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Syria Shia
Shia Islam is often viewed as a deviant or heretical form of
orthodox Islam. However, Shia Islam is the result of schism and,
as scholars correctly observe, the elements for a Shia
interpretation of Islam are present in the Quran as well as in
the hadith. The catalyst for Shia's development was the political
turmoil over a temporal successor to Muhammad and the ensuing
murders of Ali and his sons. Shia maintain, however, that SunniShia polemics are not as much about who should have succeeded the
Prophet as about the function of the office of the successor and
the qualifications of the man to hold it.
Shia Islam's distinctive institution is the Imamate, which
holds that the successor of the Prophet is more than a political
leader. He must have walayat, the ability to interpret the
inner mysteries of the Quran and sharia; only those who are free
from error and sin (masum) and have been chosen by God
(nass) through the Prophet possess walayat.
The five Shia principles of religion (usual ad din) are:
belief in divide unity (tawhid); prophecy
(nubuwwah); resurrection (maad); divine justice
(adl); and the belief in the
Imams (see Glossary) as
successors of the Prophet (imamah). The latter principle
is not accepted by Sunnis.
Implied in the Shia principle of the imamah is that
imams, are imbued with a redemptive quality as a result of their
sufferings and martyrdoms. And, although imams are not divine,
they are sinless and infallible in matters of faith and morals,
principle very similar to the notion of papal infallibility in
the Roman Catholic Church. That man needs an intermediary with
God is an Iranian idea that long predates Islam, as is the idea
of a savior or messiah (Mahdi) who will come to redeem man
and cleanse the world. To expect that the Mahdi, who is the last
(twelfth) Imam, really will one is a religious virtue
(intizar).
The Imamate began with Ali, because it is his descendants who
are the Imams. To justify their beliefs, Shias emphasize the
close lifetime association of the Prophet and Ali. When Ali was
six years old, the Prophet invited Ali to live with him, and he
is considered by Shias to be the first to make the declaration of
faith to Islam. He also slept in the Prophet's bed on the night
of the hijra, when it was assumed that the house would be
attacked by unbelievers and the Prophet stabbed to death. Ali
fought in all except one battle with the Prophet, and the Prophet
chose Ali as the husband of his only child. Also regarded as
especially significant is a hadith that records the Prophet as
saying: "God placed the children of all the prophets in their
backbone but placed my children in the backbone of Ali."
Most Shia religious practices are comparable to those of
Sunni Islam. There are, however, two distinctive and frequently
misunderstood Shia practices: mutah, temporary marriage,
and taqiyah, or religious dissimulation. Mutah,
that is, marriage with a fixed termination contract subject to
renewal, was practiced by Muslims as early as the formation of
the first Muslim community at Medina. Banned by the second
caliph, it has since been unacceptable to Sunnis, but Shias
insist that if it were against Islamic law it would not have been
practiced in early Islam. Mutah differs from permanent
marriage because it does not require divorce proceedings for
termination because the contractual parties have agreed on its
span, which can be as short as an evening or as long as a
lifetime. By making the mutah, a couple places the sexual
act within the context of sharia; the act then is not considered
adulterous and offspring are considered legitimate heirs of the
man.
Taqiyah is another practice condemned by the Sunni as
cowardly and irreligious but encouraged by Shia Islam and also
practiced by Alawis and Ismailis. A person resorts to
taqiyah when he either hides his religion or disavows
certain religious practices to escape danger from opponents of
his beliefs. Taqiyah can also be practiced when not to do
so would bring danger to the honor of the female members of a
household or when a man could be made destitute as a result of
his beliefs. Because of the persecution frequently experienced by
Shia imams, particularly during the period of the Umayyad and
Abbasid caliphates, taqiyah has been continually
reinforced.
Shia play only a minor role in Syrian politics. They are
among the least educated religious groups, and their members are
more resistant to change. In religious affairs, they look to Shia
centers in Iraq, especially Karbala and An Najaf, and to Iran.
However, Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, and Syria's alliance
with Iran in its war with Iraq, have elevated the prestige of
Syria's Shia minority. As hundreds of Iranian tourists began to
visit Damascus each week, the Shia shrine of the tomb of Sitt az
Zaynab, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, located in Al Ghutah
outside Damascus, became a major pilgrimage destination,
replacing those areas no longer accessible in Iraq. However, the
government of Syria has viewed with caution the resurgence of
Shia Islamic fervor in Syria and has taken steps to dampen it.
Data as of April 1987
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