aka Shia, a sub-group in Islam, they are a minority who interpret versus of the Quran and Hadith differently.

The major group is Sunni.

But in the end the main beliefs/points in Islam are believed to be the same.

For example the five pillars of Islam: One God, Muhammad was his last/final messenger, five daily prayers, to fast, to give charity, and the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Shiite branch of Islam started as a political movement supporting Ali which was the cousin and son in law of Muhammad, the Prophet, as the rightful leader of Islam.

The Islamic religion was founded by Muhammad in the seventh century. In 622 he founded the first Islamic state, a theocracy in Medina, a city in western Saudi Arabia located north of Mecca. There are two major branches of the religion he founded.

The largest group, called the Sunnis believe that the first four caliphs--Muhammad's successors--rightfully took his place as the leaders of Islam. They recognize the heirs of the four caliphs as legitimate religious leaders. These heirs ruled continuously in the Arab world until the break-up of the Ottoman Empire following the end of the First World War.

The smaller of the major groups are the Shi'ites. There are a number of subdivisions under the 'umbrella' of 'Shi'a' and although they differ in the details all of them believe that only the heirs of the fourth caliph, Ali, are the legitimate successors of Muhammad.

The Shi'ites call these successors Imams. Shi'ites do not accept that the Imam is to be only a political leader but they believe that they are literally 'manifestations of God', they are sinless, infallible and the bringers of true understanding to all humanity. They are referred to within the Shi'ite tradition as being masum, that is, free from error or sin. The last Imam, the Mahdi, is believed not to have died but to be in hiding and Shi'ites believe that he will appear at the end of time in order to bring about the victory of the Shi'a faith (see third paragraph below).

The main groups under the Shi'ite umbrella are the Zaydiyyah or Fivers, the Isma'iliyyah or Seveners and the Imamiyyah or Twelvers. The numbers five, seven and twelve refer to the last authorised interpreter of the law or Imam that each group accepts. Of the three the Twelvers are the biggest & it was in 931 that the Twelfth Imam disappeared.

This was a seminal event in the history of these Shi'ite Muslims. According to R. Scott Appleby, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, "Shi'ite Muslims, who are concentrated in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, [believe they] had suffered the loss of divinely guided political leadership" at the time of the Imam's disappearance. Not "until the ascendancy of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1978" did they believe that they had once again begun to live under the authority of a legitimate religious figure.

The other important concept in Shi'ite Islam concerning the Imam (regardless of whether he was the Fifth, the Seventh or the Twelfth) is that he will return. He is called the Mahdi and will bring about the Kingdom of God on earth after an apocalyptic battle between the forces of Islam and the rest of the world. [Note that other groups descended from Shi'ia Islam such as the Babis and Baha'is define the 'battle at the end of time' as a symbolic or metaphysical one rather than an actual battle.]

A useful site for information on the various groups is the Overview of World Religions site hosted by St Martin's College in the UK.

http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/islam/shia/index.html

Answer

Shia and Sunni have mostly same beliefs and both believe in fundamental beliefs of Islam. Today there is up to 260 sects in Islam that are in two main categories of shia and sunni.

the conflict of shia and sunni has been always amplified by world Imperialism to prevent Islam from gaining power.

Shia believes in Allah, prophet and all fundamentals of Islam.

Shia pray 5 times a day but usually do the 2, 3 and 4, 5 pray together and so may seem they do only 3 pray a day. there is some differences in details of pray like genuflect (for shia should be on a stone or part of earth and for sunni on carpet or floor ).

shia believe after death of prophet God selected the successive for prophet who is the political leader of Muslim community and people can not and does not the right to selected it.

Shia believes the Caliph (Representative of God in earth) is selected only by God and can not be selected by people because God said in Koran: "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority" (Quran 2:30) or "O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth" (Quran 38:26) also other verses.

Shia believes such verses means only God can select an Islamic political leader (Caliph).

In Shia Islam Caliphs after prophet are 12 Imams and all of them are the same and have no mistake and have the knowledge of everything (not absolute knowledge like knowledge of God) and they hear all sayings and even thinks of all humans after even after their death by permission of God and they are intermediates between God and human Shia Muslims always support them and forgive their lives for them.

Shia Muslims do not consider selection of Abubakr as Caliph by people valid because God did not select him. They believe God ordered prophet to declare people that Ali is selected as successor of prophet and prophet did this mission many times during his prophet-hood and mainly in Ghadir event after last Hajj of his life at a 3-4 hour speech in front of 120,000 Muslims at Ghadir in hot desert after 2 days stop of long caravan for gathering and 3 days after speech for congratulations and homage of Muslims to Ali. Islam at that time had high power in world and Some companions had high interest in leadership position after prophet. Muslims knew that it is the final Hajj of prophet (predicted by prophet) and were going along with prophet to hear what prophet says at end of his life. Shia believes Ghadir event is the most important event of Islam and is mentioned in Koran in many verses like "Today" (اليوم) in verse 5:3 of Quran is the day of Ghadir. Or Verse 5:67 (O Messenger! proclaim the (message) which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission. And Allah will defend thee from men (who mean mischief). For Allah guideth not those who reject Faith) is revealed at Ghadir day and is about declaring political leadership of Ali after prophet.

Both Sunni and Shia Muslims accept happening of Ghadir event But different interpret. Some Sunni writers tried to reject the event of Ghadir as declare of leadership of Ali and said at Ghadir prophet only wanted to say Ali is my friend and no one should bother him. Ali had 3 different missions to Yemen by prophet during 10 years and in 2 of them some companions of prophet had some conflicts with Ali and and prophet said some sayings about Ali to solve conflicts and some sunni writers have mixed stories of missions of Ali to Yemen with story of Ghadir to prove Ghadir event is not about Leadership of Ali and is not important.

Shia scholars believe some Sunni writers have changed and deviated historical evidences about political leadership of Ali in old historical books and republished them to destroy evidences of leadership of Ali from old Sunni books.

The famous Shia book Al-Ghadir (الغدير) by Allameh Amini is a collection of evidences and proofs for Ghadir Events written after referring to 100,000 Sunni books and full reading of 10,000 sunny books. Allameh Amini is a famous Shia scholar and spent 40 years of his life in travelling to access original old Sunni books in libraries in different countries to write this 20 volume book only from Sunni books and not using any Shia book. Some Sunni scholars tried to reply this book but then said if we want to reply this book we should first destroy all books of ourselves.

Shia doctrine have root in Karbala tragedy. When tragedy of Karbala happened most of Iranians understood there is two different kinds of Islam and after happening of Karbala tragedy most of Iranians became followers of "Ahl al-Bayt" and forgive their lives for them like what they did in Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq War. Shia Muslims have at least 120,000 Hadith (saying) from The Fourteen Infallibles that is the base of Shia Islam along with Quran. Shia believes according to " Hadith of the two weighty things" The Fourteen Infallibles are the only valid interpreters of Quran and sayings of them are from God because they are Representative of God in earth and they do not say anything from themselves. Shia believes 12th of them (Mahdi) is alive and because people have killed all 11 Imams before him, he is in hide like Jesus and will come out of hide toghether with Jesus when people become ready and want to accept his leadership. All 11 Imams have been killed and during their life thy all have been in prison or under hard control of government to not have any political action. They never had enough serious followers to can get political power. Among them only the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was relatively free in his life to have only scientific activities (but banned from any political action) and so only he is known in west because he established university and had students from all over the world. Westerns know him as a polymath: an astronomer, alchemist, Imam, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, writer, philosopher, physician, physicist and scientist. He was also the teacher of the famous chemist, Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), and of Abū Ḥanīfa, the founder of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. He never wanted be a famous man and only shared his knowledge with who wanted to learn. Some researchers consider his teachings the root cause of renaissance.

Sunni Muslims also accept Mahdi and his worldwide leadership as Caliph of God in earth at end of world. There is a famous Hadith from prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that Mahdi at hide is like sun behind cloud, he is hidden from people but people receive his benefits. Shia Muslims say some faithful believers have connection with Mahdi and use his knowledge. Shia Muslims believe that it is proved at least 1000 persons have had connection and talk with Mahdi during his hide period but Any one having relation with Mahdi keep it and does not declare it in public until is alive.

A Shia is another group that is similar to a Sunni. They are Muslims but believe in 12 Imams who devoutly followed Islam after the death of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

The English term 'shiite' means a member of the branch of Islam that regards Ali as the legitimate successor to Mohammed and rejects the first three caliphs

Answer 1

According to shia Muslims any Muslims that does not believe in Imamat (Islamic leadership) as one of five pillars of Islam.

A branch of Muslims that believe in Imamat as one of five pillars of Islam. Imamat means that based on Quran only God has the right to select the leader and no human even prophet SAWW has such a right. Imam (political leader) has divine knowledge of prophet SAWW from God and is the only human that can lead all humans to all be in welfare and can meet God. according to shia prophet declared 12 Imams for leadership of humans after his death but for some political reasons they never could lead humans and all of them were killed or poisoned for political reasons. according to shia 12th Imam is currently alive and by will of God has a long life and guides and protects real believers all over the world but he is in occultation untill people of world really want him as their leader and do not kill him like his 11 fathers who were Imams of their own times after prophet. according to shia granted from God, Imam has the power of controlling all the universe (miracle) and can perform any miracle and has knowledge of everything ( but still there are things that only God knows). but he use this power only when is needed to protect real believers and surviev of real Islam for truth seekers.

when prophet Muhammad SAWW died and Ali a.s was at funeral of prophet SAWW quickly a leader was elected while prophet SAWW was not still buried. and it was start of division between supporters of Ali a.s. and supporter of elected ruler.

They just got divided on the way the successor of the prophet (after his death) should be. some of top Arab tribe bosses at Saqifeh elected Abou Bakr to be the first Caliph after prophet Muhammad (PBUH) death and other Muslims were forced and even killed (for example سعد ابن عباده Saad Ib Ebadeh) to accept this ruler. Some like Ali a.s., Salman, Abuzar, Miqdad, Bilal,... disagreed this election. they believed that the successor should be Ali a.s. because God selected him as leader and not because he is relative of prophet SAWW. However, after the election of AbouBakr, they did not fight for power and Ali a.s helped the elected Caliph for survive of real Islam and to big enemies like Roman and Persian empires can not destroy Islam using civil war of Muslims. and always declared his disagreement with this election bu did not made civil war for power. The same scenario was repeated after election of Umar as the second Caliph by will of Abubakr and Othman as the third Caliph by election in a 6 persons meeting. when Muslims killed Uthman for his corruptions Ali a.s. was then elected as the fourth Caliph by majority of Muslims while he was not interested in power.

However, Sunnis and Shiites are two Islamic schools that differ in major (pillars of Islam) and minor issues. The world Imperialists know Islam is truth and if people know this they will lost power. so they try to make wars between Muslim groups to gain control on Muslim countries and on their resources. for example they bomb a shia mosque and tell in media that sunni did it and so on. The two main groups are Sunnis and Shiites. Both groups agree upon basic Islam pillars(unless Imamat (Islamic rules for political leadership)) and believe in same and only version of Quran and follow the sunnah of same prophet (PBUH), pray to same direction (facing Kaba in Makkah or Mecca in Saudi Arabia, go to same places on pilgrimage (or Hajj), and adhere to same Islam morals and ritual worships. Thier main differ is in Imamat.shia beleives based on Quran and Islam the only one who has the right to elect the leader is God and Muslims do not have such a right in Islam.

Shiite is a member of the branch of Islam that regards Ali as the legitimate successor to Mohammed.

It is a sect in Islam. a sect is something that has same common faith which is (there is no god but Allah to be prayed, and Muhammed is his messenger) and different other things such as how to pray, and how many days do u have to fast, and how to get married, and other things which a relegion offers, among all of these sects only one is true, and no one knows which one is true and on right path, its a fate that has to happen, god has already told Muslims about it...

The Islamic religion was founded by Muhammed in the seventh century. In 622 he founded the first Islamic state, a theocracy in Medina, a city in western Saudi Arabia located north of Mecca. There are two major branches of the religion he founded.

The largest group, called the Sunnis believe that the first four caliphs--Muhammed's successors--rightfully took his place as the leaders of Islam. They recognize the heirs of the four caliphs as legitimate religious leaders. These heirs ruled continuously in the Arab world until the break-up of the Ottoman Empire following the end of the First World War.

A useful site for information on the various groups is the Overview of World Religions site hosted by St Martin's College in the UK.

http://philtar.ucsm.ac.UK/encyclopedia/Islam/shia/index.HTML

shia and sunni have mainly conflict on Imamat (leadership).

shia say Imamat is one of 5 pillars of Islam and only God can select leader for people. but sunni say Imamat is not part of Islam and leader can be selected by people by any method like shura (for example for Abubakr) or by will of previous leader for example for Omar) or by people (for example for Ali).

the conflict of shia and sunni has been always amplified by world Imperialism to prevent Islam from spreading in world.

Shia believes in Allah, prophet and all fundamentals of Islam.

shia believe after death of prophet God selected the successive for prophet who is the political leader of Muslim community and people can not and does not the right to selected it.

shia refers to many verse of Quran like: "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority" (Quran 2:30) or "O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth" (Quran 38:26) also other verses.

Shia believes such verses means only God can select an Islamic political leader (Caliph) and there is no mention in Quran people have the right to select leader. and shura is not allowed to be used for selecting leader and prophet himself always selected leaders of wars and other leaders by command of God.

In Shia Islam Caliphs after prophet are 12 infallible Imams who have inherited divine knowledge of prophet.

Islam at that time had high power in world and Some companions had high interest in leadership position after prophet. Muslims knew that it is the final Hajj of prophet (predicted by prophet) and were going along with prophet to hear what prophet says at end of his life.

Shia believes Ghadir event is the most important event of Islam and is mentioned in Koran in many verses like "Today" (اليوم) in verse 5:3 of Quran is the day of Ghadir. Or Verse 5:67: "(O Messenger! proclaim the (message) which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission. And Allah will defend thee from men (who mean mischief). For Allah guide not those who reject Faith)" is revealed at Ghadir day and is about declaring political and spiritual leadership of Ali S.A. after prophet.

Both Sunni and Shia Muslims accept happening of Ghadir event But different interpret. Some Sunni writers tried to reject the event of Ghadir as declare of leadership of Ali S.A. and said at Ghadir prophet only wanted to say Ali S.A. is my friend and no one should bother him.

Ali S.A. had 3 different missions to Yemen by prophet during 10 years and in 2 of them some companions of prophet had some conflicts with Ali S.A. and prophet said some sayings about Ali S.A. to solve conflicts and some sunni writers have mixed stories of missions of Ali S.A. to Yemen with story of Ghadir to prove Ghadir event is not about Leadership of Ali and is not important.

Shia scholars believe some Sunni writers who were related to Kings have changed and deviated historical evidences about political leadership of Ali S.A. in old historical books and republished them to destroy evidences of leadership of Ali from old Sunni books.

The famous Shia book Al-Ghadir (الغدير) by Allameh Amini is a collection of evidences and proofs for Ghadir Events written all from sunni historical books by referring to 100,000 Sunni books and full reading of 10,000 sunni books. Allameh Amini is a famous Shia scholar and spent 40 years of his life in traveling to access original old Sunni books in libraries in different countries to write this 20 volume book only from Sunni books and not using any Shia book. Some Sunni scholars tried to reply this book but then said if we want to reply this book we should first destroy all sunni books.

Shia doctrine have root in Battle Karbala.

When tragedy of Karbala happened most of Iranians understood there is two different interpret of Islam that both can not be true. so most of Iranians became shia and followers of "Ahl al-Bayt" and forgive their lives for them like what they did in Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq War.

Shia Muslims have at least 120,000 Hadith (saying) from The Fourteen Infallibles that is the base of Shia Islam along with Quran.

Shia believes according to " Hadith of the two weighty things" The Fourteen Infallible are the only valid interpreters of Quran and sayings of them are from God because they are Representative of God in earth and they have inherited divine knowledge of prophet.

Shia believes 12th of them (Imam Mahdi S.A.) is alive and because people have killed all 11 Imams before him, he is in occultation like Jesus S.A. and will rise with Jesus S.A. when people become ready and want to accept his leadership. All 11 Imams have been killed and during their life they all have been in prison or under hard control of government to not have any political activity.

They never had enough serious followers to can get political power. Among them only the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was relatively free (for transition of power between Umayyads and Abbasids) to have only scientific activities and so only he is known in west because he established university and had students from all over the world. Westerns know him as a polymath: an astronomer, alchemist, Imam, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, writer, philosopher, physician, physicist and scientist. He was also the teacher of the famous chemist, Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), and of Abū Ḥanīfa, the founder of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. He never wanted be a famous man and only shared his knowledge with seekers of knowledge. Some researchers consider his teachings the root cause of renaissance.

Sunni Muslims also accept Mahdi and his worldwide leadership as Caliph of God in earth at end of world. There is a famous Hadith from prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that Mahdi at occultation is like sun behind cloud, he is hidden from people but people receive his benefits.

Shia Muslims say some faithful believers have connection with Mahdi and use his knowledge and at least 1000 persons have had connection and talk with Mahdi during his occultation but Any one having relation with Mahdi S.A. should keep it secret and does not declare it in public until death.

Shia Islam is the A branch of Muslims that believe in Imamat as one of five pillars of Islam. Imamat means that based on Quran only God has the right to select the leader and no human even prophet SAWW has such a right. Imam (political leader) has divine knowledge of prophet SAWW from God and is the only human that can lead all humans to all be in welfare and can meet God. according to shia prophet declared 12 Imams for leadership of humans after his death but for some political reasons they never could lead humans and all of them were killed or poisoned for political reasons. according to shia 12th Imam is currently alive and by will of God has a long life and guides and protects real believers all over the world but he is in occultation untill people of world really want him as their leader and do not kill him like his 11 fathers who were Imams of their own times after prophet. according to shia granted from God, Imam has the power of controlling all the universe (miracle) and can perform any miracle and has knowledge of everything ( but still there are things that only God knows). but he use this power only when is needed to protect real believers and surviev of real Islam for truth seekers.

Human has freedom and beleiving in Shia Islam or Sunni Islam is a personal choice and according to Quran no compulsion should be in religion. every human is free claim one is better but it needs reasoning and evidence based on Quran and Hadith and authentic history. when prophet Muhammad SAWW died and Ali a.s was at funeral of prophet SAWW quickly a leader was elected while prophet SAWW was not still buried. and it was start of division between supporters of Ali a.s. and supporter of elected ruler.

Real Muslims. and the followers of the prophet sunna.cos the prophet said at gadir qum that after him is ALI[AS] MAN KUNTU MAWLAA HUU, FAHAAZAA ALIHU MAWLAA...[ARBIC]

The Shia are a sect of Islam.

Shia adherents and sunnies have the same basic belief except a few minor differences. The Shias claim that instead of first three Rightful Caliphs, the fourth Rightful Caliph Hazrat Ali (RAU) should have been chosen the First Caliph. The other differences are the creation of later people. The Sunni and Shia scholars have joined hands and sat together to solve the problems amicably. They have decided to tolerate each other and to avoid highlighting such matters as create hatred and enmity. May Allah Karim bless us with tolerance of all riligions and all humans! A'meen.

Any Muslim who believes Imamt is one of the five pillars of Islam.

shia and sunni have mainly conflict on Imamat (leadership).

the conflict of shia and sunni has been always amplified by world Imperialism to prevent Islam from spreading in world.

Shia believes in Allah, prophet and all fundamentals of Islam.

shia believe after death of prophet God selected the successive for prophet who is the political leader of Muslim community and people can not and does not the right to selected it.

In Shia Islam Caliphs after prophet are 12 infallible Imams who have inherited divine knowledge of prophet.

Shia doctrine have root in Battle Karbala.

Shia Muslims have at least 120,000 Hadith (saying) from The Fourteen Infallibles that is the base of Shia Islam along with Quran.

The First Principle

Tawhid (Monotheism)

According to the Imamiyah faith (shia ), every sane thinking person has a moral duty to know his Creator. He should believe in His Oneness and Divinity, and should ascribe no partner to Him in His Actions. He should also believe that creation, sustenance, life and death are governed by Him alone. He is the All-pervading, and if somebody ascribes sustenance, creation, or the giving of life and death to anyone else except God, he will be considered an unbeliever (kafir), someone who ascribes partners to God in His work (mushrik) and will be excluded from the Islamic fold.

Similarly, in obedience and worship of God sincerity is necessary. That is, if somebody worships anything else other than God Almighty, or adores someone or something else, or considers worship of something other than Him as a means of nearness to Him, he also, according to the Imamiyah faith, shall be regarded as an unbeliever.

Worship of anyone except God, the One without any partner, is not lawful. Obedience to anybody except God the Almighty, the Holy Prophets, and the Holy Imams is also not permissible.

Obedience to the Prophets and the Imams is indirectly obedience to God, because they are the ones who proclaim of the divine command; but to obey them with the idea that it is worship of God is unlawful and purely a satanic deceit. To seek blessings from these revered persons, to make them a means of intervention between ourselves and God, and also to offer certain prayers at their graves is lawful because this is worship of God and not worship of them. This is quite an obvious difference. According to the Holy words of God the Almighty, "in houses which God has permitted to be raised to honour, for the celebration in them of his name", it is lawful to offer prayers to God in these sacred places. This is the faith of "tawhid" of the Imamiyah sect, which is unanimously supported by all our 'ulama'.

The subject of the monotheism has been divided into several types: "tawhid ad-hdhat" (the Essence of the one God), "tawhid as-siffat" (the Attributes of the One God), "tawhid al-af'al" (the Actions of the One God). For the sake of brevity we will not dwell on this topic.

The Second Principle

'Adl (Justice)

God the Almighty is not unjust to anybody, nor does He commit any action which could be considered bad by man's primordial sense- This is what is known as'adl (justice). Justice is one of the attributes of Almighty God , existence of which is necessary. It is essential, like all the other attributes of Oneness. The Ash'arites differ greatly in their beliefs from the Imamiyah and the Mu'tazilah (the Imamiyah and the Mu'tazilah are both called "'Adliyah") The reason for this opposition is that the Ash'arites reject "goodness and badness" as rational concepts, and affirm rather that "goodness" is that which is called "good" by religion, and "badness" that which the code of religion calls "bad". They regard knowledge of the Creator and recognition of the prophets as being outside the scope of the intellect; they accept miracles according to the dictates of religion, and they completely discard the dictates of wisdom. Consequently they are in perplexity.

The '"Adliyah" (that is, the Imamiyah and the Mu'tazilah) maintain that Islam is in accordance with reason.

Reason considers some actions good and some actions bad, and it is reason too which considers a bad act to be impossible for God the Almighty. He is All-wise and a bad action would be contrary to the dictates of His wisdom.

To chastise an obedient person is unjust, and injustice is a bad action; reason assures us that the Creator of the world could not unjustly chastise obedient Muslims as this would be a bad action.

The Imamiyah sect have paid special attention to the problem of 'adl and have included this attribute among the fundamentals of religion. (It is worthy of note here that the Ash'arites do not themselves deny justice; their faith in this respect is that whatever God the Almighty does cannot affect justice and goodness; they are of the view that wisdom is so insignificant that it cannot decide as to whether one thing is appropriate for God and another thing inappropriate.) The Imamiyah have clearly demonstrated that the best criterion for testing goodness and badness is wisdom. It is through this means that we have come to the conclusion that the All-perfect Being (God) must have all good attributes and be free from all imperfections.

On the basis of this view of goodness and badness, and faith in the justice of God, certain other beliefs have formed: the notion of "lutf" (God's all-permeating benevolence and blessing), and the belief that it is the duty of a Muslim to thank God, Who has given him everything. The notions of "jabr" and "iktiyar" (the coercion of man by God and the freedom of man to act as he wishes respectively) are closely connected to the ideas of goodness and badness.

Absolute destiny and freewill have always been a major subject of discussion in every philosophy or religion. The Ash'arites believed in "jabr", and the Mu'tazilah and the Imamiyah held and still hold the view that every man is free and independent: he can do everything voluntarily, and perform all his actions with his own will; Like the existence of self, the faculty of volition is also a gift from God. The Creator of the universe created people and gave them freedom of action; absolute authority is God's alone, but in his day-to-day speech and actions man is quite independent. God, the Almighty, neither forces anyone to some action, nor restrains him from doing it; the sons of Adam do as they please. It is for the same reason that the intellect demands that a crime be punished and a good act rewarded or praised.

If we do not follow this basic rule, reward and punishment, the sending of the prophets, the revelation of the Books, and the promise of Gehenna or Paradise in the hereafter becomes meaningless.

There is, unfortunately, no further room for discussion within the restricted framework of this book. We would refer the reader to part I of our book "ad-Din wa 'l-Islam".

In short the Imamiyah religion believes that God is "adil" (just) and that man is independent and free to act Ma'ad (the Day of Judgement)

Like all Muslims, the Shi'as believe that Almighty God will bring all people to life again for accountability, punishment and reward on the Day of Judgement. Ma'ad involves the appearance of every person before his Lord in exactly the same human bodily form he had while on earth. It is not necessary to know in what way the return will be effected; suffice it to say that whatever has been stated about final requital and accountability in the Book of God and the authentic traditions is a part of our faith, namely, belief in hell or paradise, comfort or pain in "al-barzakh" (i.e. purgatory), "al-mizan" (the balance), "'as-sirat" (the path), "'al-a'raf" ("the heights", a place situated between paradise and hell), and "kitabu 'l-a'mal" (the record of deeds) which will show all the deeds one has done in one's life. The Shi'as therefore finally believe that every one shall be entitled to receive punishment or reward according to his deeds. Good actions shall be rewarded and bad actions shall entail punishment: God says in the glorious Qur'an: "Whoever does an atoms weight of goodness will see it on the last day, and whoever does an atom's weight of bad will see it on the last day."

The Third Principle

Nubuwah (Prophethood)

Imamiyah Shi'as believe that all the Prophets were appointed by God; all of them were sent by Him and they are all His exalted servants. Hadrat Muhammad al-Mustafa (s.a.w.) is both the "Seal of the Prophets" (the final prophet) and the Chief of all the Prophets. He was perfectly infallible, free from sin and deviation. All his life the Holy Prophet acted according to the will of God Almighty; God enabled him to travel from Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa, from where he went bodily to al-'Arsh and al-Kursi (the throne and the footstool) and even beyond the "hujub" (the veils) and the "suradiq" (the highest point beyond the heaven of heavens); he finally came to within two bow spans or less of the presence of God.

It is the firm faith of the Imamiyah Shi'as that whoever claims prophethood or revelation after Hadrat Muhammad al-Mustafa (s.a.w.) is an unbeliever and liable to be put to death.

The Quran which today is in the hands of the Muslims is the same text of guidance and religious commands which God the Almighty revealed as a miracle. There has been no addition to, or subtraction from, it. Muslims believe in "tahrif" (changes in the original) ,are wrong, because it violates the Quranic declaration: "We have revealed the Book and We are its Protector". All the 'ulama' (religious scholars) are unanimous on this point, and if there is any tradition against it, it is unauthentic; any tradition which has come down to us through imperfect chains of transmission cannot be relied upon as source of knowledge and cannot thus be acted upon.

The fourth Principle

Imamate (Vicegerency)

It is the question of the Imamate which distinguishes the Shi'a sect from all other sects; it is the basic and fundamental difference which separates this school from other schools of thought. Other differences are not fundamental; they are "furu'i" (that is they are concerned with the details of the code of writing and action). Such differences of secondary importance are present between the views of the Imams (religious heads) of the majority community of the Muslims. For instance, a large number of the Hanafi laws do not correspond with the laws of Shafi'is- According to the Imamiyah sect, the Imamate is the rank of the Perfect Man; like prophethood it is sustained by Almighty God for the guidance of the people. The Shi'as believe that Almighty God ordered His Prophet (s.a.w.) to appoint 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) as his successor, so that after the end of Prophethood the mission of spreading Islam might be continued. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) knew that this appointment would be looked at with displeasure by others. Many of them would think that it was due merely to brotherly love or undue regard for his son-in-law.

It is quite obvious that from the beginning of the Islamic era until the present age the Muslims have in general not truly followed the Holy Prophet's guidance. The All powerful declared in very clear words: "Oh Prophet, deliver immediately what you have been commanded to from your Lord and if you do it not, then (it will be as in you have not delivered His message (at all)". Accordingly after his last hajj the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) gathered the people at "Ghadir al-Khum" and addressed them thus: "Am I not better than every believer present here?" Then all of them said with one voice: "Certainly, O Prophet of God. You are superior to all of us."

After this testimony of allegiance the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) said: "Whoever has accepted me as his master, then 'Ali is his master . . . " Moreover, on various other occasions, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) clearly explained the reality of the Imamate, sometimes by implication and sometimes quite openly. The Prophet thus performed his duty and God 's command was carried out. As soon as the Holy Prophet had breathed his last breath some Muslims presumptuously tried to hide the reality of the Imamate. They misconstrued the open declaration, and through their personal interpretation began to make changes in the religious commands. The result is well known as we have seen.

However 'Ali (a.s.) and his group, which comprised high-ranking sahaba (companions) kept aloof from this selfish struggle for power and refused to offer allegiance.

Amir al-Mu'minin (a.s.) remained silent for some time; out of consideration for Islamic unity, but when Mu'awiyah tried to bring the Islamic rule and authority under his subjugation and started destructive activities, Amir al-Mu'minin set himself against him; supporting a man like Mu'awiyah and tolerating his wrong policies would have been a deadly poison for Islam, and it was the foremost duty of Hadrat, Ali (a.s.) to protect the divine religion.

The Imamiyah believe that spiritually they are with 'Ali (a.s.) and are his followers; anyone who takes 'Ali as a friend, we too are friends of that person, and of whoever takes 'Ali (a.s.) as an enemy, we also are his enemy.

This faith is based on the Holy Prophet's words: "Oh God, be a friend of the one who loves 'Ali (a.s.) and be an enemy of the one who is an enemy of 'Ali (a.s.)."

The Imamiyah Shi'as believe that Almighty God never leaves the world without a Prophet or an Imam whether this "proof of God" is apparent or hidden. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), through an explicit ordinance, made 'Ali al-Murtada (a.s.) his successor. 'Ali (a.s.) made al-Hasan (a.s.) his successor, and Imam al-Hasan (a.s.) made his brother Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) his successor. In this way this chain continued until the eleventh Imam. The Eleventh spiritual guide Imam al-Hasan al-' Askari (a.s.) was succeeded by his son the twelfth Imam, the Imam of the Age, the Awaited One (a.s.), vicegerent of God. This belief is not an innovation of the Shi'as, rather it is a divine practice, which started with Adam (a.s.) and continued until the last Prophet (s.a.w.).

There are innumerable books written by eminent 'ulama' on this topic. We give below the names of some 'ulama' of early centuries who have written on the topic of "wasiyah" (succession).

1). Hisham ibn al-Hakam.

2). Husayn ibn Sa'id.

3). 'Ali ibn Miskini.

4). 'Aliibn al-Mughirah.

5). 'Aliibn Husayn ibn Fadl.

6). Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Sa'id.

7). Ahmad ibn Muhammad Khalid al-Barqi, the author of "al-Mahasin".

8). The great historian 'Abdu 'l-'Aziz ibn Yahya al-Judi.

Most of these writers belong to the first and second centuries, but the number of writings from authors of the third century hijri is also large:

1). Yahya ibn Mustafad.

2). Muhammad ibn Ahmad as-Sabuni.

3). 'Ali ibn Ra'ab.

4). Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Farukh.

5). The well known historian, Ali ibn al-Husayn alMas'udi, the author of "Muruj adh-Dhahab".

6). Shaykh at-Ta'ifah Muhammad ibn al-Hasan at-Tusi.

7). Muhammad ibn, Ali ash-Shalmaghani.

8). Musa ibn al-Hasan ibn, Amir.

Books written after the fourth century can hardly be counted.

al-Mas'udi wrote in his famous book "Ithbatu 'l-wasiyah". "Every prophet had twelve successors". The writer also gave the names of all of them, and wrote brief life-sketches of each; at the end of the work he writes in more detail about the twelve Imams.

The Shi'as have been the target of attack from both Muslim and non-Muslim groups concerning the existence of the twelfth Imam. We should thus like to explain the reality of this belief in a few words. Those who object think that the Shi'as believe in a baseless and ridiculous thing.

When we examine the view-point of these critics however we find that it is based on two rather naive doubts; the first being "How can a person naturally live for more than a thousand years?" and the second, "What advantage is gained from his disappearance?" or "What is the use of a hidden Imam whose existence and non-existence are both equal?" As to the first doubt, we should like to draw the reader's attention to the prophet Nuh's age. According to clear Qur'anic statements the prophet Nuh lived for nine hundred and fifty years, calling the people to God among his nation; according to the opinion stated by the 'ulama' his age was at least one thousand six hundred years, and a number of other scholars have gone so far as to say that he lived to be three thousand years old. The scholars of hadith of the majority community also acknowledge the longevity of other persons besides Nuh (a.s.). The great scholar an-Nuwi in his book "Tahdhibu 'l-Asma"' writes: "Though there is a difference of opinion among the 'ulama' about the age and the Prophethood of Hadrat Khidr (a.s.), the majority of scholars admit that Khidr is still present with us. The Sufis, moreover, unanimously declare that he is still alive, and innumerable stories about his meetings with people, and about what was said at these meetings, are quite well-known."

Shaykh Abu 'Umar ibn Salah writes in his "Fatawa": "The majority of the 'ulama' decided that Hadrat Khidr is alive, but some of the scholars of hadith do not accept it." I seem to recall that in another work Shaykh Abu 'Umar wrote (and az-Zamakhshari also has written this in his Rabi'u 'l-abrar) that the Muslims are unanimous in their belief that four prophets (a.s.) are still alive among us. Two of them are in the sky, that is 'Isa (a.s.) and Idris (a.s.), and two are on the earth and these are Khidr and Ilyas. Hadrat Khidr was born in the time of Ibrahim Khalilu 'llah (a.s.). Thus we have clear proof of the existence of persons who lived for hundreds of years. 'Allamah as-Sayyid al-Murtada has written in his "Imali" about persons who have lived to a great age and as-Shaykh as-Saduq has given an even a longer list in his "Kamal ad-Din". Even in the present age we find some people who have lived for a hundred and thirty years, and some for even longer.

Logically we may pose the question: "If someone is capable of living to an abnormal age, say a hundred and thirty, then is it possible that in extraordinary conditions a man may live to be a thousand?" At the most you can call it something super-normal. Moreover, is super-normality in the case of Prophets and the "awliyah" (those near to God) a particularly strange thing?

If one turns over the pages of the old volumes of "Majallatu 'l-Muqtatif", you will find that they are full of articles written by western scholars who have scientifically proved that man can theoretically attain eternal life in this world. Some western thinkers even say. "If Ibn Muljim's sword had not struck 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.), he would have lived forever. We are justified in this supposition because the Holy Imam was endowed with such qualities of excellence and healthy liying." Much could be added on this topic but the scope of this book does not allow further discussion.

Concerning the second objection, we might ask whether it is fitting that the Muslim nation should know every detail of divine will and intention. Is it necessary to know all the secrets of the world and of the religious commands?

Before demanding such knowledge we must carefully think whether under the screen of some outwardly incomprehensible divine command there is also hidden some other secret. For example, a stone, in itself, neither benefits nor harms man. Nevertheless, we kiss the Hajaru 'l-Aswad (the black stone in the Ka'bah). What is the wisdom hidden behind that, we may ask.

The "maghrib" prayers are offered in three rak'ahs (units); the "isha'' prayers are performed in four units. The morning prayers consist of only two units. What expediency is there in this difference of units?

Rather we must realise that there are a large number of matters of which neither archangel nor prophet has any knowledge; concerning the knowledge of the last hour, God, the Almighty says: "Verily God alone has knowledge of the Hour, the Day of Judgement and when it will rain." A part from this, there are many other things which have been kept secret from us and their justification is unknown; we may refer, for example, to "ismu 'l-'azam" (the Greatest Name), "laylatu 'l-qadr" (the time for the acceptance of Invocation). We would like to make clear by the above examples that one need not be amazed at those divine matters whose wisdom is not apparent. Rather, we should recognise that an order or action exists, and act accordingly as believing Muslims.

If something is proved by the authentic statements of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) and his infallible successors, we must accept it. There is no other option: to enter into an argument about the nature of wisdom and man's obligation to find a reason for everything would be in vain. As far as possible we have deliberately not provided arguments and proofs in this small booklet; there are already large volumes in which these points have been discussed in detail; likewise we examine the "Qa'im Al-Muhammad", the presently existing descendant of Muhammad (s.a.w.). There are a great number of authentic traditions concerning the "qiyam" of al-Mahdi (the rising of the twelfth Imam) in books of knowledge of both sects.

Though we acknowledge the fact that God knows better the wisdom about the occultation of Imam al-Mahdi, we would nevertheless point out that a number of rational proofs have already been given in reply to some Shi'a questionners. The decisive fact to bear in mind is that in every age the existence of an Imam is necessary; the world cannot remain without a divinely appointed guide; his very existence is a blessing for mankind, and his authority over us is also a blessing. The question of the wisdom hidden in this action of God's is thus invalid (a blessing cannot be rationalised) and acknowledgment of the "ghaybah" (occultation) is a necessary duty of every obedient Muslim.

The Fifth Principle

Eschatology

We believe that Allah, the Exalted, will revive all people after their death on a certain day which he has promised them, and that He will then reward the obedient and punish the wrong-doers. In this simple form, this is what all the Divine religions and philosophies have accepted, but Muslims must believe in it because it is contained in the Qur'an which our Prophet brought, and one who believes in Allah and Muhammad, His Messenger, must also believe in what is related in the Qur'an: resurrection on the Day of Judgement, reward and punishment, Paradise (al-jannah) and its blessings (an -na'im), the Fire (an-nar) and Hell (al-jahim). About one thousand verses in the Qur'an have mentioned the Day of Resurrection. There is no reason to doubt it, unless one doubts Allah, His Power and His Messenger. In fact this amounts to doubting all religions.

For more information on this sobject see also "The Faith of Shi'a Islam" by 'ALLAMAH Muhammad Rida al-Muzaffar'

according to shiites scholars and man of wisdom like Allameh seyyed muhammad Hosein Tabtabaei the late ,Islam etymologycally means surrender and obdience.the Holy Quran invites men toward this end islam since its general purpose is the surrender of man the laws governing the universe nd men,,with the result that through this surrender he worships only the one god and obeys only his commands. As the holy Quran inform us ,the firrst person who called this religion islam and its followers muslims was the prophet Abraham upon whom be paece.

They were a false sect claiming to be Muslims.They attribute high qualities to Ali (a companion of the prophet) such as God.They also speak bad of the other companions of the prophet.

They are a false sect claiming to be Muslims.They attribute high qualities to Ali (a companion of the prophet) such as God.They also speak bad of the other companions of the prophet.

Shi-ites are a sect of Muslims. Rasool (sal) said Ali (sal) with his Shiites and his friends will enter jennah (heaven).

shiah believed in five principles such as prophecy , divine unity , ressurrection , imamah or successors of the prophet and divine justice . it is only in the imamah and divine justice that shia and sunni differ . in the question of the imamate , it is the insistence on the esoteric function of the imam that distinguishes the shiite perspective from the sunni .

the friends and followers of Ali believed that after the death of prophet, the caliphate and religious authority belonged to ALI. this belief came from consideration of Ali's position and station in relation to the prophet , his relation to the chosen among the companions , as well as his relation to muslim as general.

it was only the events that occurred during the few days of the prophet final illness that indicated that there was opposition to their view, contrary expectation, at the very moment when the prophet died and his body lay still unburied while his household and a few companion occupied with for his burial and funeral services , the friend and followers of Ali received news of the activity of another group who had gone to the mosque where community where gathered faced with this sudden loss of its leader.

this group ,Which was later ti form the majority , set forth in great haste to select a caliph for the muslim with the aims of the ensuring the welfare of the community and solving its immediate problems. they did this without consulting the household of the prophet , his relatives or many of his friends who were busy with funeral and without providing them with the least information. thus Ali and his companions were presented with a fait accompli .

Ali and his friends such as Abbas , Zubayr , Salman . Abu Dharr , Meghdad and Ammar, after finishing with the burial of the body of the prophet became aware of the proceedings by which the caliph had been selected . they proteted against the act of choosing the caliph by consultation or election , and also against those who were responsible for carrying it out.

they even presented their own proofs and arguments but the answer they received was that the welare of the muslims was at sake and the solution lay in what had been done.it was this protest and criticism which separated from the majority the minority that were following Ali and made his followers known to society as the partisans or shiah of Ali . the caliphate of the time was anxious to guard against this appellation being given to the Shiite minority and thus to have muslim society divided into sections comprised of a majority and a minority .

THE supporters of the caliph considered the caliphate to be a matter of the consensus of the community , and called those who objected the opponents of allegiance . they claimed that the shiiah stood, therefore opposed to muslim society .sometimes the shiiah were given other pejorative and degrading names.

shiism was condemn from the first moment because of the political situation of the time and thus it couild not accomplish anything through mere political protest.

shiah which means literally partisan or follower, refer to those who considered the succession to the prophet- upon whom be blessing and peace- to be the special right of the family of the prophet and who in the field of islamic sciences and culture follow the school of the the Household of the Prophet.

shiism was condemn from the first moment because of the political situation of the time and thus it couild not accomplish anything through mere political protest.

shiite is one of the great and main sects in Islam religion and counted as minority in comparison with sunni as majority. shiah which means literally partisan or follower, refers to those who consider the succession to the prophet - upon whom be blessing and peace- to be the special right of the family of the prophet and who in the field of the Islamic sciences and culture follow the school of the household of the prophet.

in the question of justice it is the emphasis upon this attribute as an intrinsic qualiquality of the divine natture that is particular to shiism . we might say that in the esoteric formulation of Sunni theology,especialy as contained in Ash arism , there is an emphasis upon the will of God.whatever god will is just precisly because it is willed by god . and intelligence is a sense subordinated to this will and to the voluntarism which characterizes this form of theology.

in shiism the quality of justice is considered as innate to the divine nature .god cannot act in an unjust manner because it is his nature to be just .fa , him to be unjust would violate his own nature , Which is impossible .intelligence can judge the justness and unjustness of an act and this judgment is not completely suspended in favor of a pure voluntarism on the part of god . hence there is a greater emphasis upon intelligence in shiite theology and great enphasis upon will in scorn kalam ,or theology , at least in predominant asharite school .

shiism also differs sunnusm in its consideration of the means whereby the original message of the Quranic revelation reached the islamic community and thereby in certain aspects of the sacred history of Islam .there is no disagreement on the Quran and the prophet ., that is , on what constitutes the origin of the islamic religion .the difference in view begins in the period immediately following the death of the prophet .one might say that the personality of the prophet contained two dimensions which later to become crystallized into Sunnism and Shiism .each of these two schools was later to reflect back upon the life and the personality of the prophet solely from its own point of view ,thus living aside and forgetting and misconstruing the other dimension ecluded from its own perspective .for shiism the dry(in the alchemical sense) and austere aspect of the prophets personality as reflected in his successors in the Sunni world was equated with worldliness while his warm and compassionate dimension was emphasized as his whole personality and as the essence of the nature of the immams who were considered to be a continuation of him .for the vast majority of the islamic community the companions of the prophet represent the prophet's heritage and the channel through which his messge was transmitted to later generations .within the early community the companions occupied a favored position and among them the first four caliphs stood out as a distinct group .it is through the companions that the saying( Hadith ) and the manner of the living ( sunnah )of the prophet were transmited to the second generations of Muslims . shiism however concentrating on the question of the wilayah and insisting on the esoteric content of the prophetic message , saw in the Ali and the household of the prophet (ahi al -bayt),in its shiiate sense the sole channel through which the original message og islam was transmitted , although , paradoxically enough the majorty of descendants of the prophet beong to Sunnism and continue to do so untill today.

he friends and followers of Ali believed that after the death of prophet, the caliphate and religious authority belonged to ALI. this belief came from consideration of Ali's position and station in relation to the prophet , his relation to the chosen among the companions , as well as his relation to muslim as general.

shiism was condemn from the first moment because of the political situation of the time and thus it couild not accomplish anything through mere political protest.

Ali in order to safeguard the well-being of islam and the muslims and also because of lack of sufficient political and military power did not endeavor to begin an uprising aganst the existing political order which would have been of a bloody nature . yet those who proteted against the established caliphate refused to surrender to the majority in certain questions of faith and continued to hold that the succession to the prophet and the religious authority belonged by right to Ali. they believed all spiritual and religious matters should be refered to him and invited people to becime his followers.
the friends and followers of Ali believed that after the death of prophet, the caliphate and religious authority belonged to ALI. this belief came from consideration of Ali's position and station in relation to the prophet , his relation to the chosen among the companions , as well as his relation to muslim as general.

shiism was condemn from the first moment because of the political situation of the time and thus it couild not accomplish anything through mere political protest.

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