Shi'ism-Elissa Wilcox

Shi’ism is a book that I had to read for my Islam class the semester. It is about the sect of Islam that believes in not only God as God and Muhammad as his prophet, but also that Ali (who was the son-in-law of Muhammad) was the rightful heir to Muhammad’s leadership when he passed away. They believe that Ali was chosen to carry on the teachings of the Koran, this is the division between the two sects. The Shi’ites are considered to be very fundamental in their beliefs. Although Ali and those who followed him believed that he was the rightful heir to everything that Muhammad left behind, there were many people who contested this belief and therefore he was forced to fight to stay in power. He waged many wars and because of this the Muslim world was thrown into turmoil for a while. It is interesting the there was no contention for someone to take over Jesus’ place when he was crucified. Yes, there were missionaries that went out and continued to share message that he preached, however there was no one who actually wanted to take Jesus’ place.