Within hours of the Prophet's death the community divided over who should lead it, and the division hardened through Ali's caliphate, the killing of Husayn at Karbala, and the doctrine of the Imamate that the Shia built on the succession's failure.
The parties
- The companions who chose Abu Bakr at the Saqifa
- The party of Ali, who held the succession belonged to the Prophet's household
What was disputed
The leadership of the community: election and consensus against designation and the Imamate.
Causes: political doctrinal
Key documents
- The accounts of the Saqifa in the early histories
- The sermons of Ali in the Nahj al-Balagha
What it produced
Branch
Sunni Islam
The majority tradition of Islam, which holds that leadership after the Prophet passed by the community's choice and consensus, and orders its life by…
Branch
Shia Islam
The tradition that holds leadership of the community belonged by designation to Ali and the Prophet's household, carried by the doctrine of the…
Resolution attempts
- The Amman Message (2004), in which scholars of both traditions recognized each other's schools
How each side understands it
Sunni memory reads the succession as settled by consensus; Shia memory reads the Saqifa as the setting aside of a designation made at Ghadir Khumm. The event is one, the readings are two, and both stand in the record.
Downstream divisions
- Kharijite Secession, 657
Sources
Primary
- Al-Tabari, History, the accounts of the year 11 AH.
Secondary
- S. H. M. Jafri, The Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam (1979).