhammad | Prophet of Islam |
| Ali ibn Abu Talib | 1st Imam |
| Hasan ibn Ali | 2nd Imam |
| Husayn ibn Ali | 3rd Imam |
| Ali ibn Husayn (Zayn al Abidin) | 4th Imam |
| Zayd ibn Ali | 5th Imam |
[edit] Law
In matters of law or fiqh, the Zaidiyyah follow Zaid ibn Ali's teachings which are documented in his book Majmu' al-Fiqh (in Arabic: مجموع الفِقه). Zaidi fiqh shares much with the Hanafi and Ja'fari schools of jurisprudence.[3]
[edit] Theology
In matters of theology, the Zaidis are close to the Mu'tazili school, though they are not Mu'tazilite, since there are a few issues between both schools (most notably the Zaidi doctrine of the imamate imamah, which is rejected by Mu'tazilites). [4] Since Zaydi shares similar doctrines and jurisprudential opinions with Sunnis, Zaydis are even described by some as the fifth school of Sunni Islam.[5]
[edit] Beliefs
Traditionally, Zaidis have held that the leader of the Ummah must be a Sayyid, i.e. a descendant of the prophet Muhammad via his only surviving daughter Fatima, whose sons were al-Hassan and al-Hussain. They called themselves Zaidi so they can differentiate themselves from other Shias who opted not to fight with Imam Zaid and the following Imams. After Imam Zaid's revolution, many other Sayyids led revolts against tyrannical rulers.
The Zaidis do not believe in the infallibility of Imams or that the Imams receive divine guidance. Zaidis also do not believe that the Imamate must pass from father to son but believe it can be held by any Sayyid descended from either Hasan ibn Ali or Husayn ibn Ali. It must also be noted that Shi'i Twelvers do not necessarily believe in Imamate passing from father to son either, as can be seen from the transition of Imamate from the second Imam, Hasan ibn Ali, after his death to his brother Husayn ibn Ali.
| “ | The death of Imam Ali Zayn ul Abidin triggered the struggle for leadership between his two sons, Muhammad al Baqir and Zayd...Zayd rejected the principle of hereditary succession to the imamat, and asserted his own right to it on the ground that he was better qualified for it, because he fulfilled all the mecessary conditions for this purpose including the one that the Imam must rise in revolt against the unjust, oppressive rulers. | ” |
|
—Abdul Ali in Islamic dynasties of the Arab East: state and civilization during the later medieval times[6] |
||
Zaidis also reject the notion of Occultation (ghayba) of the "Hidden Imām". Like the Ismā'īlīs, they believe in a living visible Imām.[7]
Zaidis believe Zayd ibn Ali was the rightful successor to the Imāmate because he led a rebellion against the Umayyads, who he believed were tyrannical and corrupt. Muhammad al-Baqir did not engage in political action and the followers of Zayd believed that a true Imām must fight against corrupt rulers.[6] Abu Hanifa delivered a fatwa (legal verdict) in favor of Imam Zaid[citation needed] in his rebellion against Ummayid ruler of his time.
In fact, the 8th Imam Ali -al-Rida narrated how his grandfather Imam Jafar Sadiq (patron of both twelver and Ismaili sects) also supported Zayd bin Ali's struggle:
| “ | he was one of the scholars from the Household of Muhammad and got angry for the sake of the Honorable the Exalted God. He fought with the enemies of God until he got killed in His path. My father Musa ibn Ja’far narrated that he had heard his father Ja’far ibn Muhammad say, "May God bless my uncle Zayd...He consulted with me about his uprising and I told him, "O my uncle! Do this if you are pleased with being killed and your corpse being hung up from the gallows in the al-Konasa neighborhood." After Zayd left, As-Sadiq said, "Woe be to those who hear his call but do not help him!". | ” |
|
—Imam Ali ar-Ridha[8] |
||
Imam Jafar Sadiq's love for Zayd ibn Ali was so immense, he broke down and cried upon reading the letter informing him of his death and proclaimed:
| “ | From God we are and to Him is our return. I ask God for my reward in this calamity. He was a really good uncle. My uncle was a man for our world and for our Hereafter. I swear by God that my uncle is a martyr just like the martyrs who fought along with God’s Prophet (s) or Ali (s) or Al-Hassan (s) or Al-Hussein(s) | ” |
|
—Uyun Akhbar al-Reza- The Source of Traditions on Imam Ali ar-Ridha[9] |
||
[edit] Community and former States
Since the earliest form of Zaidism was of the Jarudiyya group,[10] many of the first Zaidi states, like those of the Alavids, Buyids, Ukhaidhirids[citation needed] and Rassids, were inclined to the Jarudiyya group.
The Idrisids (Arabic: الأدارسة) were Arab[11] Zaydi Shia[12][13][14][15][16][17] dynasty in the western Maghreb ruling from 788 to 985 C.E., named after its first sultan, Idriss I.
A Zaidi state was established in Daylaman and Tabaristan (northern Iran) in 864 C.E. by the Alavids;[18] it lasted until the death of its leader at the hand of the Samanids in 928 C.E. Roughly forty years later the state was revived in Gilan (north-western Iran) and survived under Hasanid leaders until 1126 C.E. After which from the 12th-13th centuries, the Zaidis of Daylaman, Gilan and Tabaristan then acknowledge the Zaidi Imams of Yemen or rival Zaidi Imams within Iran.[19]
The Buyids were initially Zaidi[20] as well as the Ukhaidhirite rulers of al-Yamama in the 9th and 10th centuries.[21]
The leader of the Zaidi community took the title of Caliph. As such, the ruler of Yemen was known as the Caliph, al-Hadi Yahya bin al-Hussain bin al-Qasim ar-Rassi Rassids (a descendant of Imam al-Hasan) who, at Sa'da, in c. 893-7 C.E., founded the Zaidi Imamate and this system continued until the middle of the 20th century, until the revolution of 1962 C.E. that deposed the Zaidi Imam (see Imams of Yemen). The founding Zaidism of Yemen was of the Jarudiyya group,[3] however with the increasing interaction with Hanafi and Shafi'i Sunni Islam, there was a shift from the Jarudiyya group, especially the Hadawi sub-sect, to the Sulaimaniyya group.
Currently the most prominent Zaidi movement is Hussein al-Houthi's Shabab Al Mu'mineen who have been engaged in a uprising against the Yemeni Government in which the Army has lost 743 men and thousands of innocent civilians have been killed or displaced by Houthi and government forces causing a grave humanitarian crisis in north Yemen. Shia Population of the Middle East[22]
Some Persian and Arab legends record that Zaidis fled to China from the Umayyads during the 8th century ce.[23]
[edit] See also
[edit] Al-Zaidi
[edit] Zaidi Wasitis
Zaidi Wasitis are twelver Shias but who claim descendancy from Imam Zayd bin Ali. They are not Zaydi Shia by sect, but twelver Ithna Aashariya.
[edit] Literature
- Cornelis van Arendonk : Les débuts de l'imamat zaidite au Yemen , Leyden , Brill 1960 (French)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.yemenincanada.ca/map.php : http://www.library.uu.nl/wesp/populstat/Asia/yemeng.htm
- ^ http://lexicorient.com/e.o/zayyidis.htm
- ^ a b Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, A short History of the Yemenite Shi‘ites (2005)
- ^ Sunni-Shi’i Schism: Less There Than Meets the Eye 1991 Page 24
- ^ Yemen: The Bradt Travel Guide By Daniel McLaughlin
- ^ a b Islamic dynasties of the Arab East: state and civilization during the later medieval times by Abdul Ali, M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd., 1996, p97
- ^ The Arab lands under Ottoman rule, 1516-1800 Jane Hathaway, Karl K. Barbir, 2008, p47
- ^ UYUN AKHBAR AL-REZA -The Source of Traditions on Imam Reza Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Hussein ibn Musa ibn Babawayh al-Qummi (Sheikh Sadooq), p466
- ^ UYUN AKHBAR AL-REZA -The Source of Traditions on Imam Reza Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Hussein ibn Musa ibn Babawayh al-Qummi (Sheikh Sadooq), p472
- ^ Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, A short History of the Yemenite Shi‘ites (2005) Referencing: Momen, p.50, 51. and S.S. Akhtar Rizvi, "Shi'a Sects"
- ^ Hodgson, Marshall (1961), Venture of Islam, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 262
- ^ Ibn Abī Zarʻ al-Fāsī, ʻAlī ibn ʻAbd Allāh (1340), Rawḍ al-Qirṭās: Anīs al-Muṭrib bi-Rawd al-Qirṭās fī Akhbār Mulūk al-Maghrib wa-Tārīkh Madīnat Fās, ar-Rabāṭ: Dār al-Manṣūr (published 1972), pp. 38
- ^ http://hespress.com/?browser=view&EgyxpID=5116, http://hespress.com/?browser=view&EgyxpID=5116
- ^ Introduction to Islamic theology and law, By Ignác Goldziher, Bernard Lewis, pg.218
- ^ Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 24, By James Hastings, pg.844
- ^ The Idrisids
- ^ Shi'ah tenets concerning the question of the imamate
- ^ Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, A short History of the Yemenite Shi‘ites (2005) Referencing: Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature
- ^ Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, A short History of the Yemenite Shi‘ites (2005) Referencing: Encyclopedia Iranica
- ^ Walker, Paul Ernest (1999), written at London ; New York, Hamid Al-Din Al-Kirmani: Ismaili Thought in the Age of Al-Hakim, Ismaili Heritage Series, 3, I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies., pp. 13, ISBN 1860643213
- ^ 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. Brill Online. 07 December 2007 [1]
- ^ The Gulf 2000 Project SIPA Columbia University
- ^ Donald Daniel Leslie (1998). "The Integration of Religious Minorities in China: The Case of Chinese Muslims". The Fifty-ninth George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology. p. 6. http://www.islamicpopulation.com/asia/China/China_integration%20of%20religious%20minority.pdf. Retrieved 30 November 2010..
