The following is a list of extinct unorthodox movements within
Shia Islam
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, m ...
. These are movements that no longer have any living followers or practitioners. These movements were created around certain beliefs that were unorthodox and not held by the mainstream Shia Muslims. These movements eventually after their very brief existence had their followers fall into mainstream Islam.
Ghulat sects
*
Bazighiyya– who believed that
Ja'far al-Sadiq
Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...
was God.
*
Dhammiyya– who believed that
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...
was God and
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
was his appointed Messenger and Prophet.
*
Ghurabiyya– who believed the angel
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions ( Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ ...
was mistaken.
*
Hurufiyya– who believed God is incarnated in every atom, reminiscent of the Alevi-Bektashism.
**
Nuqtavi– who believed in a cyclical view of time, reminiscent of the Isma'ili Shia.
*
Kaysanites
The Kaysanites () were a Shi'i sect of Islam that formed from the followers of Al-Mukhtar. They traced Imamate from Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and his descendants. The name Kaysaniyya was most likely derived from the name of Mukhtar's chief gu ...
– who believed in the Imamate of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah after the death of
Husayn Ibn 'Ali Ibn abu Talib.
** Bayaniyya– the followers of ''Bayān al-Nahdi,'' who believed that
Abu Hashim was a prophet and would return to rule the world as
Mahdi
The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...
. ''Bayān'' claimed
prophethood
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
for himself after the demise of
Abu Hashim, as well.
** Harbiyya– the followers of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Harb ibn al-Kindi, who initially taught
antinomianism
Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...
then joined
Ibn Mu'awiya's party and later expressed many extremist views about him. Furthermore, Ibn al-Harb introduced some fundamental doctrines including
metempsychosis
Metempsychosis ( grc-gre, μετεμψύχωσις), in philosophy, is the Reincarnation#Conceptual definitions, transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. The term is derived from ancient Greek philosophy, and has be ...
, cyclical history of eras and aeons into the radical branch of Shi'ism.
The group claimed that
Abu Hashim designated
Ibn Mu'awiya as his successor Imam of
Hashimiyya
The Kaysanites () were a Shi'i sect of Islam that formed from the followers of Al-Mukhtar. They traced Imamate from Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and his descendants. The name Kaysaniyya was most likely derived from the name of Mukhtar's chief gu ...
.
*** Riyahiyya– Harbiyya and pro-
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
Hashimiyya
The Kaysanites () were a Shi'i sect of Islam that formed from the followers of Al-Mukhtar. They traced Imamate from Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and his descendants. The name Kaysaniyya was most likely derived from the name of Mukhtar's chief gu ...
disputed over
Abu Hashim's will about the imamate and eventually the disputed parties agreed upon the arbitration of their respected leader Abu Riyah, who decided that the imamate should remain in
Abbasids. The most of the followers of Harbiyya, who had previously recognized
Ibn Mu'awiya as their imam, seceded and joined to the
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
party and they had been called ''Riyahiyya.'' Those who stayed in ''Harbiyya'' and continued to recognize the imamete of
Ibn Mu'awiya subsequently called as ''Janahiyya.''
*** Janahiyya– the followers of
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mu'awiya ibn
ʿAbd Allāh ibn
Ja'far, who was a descendant of
Ja'far ibn Abi Talib
Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, جعفر بن أبي طالب September 629), also known as Jaʿfar al-Ṭayyār ( ar, جعفر الطيّار, lit=Ja'far the Flyer) was a companion and cousin of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and an older broth ...
known as Dhu'l-Janahayn, believed incarnation of God in a succession of Prophets and imams passing eventually through
Ibn al-hanafiya and
Abu Hashim to
Ibn Mu'awiya;
transmigration of the soul
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
s; and
the allegorical interpretation of the Quran.
* Mughiriyya– who were influenced by
Mandean and
Manichean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (AD ...
doctrines and were founded by the first Shi'i gnostic al-Mughira, who claimed that God is a man of light with a crown of light on his head resembling Mandean doctrine of deity referred to as "king of light". Al-Mughira further added that God has limbs corresponding to the letters of Arabic alphabet reminiscent of the teaching of
Marcus the Gnostic.
*
Rawendis– who believed in the transmigration of souls. They asserted that the spirit that was in
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
was in
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...
, and the spirit of Adam was in
Othman ibn Nahik.
*
Soldiers of Heaven
The Soldiers of Heaven or ''Jund As-Samāʾ'' ( ar, جند السماء), were an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic sect who suffered major losses, Filiu, ''Apocalypse in Islam '', 2011: p.161 and their leader Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim killed, in the lat ...
– who believed that their former leader
Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim
Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim (Arabic: ضياء عبدالزهراء كاظم); c. 1970 – January 29, 2007), also known as al-Ali bin Ali bin Abi Talib (Arabic: العلي بن علي بن أبي طالب) was the leader of an armed extremist Shia Islam ...
(died 2007 CE) was the
Mahdi
The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...
and reincarnation of
Ali ibn Abi Talib.
*
Ya’furiyya– who believed in reincarnation and that a man named Mu’ammar al-Kufi was their Lord.
Zaydi Shia sects
*
Mutrafya – A Hamdani-based sect of the Zaydi Shia led Mutraf bin Shihab that start gaining followers in Yemen after the fall of the Ismaili
Zurayids
The Zurayids (بنو زريع, Banū Zuraiʿ), were a Yamite Hamdani dynasty based in Yemen in the time between 1083 and 1174. The centre of its power was Aden. The Zurayids suffered the same fate as the Hamdanid sultans, the Sulaymanids and ...
, they were weakened by Sunni
Ayyubids
The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...
& later famously exterminated as heretics by the Zaydi imam
Al-Mansur Abdallah Al-Mansur Abdallah (February 24, 1166 - April 21, 1217), was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who held the imamate from 1187 (or 1197) to 1217.
Background
Abdallah bin Hamzah was born in the village Ayshan in the territory of the Hamdan tribe. ...
for calling for backing a
Hamdani imam
*
Dukayniyya– who believed Muhammad's followers fell into unbelief after his death because they did not uphold the Imamate of Ali.
*
Khalafiyya– who believed in a unique line of Imams after Zayd ibn Ali ibn Husayn Ibn 'Ali Ibn abu Talib, starting with a man named Abd al-Samad and continuing with his descendants.
*
Khashabiyya– who believed that the Imamate must remain only among the descendants of Hasan and Husayn, even if that Imam is ignorant, immoral and tyrannical.
*
Tabiriyya/Butriyya/Salihiyya– who believed the
companions, including
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
,
Umar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...
and
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic prop ...
, had been in error in failing to follow Ali, but it did not amount to sin.
Imami/pre-Twelver Shia sects
*
Fathites– who believed
Abdullah al-Aftah
Abdullah al-Aftah ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 766 CE / 149 A.H.) was the eldest son of Ja'far al-Sadiq (after al-Sadiq's death) and the full-brother of Isma'il ibn Jafar. Abdullah's title "''al-Aftah''" derives from the Arabic words "''aftah al-ra’s ...
was the succeeding Imam after his father
Ja'far al-Sadiq
Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...
's death.
*
Muhammadites– who believed that
Muhammad ibn Ali al-Hadi was the true 11th Imam, rather than
Hasan al-Askari.
*
Tawussites– who believed that Ja'far al-Sadiq was the Mahdi and that he was alive and did not die.
*
Waqifites– who believed in the Imamate of
Musa al-Kadhim but refused to accept the Imamate of his successor
Ali ar-Ridha
Ali ibn Musa al-Rida ( ar, عَلِيّ ٱبْن مُوسَىٰ ٱلرِّضَا, Alī ibn Mūsā al-Riḍā, 1 January 766 – 6 June 818), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan al-Thānī, was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the e ...
.
*
Musha'sha'iyyah
The Musha'sha' (also spelled Mosha'sha'; ar, المشعشعية) were a Shi'i Arab dynasty based in the town of Hoveyzeh in Khuzestan, ruling from 1435 to 1924. Initially starting out as a tribal confederation, they gradually transformed into a ...
– founded and led by Muhammad ibn Falah, an Iraqi-born theologian who believed himself to be the earthly representative of Ali and the Mahdi.
Ismā'īlī Shia sects
*
Hafizi
Hafizi Isma'ilism ( ar, حافظية, Ḥāfiẓiyya or , ) was a branch of Musta'li Isma'ilism that emerged as a result of a split in 1132. The Hafizis accepted the Fatimid caliph Abd al-Majid al-Hafiz li-Din Allah () and his successors as imams ...
– who believed the Caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate,
Al Hafiz and his descendants were also the Imam of the Time.
*
Sevener
al-Ismāʿīliyya al-khāliṣa / al-Ismāʿīliyya al-wāqifa or Seveners ( ar, سبعية) was a branch of Ismā'īlī Shīʻa. They broke off from the more numerous Twelvers after the death of Jafar al-Sadiq in 765 AD. They became known as " ...
s–believed that
Isma'il ibn Jafar
Abū Muḥammad Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar al-Mubārak ( ar, إسماعيل بن جعفر; c.719 AD – c.762 AD) was the eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. He is also known as Isma'il al-Ãraj ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq (اسماعيل الاعرج ...
was the seventh and the last Imam (hereditary leader of the Muslim community in the direct line of Ali). They believed his son,
Muhammad ibn Isma'il
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl (), also known in his own time as al-Maymūn and hence sometimes incorrectly identified as Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ, was the son of Isma'il ibn Ja'far; he was an Ismāʿīlī Imam. The majority of Ism ...
, would return and bring about an age of justice as Mahdi.
*
Qarmatians– a sect of Seveners who believed in a world view where every phenomenon repeated itself in cycles, where every incident was replayed over and over again.
See also
*
Islamic schools and branches
Islamic schools and branches have different understandings of Islam. There are many different sects or denominations, schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and schools of Islamic theology, or '' ʿaqīdah'' (creed). Within Islamic groups themselves ...
*
Shi'a view of Ali
Ali was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and a member of the '' Ahl al-Bayt''. According to Shias, Ali was the first Imam who is believed to be the rightful successor to Muhammad, divinely appointed successors of M ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shi'a Sects, Extinct
Shia Islamic branches
Schisms in Islam
History of Islam
Islam-related lists
Extinct Islamic sects