Imāmiyya Shīʿa (The Twelvers)

Shīʿa is one of the earliest branches within Islam. Shīʿa Muslims today make upa sizable minority among the Muslims around the world (about 15–20% of allMuslims). Shīʿa theological traditions and institutions have developed in parallel with the Sunnī-dominated theological tradition.The shaping of Shīʿa within Islam goes back to a conflict over the succession after the death of the prophet Muḥammad. The power struggle concerned who was to succeed Muḥammad as leader of the Muslim community. No one couldsucceed him in his capacity as divine messenger since Muḥammad. One of the parties in the conflict over Muḥammad’s successor thought that the role should be filled by one of his oldest followers, in this case, AbūBakr, who belonged the small band of Muḥammad’s closest men. Opposition came from a group who claimed that the leadership should remain within Muḥammad’s family. Muḥammad had no sons, so leadership would pass to hiscousin ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalib (600–661), who was married to Muḥammad’s daughter Fāṭima. Shīʿa have not been a homogeneous group. During a short period in the earlyhistory of Shīʿa, between 660 and 870, a dozen conflicting factions formed, all of which laid claim to the correct interpretation within Shīʿa. This chapter focuses on the largest group within Shīʿa: The Imāmiyya, or theTwelvers. According to Imāmiyya Shīʿa the leadership of the Muslim communityafter Muḥammad should start with his relative ʿAlī and the last Shīʿa imāmwas Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan (b. 868), known as al-Mahdī, the ‘Hidden Imām’