Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Robert A. Fernea, Shaykh and Efendi: 

Changing Patterns of Authority among the El Shabana of 

Southern Iraq (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University 

Press, 1970); Leonard Lewisohn, trans., “Hasan Palasi’s 

Encounter with Shaykh Khujuji.” In Windows on the 

House of Islam: Muslim Sources on Spirituality and Religious 

Life, edited by John Renard, 375–383 (Berkeley: Univer-

sity of California Press, 1998); George Makdisi, The Rise 

of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West

(Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 1971).

shaytan

  See s

atan

.

Shiism

In studying the history of religions, scholars have 

noted that religious traditions as a rule develop 

alternative movements and sectarian expressions. 

Judaism, which has had alternative forms in the 

past, today has Orthodox, Reform, and Conser-

vative branches. Christianity, known for having 

many sects and denominations throughout its 

history, today has Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and 

Protestant branches. Hindu devotionalism, known 

as bhakti, is characterized by a threefold division 

into traditions centered on the gods Vishnu and 

Shiva, and the Goddess (Devi). The Buddhist 

community, or sangha, developed three major 

doctrinal traditions—Theravada, Mahayana, and 

Vajrayana. Islam, though often identified with 

the ideal of a unified community of all believers 

known as the 

umma

, is no different. The primary 

division it has is the one that exists between 

s

Unnism

, the majority tradition, and Shiism, an 

umbrella term for the minority tradition.

The term Shiism is used by modern scholars 

of Islamic Studies to describe not one but several 

important Islamic sectarian traditions and move-

ments that have appeared in Islam’s history. It is 

based on the Arabic word shia, which means party 

or faction, and it was first used with reference to 

the group of Muslims who favored the candidacy 

of  a

li

 

ibn

  a

bi

  t

alib

 (d. 661) and his descen-

dants as the legitimate successors to the prophet 

m

Uhammad

, the leader of the Muslim community, 

upon his sudden death in 632. This group was 

called  shiat Ali, the party of Ali. Unlike other 

men in the early Muslim community, Ali was 

Muhammad’s closest male relative, his paternal 

cousin and son-in-law by marriage to his daugh-

ter F

atima

. He staked his claim as a candidate for 

leadership on the basis of kinship, and, according 

to the Shia, Muhammad’s declaration at g

hadir

k

hUmm

 that AIi was the master (mawla) of those 

who also regarded Muhammad as their master. 

However, many of the influential members of the 

community favored choosing a leader on the basis 

of reputation and the consensus of leading males. 

This view prevailed at the time of Muhammad’s