IV.

Contemporary Shiite Sects

Today the most important Shiite sects are the Imamis, the Ismailis, and the Zaidis.

The Imamis (also known as Twelvers) are by far the largest of all Shiite sects even though their Imams never gained political power like the Imams of the Ismailis and Zaidis. They recognize a line of 12 successive Imams, the last of whom they believe to remain alive to this day, despite his having gone into occultation in ad 874. The Imami sect has been the official and majority religion of Iran since the early 16th century ad, and is also strongly represented throughout the Middle East and Asia, especially in Iraq, South Lebanon, India, and Pakistan. The Bahai religion, though quite distinct from Islam, originates from Babism, a movement that broke away from Imami Shiism in Iran in the 19th century.

The Ismailis (also known as Seveners and Batinis) have no state today but enjoyed several in the Middle Ages. They originally accepted only seven successive Imams and believed, in similar fashion to the Imamis, that the last had gone into occultation in the 8th century. For many Ismailis, however, the line was resumed two centuries later by a variety of rival claimants. One line of Imams, known as the Fatimids, established a dynastic caliphate in North Africa, founded Cairo and reigned over Egypt for over two centuries (909-1171). Other Ismailis—like the Carmathians (Qaramita), who founded their own state in Bahrain and Oman—failed to recognize them or any other claimant.

The Fatimids themselves split up into several branches during the 11th century: one branch, the Nizaris, broke with the Imam-caliphs of Cairo and founded their own independent mini-state in Iran and Syria. Their enemies called them the Hashishiyya (Assassins) to allude to their alleged use of the drug hashish. Because stories of the Nizaris' daring acts of political murder had spread to the Crusaders, the term “assassin” became widespread in Europe for describing a fanatic or hired killer. The Nizari Imams are regarded as the ancestors of the Aga Khan, which is the official title of the Imam of the Khojas—the largest group of Ismailis today. Khojas believe that the present Aga Khan is their 49th Imam. The Tayyibis were also a Fatimid sub-sect, though they followed a line of Imams that ended with another occultation. Many migrated from Cairo to found a community in Yemen in the 12th century; later on, in the 16th century, an offshoot left Yemen for India and founded there the Bohra (or Bohara) community. Because the Bohras believe their Imam to be occulted they follow a religious leader, the absolute Dai, whom they regard as the sole representative of the hidden Imam and highest authority in doctrinal and legal matters. The Druzes too, though usually regarded now as non-Islamic, also started out as an 11th century offshoot of Fatimid Ismailism.

The Zaidi Imams, named after Zaid ibn Ali (d. 740), do not subscribe to the mainstream Shiite doctrine of the Imamate. Zaid, the eponymous founder of Zaidism, actively challenged his quietist brother, Muhammad al-Baqir (whom Imamis and Ismailis respectively see as the 5th and 4th Imam) for the Imamate by rebelling against the Umayyad caliph of the day. Zaid's claim, which remains at the core of his sect and at loggerheads with Imamis and Ismailis, is that a true Shiite should follow any descendent of Ali and Fatima who is learned, pious, and politically active—that is, who is willing to rebel against the usurper authorities for his claim to the office of caliph. The Imam then lacks any superhuman qualities: with the exception that he must be descended from Ali ibn Talib, he resembles much more the ideal Sunni caliph.

The Zaidis founded their own caliphate and state in Yemen, which survived invasions and occupations from the 9th century up to 1963. Another Zaidi state, though short-lived and without its own Imams, was founded in the 9th century in Tabaristan, south of the Caspian Sea in Iran. As with Ismailis, Zaidis are divided up into further subsects that differed initially over the identity of their Imams and later over various legal and doctrinal points.