Caliphates
&
Imamates

Now we know that

from the moment that the Messenger died,

old rivalries resurfaced,

and immediately there was a split between the Muhajirun and the Ansar

as to who would now be in charge,

each putting forward why it should be one of theirs.

Hazrat Ali was washing the Messenger's body,

so of the closest companions, only Umar and Abu Bakr were at that meeting,

and it was only Umar proposing Abu Bakr

that brought the two sides to agreement,

But the process of who got to decide who was in charge

was challenged from the very beginning,

with many thinking that the Messenger had said

it should be his son-in-law, Ali.

But it is said that no matter how strong his claim to leadership,

it would never have been accepted by the clans at that time,

Ali was of a younger generation,

and had been one of the Messenger's champions in battle,

and his famous double bladed sword,

Zulfiqar,

was stained with the blood of all the clans who had opposed Islam,

and for all their surrender, they didn't forget those things easily.

But in the years following the Messenger's death, Islam very quickly began to spread far and wide,

and it started to look much more like an empire.

And empires can be difficult to control,

which leaves openings for those who would like to take power for themselves.

Things became so bad that Uthman,

a holy, gentle and generous man,

but not a very good politician,

was murdered,

the result was civil war, with muslims killing muslims.

And the new Caliph Ali

was opposed by Muawiyya

from the rich strong Ummayad clan.

He and his father had both been bitter enemies of the Messenger

for all but the last few years of his life,

only accepting Islam after they had been overwhelmed by the muslim army taking charge of Makkah.

So he was not close to the Messenger,

the very opposite of Hazrat Ali,

at the centre of the Holy Family,

and with his deep knowledge of the meaning of Islam.

But Muawiyyah was a very clever politician

and challenged Ali from his power base in Damascus,

and after the murder of Ali, successfully claimed the Caliphate for himself.

Now the followers of Ali thought it should have gone to one of Ali's children,

the Messenger's grandchildren, Hasan or Hussein,

but neither were interested in taking power.

Until Muawiyyah died and handed the Caliphate to his son Yazid,

like a kingship.

At that point, those known as the party of Ali persuaded Hussein to try to claim it for himself.

But in the month of Muharram,

as he travelled from Makka to Kufa

with his family and a small group of followers,

he was met at a place called Kerbala

by a large army loyal to Yazid,

and when he refused to surrender his followers were slaughtered

and his head was carried off on the end of a spear.

And from then on there was little pretence that the Caliphate

had much to do with anything other than worldly power.

So the Shia Ali do not recognise that line of rulers

who do not spring from the Messenger's blood line,

but trace their allegiance to the Messenger through his Holy Family,

passed on through a line of spiritual teachers,

the Imams.