Voices of Islam (51 page)

The Daudi community is organized under the leadership of the
Da‘i,
with its headquarters in Mumbai. A representative, known as
Shaykh
or
‘Amil,
leads the local community and organizes its religious and social life, including the maintenance of places for religious worship and ritual, as well as commu- nal buildings. Every Daudi, on attaining the age of 15, is obliged to take an oath of allegiance (
mithaq
) to the Imams and
Da‘is
. The majority of Ismaili Bohras are in business and industry and have a well-deserved reputation for entrepreneurship and public service. They also run many charitable organiza- tions for the welfare of their communities worldwide.

The Sulaymani community is of predominantly Arab origin and lives mostly in Yemen. It is found in both urban and rural areas, with strong tribal roots. The Sulaymani community of Najran in Saudi Arabia has often found it difficult to practice its faith openly and freely because of pressure from the official Wahhabi sect of Saudi Arabia. The much smaller Sulaymani commu- nity in India has produced noted public officials and scholars. There are cer- tain differences between the traditions and the social practices of the Arabic-speaking Yemeni Sulaymanis and the Daudis of South Asia, who use a form of the Gujarati written in Arabic script. The Daudi Bohras have also incorporated many Hindu customs in their marriage and other ceremonies.

240
Voices of Tradition

ZAYDI SHI‘ISM

The influence and geographical distribution of the Zaydis, named after their fourth Imam Zayd ibn ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin (d. 740
CE
), have been more restricted than the Twelvers and the Ismailis. In fact, after some initial success in Iraq, Zaydi Shi‘ism remained confi to the Caspian region, northern Iran, and most importantly in Yemen, where Zaydi communities have con- tinued to exist to the present.

The Zaydi branch of Shi‘ism developed out of Zayd ibn ‘Ali’s abortive revolt in Kufa in 740
CE
. The movement was initially led by Zayd’s son Yahya, who escaped from Kufa to Khurasan and concentrated his activities in what is now eastern Iran and Central Asia. Yahya was eventually tracked down by the Umayyads and killed in 743
CE
. In the early Abbasid period, the Zaydis were led by another of Zayd’s sons, ‘Isa (d. 783
CE
). By the middle of the ninth century
CE
, the Zaydis shifted their attention away from Iraq and concen- trated their activities in regions far removed from the centers of Abbasid power. These regions included Daylam, in northern Iran, and Yemen, where two Zaydi states were soon founded.

The Zaydis elaborated a doctrine of the Imamate that clearly distinguished them from the Twelver Shiites and the Ismailis. The Zaydis did not recognize a hereditary line of Imams, nor did they attach any significance to the princi- ple of designation,
nass.
Initially, they accepted any member of the Ahl al- Bayt as a potential Imam, although later the Imams were restricted to the descendants of Hasan or Husayn. According to Zaydi doctrine, if an Imam wished to be recognized he would have to assert his claims publicly in an uprising (
khuruj
), in addition to having the required religious knowledge. Many Zaydi Imams were learned scholars and authors. In contrast to the Twelvers and the Ismailis, the Zaydis excluded underage males from the Imamate. They also rejected the eschatological idea of a concealed Mahdi and his expected return. In fact, messianic tendencies were rather weak in Zaydi Shi‘ism. Because of their emphasis on active policies, the observance of
taqiyya,
the dissimulation of actual beliefs, was also alien to Zaydi teach- ings. However, the Zaydis developed the doctrine of
hijra,
the obligation to emigrate from a land dominated by unjust, non-Zaydi rulers.

The Zaydis were less radical than were Imami Shiites in their condemna- tion of the early Caliphs. They held that ‘Ali had been Imam by designation of the Prophet. However, this designation was unclear and obscure, so that its intended meaning could be understood only through investigation. After Husayn ibn ‘Ali, the Imamate could be claimed by any qualified descendant of Imams Hasan or Husayn who was prepared to launch an armed uprising against the illegitimate rulers and to issue a formal summons (
da‘wa
) for gaining the allegiance of the people. Religious knowledge, the ability to ren- der independent rulings (
ijtihad
), and piety were emphasized as the qualifica- tions of the Imam. In contrast to the beliefs of the Imami Shiites, the Zaydi

What Is Shiite Islam?
241

Imams were not considered immune from error and sin (
ma‘sum
), except for the first three Imams. The list of the Zaydi Imams has never been completely fixed, although many of them were unanimously accepted by their followers. There were, in fact, periods without any Zaydi Imam, and at times, there was more than one Imam. Because of their high requirements for religious learning, the Zaydis often backed ‘Alid pretenders and rulers as summoners (
Da‘is
) or Imams with restricted status, in distinction from full Imams (
sabiqun
).

By the tenth century
CE
, the Zaydis had adopted practically all of the prin- cipal doctrines of Mu‘tazili theology, including the unconditional punish- ment of the unrepentant sinner—a tenet rejected by the Twelvers and the Ismailis. In law, the Zaydis initially relied on the teachings of Zayd b. ‘Ali himself and other ‘Alid authorities. By the end of the ninth century, however, four legal schools had emerged on the basis of the teachings of different Zaydi scholars, including Imam al-Qasim ibn Ibrahim al-Rassi (d. 860
CE
), who founded a school of jurisprudence that became prevalent in the Yemen and the Caspian region. In later times, Zaydi law became greatly influenced by the Shafi‘i Sunni school of jurisprudence.

In 864
CE
, Hasan b. Zayd, a descendant of Imam Hasan, led the Daylamis in a revolt against the region’s pro-Abbasid ruler and established the fi Zaydi state in Tabaristan, in northern Iran. Subsequently, the Daylami Zaydis were divided into two rival factions, the Qasimiyya and the Nasiriyya. There was much antagonism between the two Zaydi communities of northern Iran who often supported different leaders. Matters were further complicated by ethnic differences and the close ties that existed between the Qasimiyya Zay- dis and the Zaydis of Yemen. In the course of the twelfth century, the Cas- pian Zaydis lost much of their prominence to the Nizari Ismailis who had successfully established themselves in northern Iran with their seat at Alamut. Subsequently, the Zaydis were further weakened because of incessant fac- tional quarrels among different pretenders. However, minor ‘Alid dynasties and Zaydi communities survived in northern Iran until the sixteenth century, when the Zaydis of that region converted to Twelver Shi‘ism under the Safa- vids. Henceforth, Zaydi Shi‘ism was confined to Yemen.

In Yemen, the Zaydi Imamate was founded in 897
CE
by Imam Yahya b. Husayn al-Hadi Ila’l-Haqq (d. 911
CE
), a descendant of Hasan and grandson of the jurist Qasim ibn Ibrahim al-Rassi. With the help of the local tribes, he established himself in northern Yemen, which remained the stronghold of Zaydi Shi‘ism in South Arabia. Al-Hadi’s legal teachings provided the founda- tion of the Hadawiyya legal school, which became authoritative in parts of the Caspian Zaydi community while serving as the only recognized legal school in the Yemen. The descendants of Imam al-Hadi eventually quarreled among themselves and failed to be acknowledged as Imams, thus undermining Zaydi rule in the Yemen. In the eleventh century, the Yemeni Zaydis experienced further problems because of schismatic movements in their community.

242 Voices of Tradition

The Zaydi Imamate was briefly restored in the Yemen by Ahmad b. Sulay- man al-Mutawakkil (1138–1171
CE
), who promoted Zaydi unity. The Zaydi Imamate prevailed in the Yemen even after the occupation of South Arabia by the Sunni Ayyubids in 1174
CE
, although the power of the Imams was now considerably restricted. The Yemeni Zaydis were at times obliged to develop better relations with the Sunnis against their own doctrines. For example, Imam al-Mu‘ayyad Bi’llah Yahya ibn Hamza (1328–1346
CE
) praised the early Caliphs among the Companions of the Prophet as deserving equal respect to ‘Ali. In later centuries, as the Zaydi Imams extended their rule to the predominantly Sunni lowlands of Yemen, the Zaydis attempted to achieve a certain doctrinal rapport with their Sunni subjects. On the other hand, the Yemeni Zaydis maintained their traditional hostility toward the Sufi even though a Zaydi school of Sufi was founded in Yemen in the fourteenth century. The Zaydis also had prolonged conflicts with the Yemeni Ismailis and wrote numerous polemical treatises in refutation of Ismaili doctrines.

The final phase of the Zaydi Imamate in Yemen started with al-Mansur Bi’llah al-Qasim ibn Muhammad (1597–1620
CE
), founder of the Qasimi dynasty of Imams who ruled over much of the Yemen until modern times. The city of San’a served as the capital of an independent Zaydi state and Imamate for more than two centuries until 1872, when Yemen became an Ottoman province for a second time. The later Qasimi-Zaydi Imams ruled over Yemen on a purely dynastic basis until 1962, although they still claimed the title of Imam.

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