{"id":45050,"date":"2017-11-27T16:17:23","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T23:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=45050"},"modified":"2017-11-30T08:35:39","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T15:35:39","slug":"the-succession-to-muhammad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html","title":{"rendered":"The Succession to Muhammad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Karbala,<\/a>
The central shrine in Karbala, Iraq \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The founder of Islam left no clear instructions on this question. Some felt that he had designated Ali, his cousin and son-in-law and one of the earliest male converts to Islam, to be his successor, but most in the community, including many whose loyalty to the Prophet can\u00adnot plausibly be denied, seem to have known of no such thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time of his passing, the Prophet had come to control the entire Arabian landmass. Virtually every tribe and individual in the peninsula had pledged obedience to him. Many of the Arabian tribes, however, understood their submission agreements as applying only to Muhammad personally. Now that he was gone, they would cer\u00adtainly feel no allegiance to his successors. They could be expected to go their own way. They would recognize no obligation to do other\u00adwise. (They had, it will be recalled, no notion of government. Their loyalty was to a person; of a continuing institution apart from indi\u00adviduals they had no concept.) Therefore, in all the chaos surrounding the Prophet\u2019s unexpected death, certain clear thinkers understood that some action had to be taken quickly before the whole structure of a kind of Arabian state unravelled. Umar, the sources say, grabbed Abu Bakr, the elderly and highly respected Muslim whom we have already met, and took him to a place where a meeting on the succes\u00adsion question was underway. (The Prophet was not yet buried, and Ali was busy attending to the details of the funeral.)<\/span><\/p>\n

At that meeting, perhaps before many of those present had a very clear idea of what was going on, Abu Bakr was acclaimed the leader of the community. All there solemnly pledged their loyalty to him. Then others in the community did so as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some, though, did not. Ali, the Prophet\u2019s cousin and son-in-law who had distinguished himself by heroic deeds on behalf of the faith in earlier military conflicts, felt that it was his right as kins\u00adman to Muhammad to succeed him in the rule of the community.[1]<\/a> (No man could succeed Muhammad in his prophetic capacity. \u00a0Muhammad, virtually all of his followers are agreed, was the last of the prophets.) A number of pious Muslims supported Ali\u2019s claim. As the years and generations passed, this group came to be known in Arabic as the shi\u2019at<\/em> \u2018Ali<\/em>, \u201cthe faction of Ali.\u201d This is the origin of the group that we know in English today as the Shi\u2018ites<\/em>.[2]<\/a> The dis\u00adpute between them and their opponents, who gradually assumed the name of Sunnis<\/em>, deepened and grew sharper.[3]<\/a> Where once the dispute had been political, it came to include differences over theology and law. The political disagreement festered. The Shi\u2018ites grew more and more embittered as their leaders were harassed and kept from power. \u00a0There is among them a deep sense of grievance, of having been usurped, abused. This tradition or traditional position is kept alive, even nourished, by rituals designed to do just that. The most spectacular and significant instance of these recalls the killing of Husayn, the Prophet\u2019s grandson, at a place in Iraq called Karbala, and the mas\u00adsacre of much of his family. This horrible event occurred on the tenth day of the Muslim month Muharram, in the year 680 A.D.[4]<\/a> Shi\u2018ites around the world still commemorate it annually. Indeed, in something very similar to the passion plays of medieval Europe, they actually reenact it, flagellating themselves, chanting lamenta\u00adtions, working themselves to a high pitch of emotion and excite\u00adment. This is the holy time of Ashura, or \u201cthe tenth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Several nineteenth-century Orientalists saw a similarity between the Shi\u2018ites and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now renamed the Community of Christ. Both groups expected the suc\u00adcession to the founding prophet to remain in the prophet\u2019s family. But the Shi\u2018ites arguably have the more radical theology in Islam, whereas the Community of Christ\u00a0is far closer to mainstream Protestantism than are the Mormons<\/a> and has now abandoned the notion of family succession.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Pronounced, of course, \u201cShee-<\/em>ites.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> The singular, Sunni<\/em>, should be pronounced roughly \u201cSoon-nee.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> 10 October 680 A.D.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia: \u00a0 Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The founder of Islam left no clear instructions on this question. Some felt that he had designated Ali, his cousin and son-in-law and one of the earliest male converts to Islam, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Succession to Muhammad<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia:   Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Succession to Muhammad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia:   Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-27T23:17:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-30T15:35:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2014\/10\/Karbala-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html\",\"name\":\"The Succession to Muhammad\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-27T23:17:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-30T15:35:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia:   Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Succession to Muhammad\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Succession to Muhammad","description":"    From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia:   Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Succession to Muhammad","og_description":"    From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia:   Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2017-11-27T23:17:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-30T15:35:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2014\/10\/Karbala-2.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html","name":"The Succession to Muhammad","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-11-27T23:17:23+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-30T15:35:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    From a forthcoming book. Beginning with the year AD 632, in Arabia:   Muhammad was dead. Now came the question of succession. The","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/the-succession-to-muhammad.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Succession to Muhammad"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}