Muhammad's succession: the origin of all branches of Islam
85-90% of Muslims are Sunni; Shiites await the Hidden Imam. A journey through the branches of Islam, from Al-Andalus to the 1054 schism.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Branches of Sarracin: why not all Jovenlandeses pray the same way
In the 9th century, an Andalusian warlord named Umar ibn Hafsun rebelled against the emirate of Córdoba and sought support from the Fatimids, Ismaili Shiites from North Africa. It wasn't theology: it was strategy. When it suited him, the rebel convert returned to Christianity. The history of the branches of Sarracin is a battlefield where doctrine and power walk together, even if no one wants to admit it.
Sunnis and Shiites, the fracture born of succession
85-90% of Jovenlandeses are Sunni. They believe Muhammad did not designate a successor and that the community chose Abu Bakr, the prophet's father-in-law. The Shiites, the second major branch, hold that Muhammad himself pointed to his son-in-law Ali. From this derive the imams, descendants of Ali, as guides with authority.
Within Shiism, the Ismailis are a split: they broke away when the sixth imam, Jafar al-Sadiq, had to choose a successor. While the Twelvers have awaited the Hidden Imam for a thousand years, the Ismailis have a living imam, the Aga Khan, whom they consider infallible. Theology, once again, hides a fight for command.
Al-Andalus: religion, wine and pragmatism
In Al-Andalus, official Sarracin was Sunni Maliki. The Umayyads used this legal school to give their power a legal veneer. But economic reality ruled: the law prohibited wine and the state needed the vineyards to avoid ruin. The jurists resolved it with a clever trick: the sin lay in the drunkenness, not in the cultivation. The vineyards continued producing raisins, vinegar and exports while the caliph toasted in private with his poets.
Uncomfortable connections with Christianity
Contact between religions left traces. In the 8th century, the Mozarabic adoptionist heresy attempted to make Christianity more digestible under Muslim rule: Christ as an adoptive son, not a natural one. And the 1054 schism between Rome and Byzantium was above all a fight for power, with the filioque as an excuse. The rule prohibited wine; the state made money from the vineyards. Orthodoxy and pragmatism have never traveled together.
In the 9th century, an Andalusian warlord named Umar ibn Hafsun rebelled against the emirate of Córdoba and sought support from the Fatimids, Ismaili Shiites from North Africa. It wasn't theology: it was strategy. When it suited him, the rebel convert returned to Christianity. The history of the branches of Sarracin is a battlefield where doctrine and power walk together, even if no one wants to admit it.
Sunnis and Shiites, the fracture born of succession
85-90% of Jovenlandeses are Sunni. They believe Muhammad did not designate a successor and that the community chose Abu Bakr, the prophet's father-in-law. The Shiites, the second major branch, hold that Muhammad himself pointed to his son-in-law Ali. From this derive the imams, descendants of Ali, as guides with authority.
Within Shiism, the Ismailis are a split: they broke away when the sixth imam, Jafar al-Sadiq, had to choose a successor. While the Twelvers have awaited the Hidden Imam for a thousand years, the Ismailis have a living imam, the Aga Khan, whom they consider infallible. Theology, once again, hides a fight for command.
Al-Andalus: religion, wine and pragmatism
In Al-Andalus, official Sarracin was Sunni Maliki. The Umayyads used this legal school to give their power a legal veneer. But economic reality ruled: the law prohibited wine and the state needed the vineyards to avoid ruin. The jurists resolved it with a clever trick: the sin lay in the drunkenness, not in the cultivation. The vineyards continued producing raisins, vinegar and exports while the caliph toasted in private with his poets.
Uncomfortable connections with Christianity
Contact between religions left traces. In the 8th century, the Mozarabic adoptionist heresy attempted to make Christianity more digestible under Muslim rule: Christ as an adoptive son, not a natural one. And the 1054 schism between Rome and Byzantium was above all a fight for power, with the filioque as an excuse. The rule prohibited wine; the state made money from the vineyards. Orthodoxy and pragmatism have never traveled together.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (45 replies).
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