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 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.
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 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.
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