Shi’i Islam in Chile

Definition

Shi´i Muslims are supporters of Ali and his descendants, who refused to submit to the legitimacy of Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs and defended the power of imams in the line of Ali. This refusal had a double component: dynastic and social. In reference to the first aspect, its origin goes back to successive fights that started soon after the death of the Prophet, who died without naming a successor. In the aftermath of leadership disputes, Ali was murdered and his son Husayn died in Karbala. From this arises Shi’i Muslim’s principle political dogma; the first three caliphs were illegitimate, the fourth, Ali, should have received the caliphate at Muhammad’s death and thus all Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs were usurpers, as the imam or caliph can only be Ali´s descendant. The second, social, aspect refers to the fact that Muslims who adhered to the Shi’i movement were mostly new Muslims – mawali – Iraqui or Iranian, which the Umayyad caliphate kept at a secondary rank (Maíllo 1996)....