Shiism duodécimain

The Shiism duodécimain (rear RTL اثناعشرية, Ithnāˤashariyya ) indicates the group of the Shiite which believe in the existence of the twelve Imams.

80% of the Chiites are duodécimains and they are majority among the Shiite schools of thought . They are majority in Azerbaïdjan, with Bahrain, in Iran, Iraq, and with the Lebanon.

The Shiism duodécimain is the official religion of the Iran since the revolution of 1979.

Various names

The duodécimains are known under other names, announcing a particular connotation of the faith.

Shīˤa (“Shiism”): is normally used to refer to the duodécimains since they are the orthodoxe alternative of the Shiism. In its extended use, Shiˤa can also refer to the other groups.
Jaˤfarī is always used to refer to the duodécimains except for the Ismaélien S and of the Zaydites. The term Ja' farī is used at the same time for the Madhhab and the Fiqh (“jurisprudence”). This term is allotted to Jaˤfar have-Sādiq, that the Shiites regard as their sixth Imam. The founders of the schools sunnites hanafite and malékite told Hadith S of Jaˤfar have-Sādiq.
imamism is a reference to the belief duodécimaine in holy and infallible Imams after Mahomet. Although the Ismaélien S accept also the concept of the Imams, this term is also used for the duodécimains.

Theology

Religious law: Sharia

The duodécimains derive to them Sharia, or religious law, of the Coran and the Sunnah. The difference between Sharia Sunnite and Shiite lies in the belief Shiite that Mahomet assigned with Ali the task to carry out the believers after his death (the Califat). Moreover, according to the Shiites, God would have dictated this designation. From this difference, Shiites:

follows the Hadith of Mahomet and the 12 Imams.
does not accept the examples, verdicts and ahādīths of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman (which is regarded by Sunnites as the first three caliphs).
allots the concept of masūm (“infallibility”) to the twelve Imams or the fourteen infallible ones (which include Mahomet and his/her daughter Fatima Zahra). They follow the examples and the verdicts of this group.

The concept of Imam and Mahdi

The Shiite Imams, of which first is ˤAlī ibn Abī Tālib, are regarded as infallible. This is an important aspect of theology Shiite. They are not regarded as prophets ( nabī ), nor messengers ( rasūl ), but relay the message of Mahomet. They are regarded as being higher than all the prophets and messengers except for the last. The Shiite Moslems consider that all the religions or groups which accept prophets or messengers after Mahomet are pagan or heretics. They believe that the last Imam (which is also it twelfth and current Imam), the Mahdî is in screening on order of God and will reappear at the request of this one.

The martyrdom of Hussayn

The martyrdom of Hussayn ibn ˤAlī having taken place the 10th day of the month of Muharram - known under the name of Achoura plays a significant part in theology duodécimaine. This day is commemorated annually in sadness and the sorrow. Some take part in a ritual which consists in typing on its chest, which is for them a form to express the abandonment which comes from the practical inability to have helped Hussayn and its troop of 72 companions. To strike the body with sharp knives or other objects to blood is also very current. Although certain Shiite leaders (as the Ayatollah Khomeini) prohibited this ritual, of many believers always practice this old habit. In the majority of the countries having significant populations Shiite, one can observe large crowd which makes processions to celebrate the martyrdom of Hussayn.

Some examples of jurisprudence jafari

This list is not exhaustive nor representative of the differences existing between Shiites and Sunnites.

The profession of faith

The Shiites and Sunnites believe that any person who declares in public “It has of another god only God there and Muħammad is its messenger” must be regarded as Moslem woman. The Shiites add to this profession of faith “and Ali is being used it as God and the heir to the messenger ( walī ) to God”.

The acceptance of the verdict of a scholar

The Jafarie school accepts and encourages the concept of Taqlid (Arab: تقليد) or “imitation”. What means that the not-educated Moslems should choose a thinker of which the virtue and the knowledge are recognized and follow (“to imitate”) its precepts and recommendations in their life of the every day. This religious leader can be recognized like a “source of imitation” ( Marja-e taqlid or one “imitated” (Arab مقلَد muqallad ). It is a person who spent the years to study the Coran, the Sunnah and the words of the Imams in order to build its own opinion on the basis of these source of knowledge. However, its verdicts should not be taken as only religious information source and it can always be corrected by others imitated or other sources of imitation. This process can take years or decades; because, in the taqlid , the verdicts are based on last research and are given according to the contemporary situation somebody. Sunnites do not practice by the taqlid in the same way.

The prayer

There exist minor differences on the way in which the prayer at Sunnites and the Shiites is carried out. During the ritual of purification carried out in preparation of the prayer (which consists in washing the face, the hands, the feet, etc and reciting some prayers), the Shiites consider that to rinse the feet with the wet hands is sufficient. On the contrary, Sunnites consider that the complete washing of the feet is necessary. Moreover, the Shiites do not wash the interior of the ears with the finger during ablutions.

Concerning the prayer itself, Jafaris think that it is preferable prostrer on the ground, of the nonedible plants and/or wood, since these three things are regarded as purest by Mahomet in the Hadith where it mentions the Tayammum (rules of hygiene). Consequently, of many Shiites use a small shelf of ground (often taken on a holy site) or of wood during their daily prayers, which is intended to receive their face when they lean.

From the Jafari point of view, the hands must be left hanging upright on the side during the position of the prayer. On the contrary, the sunnites estimate that the hands must be cross (except for the majority of the malékites). Duodécimains, the sunnites, consider that the five prayers day laborers are obligatory. However, they find acceptable to request the second and the third prayer or the fourth and the fifth unit when they want it. The other schools sunnites authorize it only when the believer is on a journey or constrained.

The marriage

The Shiites accept the principle of Mut `has (temporary marriage), which is comparable with the Nikâh Al Misyar of Sunnites.

Festivals and other specificities

the 18 Dhû l-Hijja, festival of the nomination of Ali by the prophet Mohammed
the Achoura takes place the 10 Mouharram and commemorates the decapitation of Husayn to Karbalâ' in Iraq. the men also cry the women (the 10 Mouharram was a Moslem and Jewish religious holiday well before this decapitation)
the Arbaïn take place 40 days after the Achoura and mark the end of mourning.
particular pilgrimages:

the Mausolée of Ali is with Nadjaf (Nédjef) (Iraq), in the south of Kerbala.
falls It from Husayn is with Kerbala (Iraq).
with Mashhad is fall it from Imâm `rear-Ridâ Alî.
with Médine (Saudi Arabia), in addition to the tombs of the prophet Mohammed and of its daughter Fâtima, there are the tombs of the Imam S Hassan, `Alî Zayn Al `Âbidîn, Muhammad Al-Bâqir and Ja' far have-Sâdiq with the Al-Baqî cemetery.
with Qom, great center theological in Iran is fall it from Fatimah Masoumeh, the sister of Imâm `rear-Ridâ Alî (Reza).

Random links: