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4 - Sectarian Islam: Sunni, Shiʿite and Sufi martyrdom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

David Cook
David Cook
Affiliation:
Rice University, Houston
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Summary

A man of Banu Tamim said: I saw in this castle [Kufa] a marvel. I entered in upon ʿUbaydallah b. Ziyad as he was reclining upon an elevated seat, with two ranks of men, and upon his right was a shield with the head of Husayn b. ʿAli in it, and then I entered upon al-Mukhtar in this hall, also on this elevated seat, with the people in two ranks around him, on his right a shield with the head of ʿUbaydallah in it, then I entered in upon Musʿab in this hall and upon that elevated seat with the people in ranks around him, and to his right a shield with the head of al-Mukhtar upon it. Now I enter into ʿAbd al-Malik in this very hall, and upon that elevated seat, while the people are in ranks, and to his right a shield with the head of Musʿab.

After the early Islamic conquests and the trauma of the first caliphs the Muslim community split irrevocably into two categories: those groups who upheld the hypothetical election of a caliph and supported the dynasties of caliphs that took control after 661 (the Umayyads [661–747], the ʿAbbasids [747–1258] and the Ottomans [ca. 1517–1924]), and those who did not. Of those groups that did not accept the legitimacy of these caliphal dynasties the most important were the Shiʿites (the Sunnis did support the caliphs).

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Martyrdom in Islam , pp. 45 - 73
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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