Changes in the Government of Islam ••• 67their support in Husayn's hour of need. When the Prophet's grandson
reached Karbala, Iraq, he found he had only seventy-two warriors pitted
against 10,000 Umayyad soldiers. Husayn's tiny band fought as bravely as
they could, but they all fell in battle on 10 Muharram 61 Anno Hegirae (10
October 680). Husayn's severed head was laid at the feet of Yazid in Damas¬
cus. The Umayyads had, seemingly, triumphed once more.
The significance of these events was that the partisans of the Prophet's
"martyred" descendants, Ali and now Husayn, vowed never to recognize
the Umayyads as legitimate caliphs. They came to be called ShïatAH (the
Party of Ali), from which came the name Shi'ites, or Shi'is. From Iraq they
spread throughout the empire, wherever Muslims sought a pretext to defy
Umayyad rule. Today the Shi'is make up the second largest Muslim sect, as
contrasted with the majority group, called Sunnis, who accepted (often re¬
luctantly) the ruling caliphs. Religious differences do exist between Sunnis
and Shi'is, due mainly to the latter's conviction that only Ali and his de¬
scendants (diagrammed in Figure 5.1) had a right to lead the umma. To
Shi'i Muslims, even Abu-Bakr, Umar, and Uthman, let alone Mu'awiya and
his heirs, were usurpers, whereas Ali was the first imam (leader) and be¬
queathed special powers and esoteric knowledge to his sons, his sons' sons,
and so on.
As time passed, disputes arose among various brothers claiming the
imamate, causing splits among their Shi'i followers. As you will soon see,
some Shi'is managed—later—to form states in opposition to the Sunni
caliphate. Since about 1500, as you will learn in Chapter 9, Persia's rulers
have been Shi'i Muslims. But to identify Shi'ism with Persian nationalism
better illuminates the mind of the current century than that of the sev¬
enth. Shi'ism began as a political protest movement couched in religious
terms, appealing to Arabs as well as Persians. It found expression in pil¬
grimages to Najaf and Karbala (the burial sites of Ali and Husayn, respec¬
tively), in annual processions mourning the martyrdom of Husayn, and in
the passion play reenacting his tragic end.
Other Challengers
The other challenges to the Umayyads, although they seemed more threat¬
ening then, are now largely forgotten. Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr, son of the
Zubayr killed in the Battle of the Camel, also refused allegiance to Yazid
and escaped from Medina. But instead of courting the Kufans as Husayn
had done, Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr stayed in Mecca and fomented rebel¬
lions elsewhere. When Yazid died in 683, leaving the caliphate to his sickly
young son, Abdallah claimed the office for himself. Muslims in all the