Understanding the Islamic religion requires a careful look at its history. Islam has been fraught with conflict since the death of its prophet some 1,378 years ago. The problems began when Muhammad (may Allah love and bless him!) passed in 632 CE and didn’t indicate his successor.
On the one hand, his father-in-law and good friend, Abu Bakr, claimed the position of Caliph, and was elected by the faithful. However, many believed that Ali ibn Abi Talib, the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, should naturally fulfill the role. Ali had been raised in Muhammad’s household since the age of 5, and was the very first convert to Islam. Ali had served the prophet in all capacities, proving himself a wise religions leader and tenacious warrior for the cause.
This early split formed the two major branches of Islam, the Sunnis, (from the Arabic word Sunnah, meaning ‘example’) and the Shiites (from the Arabic Shiiatu Ali, meaning ‘the party of Ali’).
Broadly speaking, the Sunnis believed, and continue so to do, that Muslims should elect their spiritual leaders. Islam is a Theocracy, giving complete spiritual and practical leadership to one person. Whereas the Shiites believe that a direct descendent of the prophet must fill the role. This they call Imam, the spiritual leader who alone has the wisdom to interpret the Divine law.
The Sunnis and Shiites have a common history, and agree on the first four Rashidun, or “Righteously appointed Caliphs”. Whereas the Sunnis recognize Ali as the fourth Rahsidun, the Shiites recognize him as the first Imam, and the other three Caliphs as imposters. This has created tension between Muslims for a millennium. This was exacerbated in 680 CE when the Sunni Caliph Yazid marched with 4,000 troops into Karbala and massacred Ali’s younger son, Husayn, and all his family, wives, children, and 71 closest companions. This drama is reenacted annually by devout Shiites and has come to represent the resistance of truth to materialistic tyranny.
Things are further complicated in that the passing of the nass, or the spiritual authority to rule the religion, is often contested. Thus we have Caliphs suppressing Shiite movements, murdering Imams to protect their rule, and the splitting of the Shiite sect into a number of sub-branches as different Shiites rallied around different descendents of the prophet, each recognizing their own as the righteous inheritor of the faith, and the others as imposters. So it is that the Shiite sect split into Twelver and Sevener Shiites, the former recognizing twelve Imams, all of which were killed (mostly poisoned) by rival Caliphs excepting the last Imam, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan who went into hiding in the 9th century awaiting his reappearance at the end of the world with the Christ during the second coming. Whereas the Seveners believe that the seventh Imam was Ja’far al-Sadiq’s elder son, Ismail, not his younger son, Musal al-Kazim. (It is argued that Ja’far had apparently disinherited his elder son at some point.)
This gave rise to the Ismailis, of which the Nazari Ismailis are familiar to Masonic history as the order of the Assassins who had interactions, both positive and negative, with the Templars.
Shi’a Islam has long been suppressed, and often forced into hiding. The Imam is not a ruler in the overt sense, but a master in the esoteric, occult sense. So it is that Shi’a Islam generated the doctrine of Taqiyya, the use of deceit and cunning to hide one’s faith within the mainstream. Shi’a syncretized and absorbed mystical parts of other religions, practiced in secret. They proselytized in secret, requiring complex initiation rites to protect their dias, or messengers. Deep, spiritual resistance and martyrdom are thusly integral to many forms of Islam, and although not required of its followers, such acts of suffering are celebrated historically. Thus, as a breeding ground for fundamental ideals which presage terrorism, Islam presents a system honed through the centuries, able to touch people in secret, brandishing a message of freedom from material excesses – even if the religion itself is not ultimately intended as such a tool.