Shi'a

Examples of Shi'a in the following topics:

• Muhammad's Successors

  • After Muhammad's death in 632 CE, there were conflicts among his followers as to who would become his successor, which created a split in Islam between the Sunni and Shi'a sects.
  • These disagreements over Muhammad's true successor led to a major split in Islam between what became the Sunni and Shi'a denominations, a division that still holds to this day.
  • Shi'a Muslims believe that just as God alone appoints a prophet, only God has the prerogative to appoint the successor to his prophet.
  • Uthman was killed by members of a disaffected group.
  • The followers of Ali later became the Shi'a minority sect of Islam, which rejects the legitimacy of the first three caliphs.

• The Abbasid Empire

  • In 793 CE, the Shi'a (also called Shi'ite) dynasty of Idrisids gained authored over Fez in Morocco.
  • Most Shi'a Muslims had supported the Abbasid war against the Umayyads because the Abbasids claimed legitimacy with their familial connection to Muhammad, an important issue for Shi'a.
  • However, once in power, the Abbasids embraced Sunni Islam and disavowed any support for Shi'a beliefs.
  • By the 920s, a Shi'a sect that only recognized the first five Imams and could trace its roots to Muhammad's daughter Fatima, took control of Idrisi and then Aghlabid domains.
  • This group advanced to Egypt in 969 CE, establishing their capital near Fustat in Cairo, which they built as a bastion of Shi'a learning and politics.

• The Qin Dynasty

  • He renamed himself Shi Huangdi (First Emperor), a far grander title than King, establishing the way in which China would be ruled for the next two millennia.
  • Today he is known as Qin Shi Huang, meaning First Qin Emperor.
  • This resulted in a very bureaucratic state with a large economy, capable of supporting an expanded military.
  • Qin Shi Huang standardized writing, a crucial factor in the overcoming of cultural barriers between provinces and the unification of the empire.
  • In 207 BCE, Qin Shi Huang's son was killed, and the dynasty collapsed entirely.

• Expansion Under the Umayyad Caliphates

  • Non-Muslims paid a poll tax for policing to the central state.
  • Allegedly, The Sunnis killed Ali's son Hussein and his family at the Battle of Karbala in 680, solidifying the Shi'a-Sunni split.
  • Mass conversions brought a large influx of Muslims to the caliphate.
  • According to one common view, the Umayyads transformed the caliphate from a religious institution (during the Rashidun) to a dynastic one.
  • The Umayyads have met with a largely negative reception from later Islamic historians, who have accused them of promoting a kingship (mulk, a term with connotations of tyranny) instead of a true caliphate (khilafa).

• The Quran

  • On the other hand, Shi'a tradition maintains that Muhammad was neither surprised nor frightened at the appearance of Gabriel, but rather welcomed him as if he was expected.
  • The initial revelation was followed by a pause of three years (a period known as fatra) during which Muhammad felt depressed and further gave himself to prayers and spiritual practices.
  • However, Muhammad's critics accused him of being a possessed man, a soothsayer or a magician, since his experiences were similar to those claimed by such figures well known in ancient Arabia.
  • An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim.
  • A depiction of Muhammad receiving his first revelation from the angel Gabriel

• Fall of the Ming Dynasty

  • The fall of the Ming dynasty was caused by a combination of factors, including economic disaster due to lack of silver, a series of natural disasters, peasant uprisings, and finally by attacks by the Manchu people.
  • Making matters worse, a widespread epidemic spread across China from Zhejiang to Henan, killing a large but unknown number of people.
  • In 1662, Zheng Chenggong founded the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan, a pro-Ming dynasty state with a goal of reconquering China.
  • However, the Kingdom of Tungning was defeated in the Battle of Penghu by Han Chinese admiral Shi Lang, who had also served under the Ming.
  • Contributing further to the chaos was a peasant rebellion in Beijing in 1644 and a series of weak emperors.

• Chinese Philosophy

  • Being a good and virtuous human in every ordinary situation was the goal of Confucianism.
  • Lao-tzu is a legendary figure—it is uncertain if he actually existed.
  • He did so in a book called Tao Te Ching, and was never seen again.
  • Daoism as a religion arose over time, and involved the worship of gods and ancestors, the cultivation of "chi" energy, a system of morals and the use of alchemy to achieve immortality.
  • The first was concerned with shi, or the investment of the position of ruler with power (rather than the person) and the necessity of obtaining facts to rule well.

• Islamic Conquest of the Maghreb

  • Next came a force of 10,000 led by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi and enlarged by thousands of others.
  • On his return, a Berber-Byzantine coalition ambushed and crushed his forces near Biskra, killing Uqba and wiping out his troops.
  • Meanwhile, a new civil war among rivals for the monarchy raged in Arabia and Syria.
  • In 740, Umayyad rule in the region was shaken by a major Berber revolt. 
  • Various Islamic variations, such as the Ibadis and the Shia, were adopted by some Berbers, often leading to scorning of Caliphal control in favor of their own interpretation of Islam.

• Technological Advancements Under the Song

  • The ingenuity of advanced mechanical engineering had a long tradition in China.
  • While engaged in a war with the Mongols, in 1259 the official Li Zengbo wrote in his Kezhai Zagao, Xugaohou that the city of Qingzhou was manufacturing one to two thousand strong iron-cased bomb shells a month, dispatching to Xiangyang and Yingzhou about ten to twenty thousand such bombs at a time.
  • The specifications for the 11th century odometer were written by Chief Chamberlain Lu Daolong, who is quoted extensively in the historical text of the Song Shi (compiled by 1345).
  • Following a long tradition, Shen Kuo created a raised-relief map, while his other maps featured a uniform graduated scale of 1:900,000.
  • A 3 ft squared map of 1137—carved into a stone block—followed a uniform grid scale of 100 li for each gridded square, and accurately mapped the outline of the coasts and river systems of China, extending all the way to India.

• The Northern Song Era

  • In Kaifeng, he established a strong central government over the empire.
  • In one such project, cartographers created detailed maps of each province and city that were then collected in a large atlas.
  • However, this campaign was ultimately a failure due to a rival military officer of Shen disobeying direct orders, and the territory gained from the Western Xia was eventually lost.
  • There was also a significant war fought against the Lý dynasty of Vietnam from 1075 to 1077 over a border dispute and the Song's severing of commercial relations with the Đại Việt kingdom.
  • One of the prominent victims of the political rivalry, the famous poet and statesman Su Shi (1037–1101), was jailed and eventually exiled for criticizing Wang's reforms.