Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Religion Shia Islam Shia Islam Shi’a Islam is almost as old as Islam itself and has always had a minority population in Muslim populated areas of the world. According to Shi’a beliefs the prophet Muhammad had named his cousin Ali as his successor at his time of death. Ali had supposedly been the first to accept Muhammad’s revelations after the prophet’s wife, Khadija had. When Muhammad died it was not Ali who was named caliph, but Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr had accompanied Muhammad in the hijra in Medina. His reign as caliph was short-lived, he died after only two years as an imam. After Abu Bakr’s death Umar was name caliph. He was also a companion of the prophet. After his death a council was formed to choose the next caliph. The council elected Uthman of the Umayad clan. Ali, who was on the council disagreed with the decision but didn’t voice a challenge to him. Followers of both men clashed and for the first time in the history in Islam a division in the Islamic community had been formed. Tensions between both sides caused the murder of Uthman by Ali’s party in Medina. Ali then assumed the position as caliph and imam. Ali was not generally recognized as the caliph outsid Bibliography: Word Count: 210
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