Factions, splits and schisms
Family: Unity, division and dissent · 27 entries
Entries on this theme
Person
al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib
c. 568 CEAn uncle of the Prophet, captured with the Meccan side at Badr and later a Muslim, whose descendants founded the Abbasid caliphate.Abdullah ibn Ubayy
c. 580 CEThe chief of Khazraj who had been preparing to be crowned king of Medina when the Hijra ended his ambition — remembered in the Sunni sources as the leader of the 'hypocrites' who opposed the Prophet from inside the city.Umar ibn al-Khattab
c. 584 CESecond caliph (634–644); under his rule the early community conquered Syria, Egypt and much of the Sasanian Empire. Remembered in Sunni tradition as al-Faruq, the model of just rule. ومن مناقبه في الصحيح القصر الذي رآه له النبي في الجنة فأخلى النظر إليه حياءً لغيرته ، ولبن الرؤيا الذي أوله النبي بالعلم فناوله إياه. ويروي هو صعوده إلى مشربة النبي حين اعتزل أزواجه فرأى أثر الحصير في جنبه فبكى فقال له «أما ترضى أن تكون لهم الدنيا ولنا الآخرة». ورأى حلة سيراء عند باب المسجد فعرضها على النبي ليلبسها يوم الجمعة وللوفد فقال «إنما يلبسها من لا خلاق له في الآخرة» ثم أهداها إليه بعد فكساها أخاً له مشركاً بمكة.Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
c. 585 CEA poet of Banu Nadir — Jewish on his father's side, Arab on his mother's — whose verses mourned the Meccan dead of Badr and satirized the Muslims and their women; assassinated with the Prophet's sanction in the first political killing of the Medinan period.Aisha bint Abi Bakr
c. 613 CEA wife of the Prophet and daughter of Abu Bakr; one of the most prolific transmitters of hadith in Sunni tradition, whose role is viewed differently across the traditions.Dhu al-Khuwaysira al-Tamimi
A man of Banu Tamim (identified as Hurqus ibn Zuhayr al-Sa'di) who brazenly challenged the Prophet during the distribution of spoils at al-Ji'rana, saying 'Act justly, for you have not acted justly'; the Prophet rebuked him and foretold that from his progeny would emerge a sect that passes out of religion (the Kharijites).Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan
A Qurashi of the Umayyad clan, born five years before the mission on the best-known account; he accompanied the Prophet and wrote for him, Umar appointed him over Syria after his brother Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and Uthman kept him there, then he did not pledge to Ali and fought him, took Syria for himself and added Egypt, took the title of caliph after the two arbitrators, and the people gathered on him in the year of the community when al-Hasan made peace with him; the time of his conversion is disputed.
Event
The killing of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
c. September 624 CE · 14 Rabi' I 3 AHThe assassination of the Jewish poet Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf in Rabi' al-Awwal 3 AH by a band led by Muhammad ibn Maslama, after he incited Quraysh to war and satirized Muslim women.The death of Abdullah ibn Ubayy and the Prophet's prayer over him
c. 631 CE · 9 AHSoon after the return from Tabuk in 9 AH, Abdullah ibn Ubayy — chief of the hypocrites — died; the Prophet sought forgiveness for him and prayed over him despite Umar's attempt to dissuade him, and the revelation afterwards sided with Umar's objection, forbidding prayer over such people or standing at their graves.Fatima's claim to the Prophet's inheritance and Fadak
between 632 and 634 CE · 11 AHAfter the Prophet's death Fatima and al-Abbas asked Abu Bakr for their share of the Prophet's estate, the land of Fadak and his share of Khaybar. Abu Bakr answered with the report that prophets leave no inheritance, and said he would keep the Prophet's practice. Sallabi records the Sunni reply to the Imami claims and reports that Fatima was pleased with Abu Bakr before her death.Ghadir Khumm
March 632 CE · Dhu al-Hijja 10 AHA halt at the pool of Khumm on the return from the Farewell Pilgrimage, at which the Prophet spoke about Ali.Ali's pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr
June 632 CE · Rabi' I 11 AHSallabi holds that Ali and al-Zubayr pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr early, on the day of the Prophet's death, citing an authentic report of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri; he treats the reports of a long delay as unsound, and records a renewal of the pledge after Fatima's death in Ibn Kathir's view.The Prophet's request for a writing in his last illness
4 June 632 CE · 8 Rabi' I 11 AHIn his last illness the Prophet asked for a writing that would keep the community from error; those present disagreed, one said the book of God was enough, and the writing was not made. Sallabi reads the episode within the Sunni frame as a matter of ijtihad that no one was blamed for; Imami readings that take it as a designation of Ali he treats as false.The meeting at Saqifa
8 June 632 CE · 12 Rabi' I 11 AHAfter the Prophet's death, leaders of the Ansar and Muhajirun met in the hall of the Banu Sa'ida and chose Abu Bakr as leader of the community. ونص الاجتماع كاملاً عند البخاري من رواية عمر: اجتماع الأنصار في السقيفة، ومشي أبي بكر وعمر وأبي عبيدة إليهم، والخطابان، ويدا عمر وبشير بن سعد، فالبيعة.The Baratha Mosque Affair in 420
c. November 1029 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 420 AHThe caliphal court arrested the preacher of Baratha mosque for excessive praise of Ali ibn Abi Talib in his sermon. On Friday 19 Dhu al-Qa'da a substitute, Abu Mansur ibn Tamam, preached in his place, reducing the mention of Ali and closing with 'O God, forgive the Muslims and whoever claims that Ali is his master (mawla).' The common people pelted him with clods, breaking his shoulder and teeth and drawing blood. The caliph's decree came out angrily, calling it 'a mosque that gathers unbelievers and heretics' and likening it to the Mosque of Dirar; about thirty men attacked the preacher's house, and Friday prayer was suspended for weeks until the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid al-Nahr), when the muezzin garbled the takbir and panic broke out. Shaykhs of Karkh and al-Sharif al-Murtada intervened, and a preacher was reinstated by a written decree dated the first of Muharram, exempted from striking the pulpit with a sword and from mentioning 'his master'.Ali declines to keep Muawiya in office
35 AHAfter the pledge of allegiance, al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba advised keeping Muawiya in Syria for a while and Ibn Abbas warned that dismissal would stir Syria; Ali refused, saying he would not employ Muawiya for two days. Al-Aqqad judges that Ali was right, since Muawiya was building a state for himself and his heirs.
Work
Ghadat Karbala
Jurji Zaydan's historical romance on Karbala — one of the most famous of the 23 novels that taught generations of Arabs their history through fiction.The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini's novel of friendship and guilt in Kabul across the Soviet invasion and Taliban rule — the widest-read Afghan novel.
Concept
Screening Room
Muawiya
An MBC series on Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan and the first fitna; its broadcast drew wide controversy over the depiction of Companions and early Islamic civil strife.Muawiya, Hassan and Hussein
A major Arabic co-production dramatising the first fitna — from Hasan's caliphate and abdication to Muawiya's rule and Karbala; contested for depicting the Prophet's household.Mokhtarnameh
Davoud Mirbagheri's Iranian series on al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd's uprising in Kufa to avenge Karbala; members of the Prophet's family are depicted on screen per Shia convention.Muluk al-Tawa'if
Hatem Ali's Syrian series on the taifa kings of al-Andalus after Cordoba's fall — al-Mu'tamid, Ibn Zaydun and Wallada — and the cities' struggle against the Almoravids.Muhammad: The Final Legacy
The Syrian series on the Banu Hashim from Abd al-Muttalib to the Prophet's mission; it answers the depiction question by showing the Prophet's trace, not his person.Rabee' Qurtuba
Hatem Ali's Syrian series on the Andalusian fitna and the fall of the Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba in 1009 — a landmark Arabic drama on al-Andalus.Saqr Quraish
An Arabic series on Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil — 'the falcon of Quraysh' — and his escape from the Abbasid massacre to found Umayyad rule in al-Andalus.Imam Ali
Davoud Mirbagheri's Iranian series on Ali ibn Abi Talib from the Prophet's death to his martyrdom in Kufa; Ali is depicted on screen, per Shia convention.
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