Editing Ismailism (section)

===Succession crisis===
{{Main|Succession to Muhammad}}
Ismailism shares its beginnings with other early Shia sects that emerged during the succession crisis that spread throughout the early Muslim community. From the beginning, the Shia asserted the right of [[Ali]], cousin of [[Muhammad]], to have both political and spiritual control over the community. This also included his two sons, who were the grandsons of Muhammad through his daughter [[Fatima]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nOM9Cv7Ro80C&q=succession+crisis+in+islam&pg=PA194 |title=Islam: The Basics |last=Turner |first=Colin |date=2006 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-34105-9 |language=en}}</ref>

The conflict remained relatively peaceful between the partisans of Ali and those who asserted a semi-democratic system of electing caliphs, until the third [[Rashidun caliph]] ([[Uthman]]) was killed and Ali ascended to the caliphate with popular support.<ref name="najulblaagha">{{cite book |first=Ali |last=ibn Abu Talib |title=Najul'Balagha}}</ref>

Soon after his ascendancy, [[Aisha]], the third of Muhammad's wives, claimed along with Uthman's tribe, the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyads]], that Ali should take {{transliteration|ar|qisas}} (blood for blood) from the people responsible for Uthman's death. Ali voted against it, as he believed that the situation at the time demanded a peaceful resolution of the matter. Though both parties could rightfully defend their claims, due to escalated misunderstandings, the [[Battle of the Camel]] was fought and Aisha was defeated, but was respectfully escorted to Medina by Ali.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Following this battle, [[Mu'awiya I]], the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad governor]] of Syria, also staged a revolt under the same pretences. Ali led his forces against Mu'awiya until the side of Mu'awiya held copies of the [[Quran]] against their spears and demanded that the issue be decided by Islam's holy book. Ali accepted this, and an arbitration was done which ended in his favor.<ref name="al-islam.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.al-islam.org/kaaba14/4.htm |title=Imam Ali |access-date=2007-04-24 |archive-date=20 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070420085730/http://www.al-islam.org/kaaba14/4.htm }}</ref>

A group among Ali's army believed that subjecting his legitimate authority to arbitration was tantamount to apostasy, and abandoned his forces. This group was known as the [[Khawarij]] and Ali wished to defeat their forces before they reached the cities, where they would be able to blend in with the rest of the population. While he was unable to do this, he nonetheless defeated their forces in subsequent battles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sunnah.org/aqida/kharijites1.htm |title=The Kharijites and their impact on Contemporary Islam |access-date=2007-04-24 |archive-date=2 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102193334/http://www.sunnah.org/aqida/kharijites1.htm }}</ref>

Regardless of these defeats, the Kharijites survived and became a violently problematic group in Islamic history. After plotting assassinations against Ali, Mu'awiya, and the arbitrator of their conflict, a Kharijite successfully assassinated Ali in 661 CE.  The Imāmate then passed on to his son [[Hasan ibn Ali|Hasan]] and then later his son [[Husayn ibn Ali|Husayn]]. According to the Nizari Isma'ili tradition, Hasan  was "an Entrusted Imam" ({{langx|ar|الإمام المستودع|al-imām al-mustawdaʿ}}) Husayn was the "Permanent Imam" ({{langx|ar|الإمام المستقر|al-imām al-mustaqar}}).

The Entrusted Imam is an Imam in the full sense except that the lineage of the Imamate must continue through the Permanent Imam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Virani |first=Shafique |author-link=Shafique Virani |title=The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, a Search for Salvation: A History of Survival, a Search for Salvation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXk8DLJ5kyEC&pg=PA84 |year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-804259-4}}</ref> However, the political Caliphate was soon taken over by Mu'awiya, the only leader in the empire at that time with an army large enough to seize control.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ismaili.net/histoire/history03/history336.html |title=Ali bin Abu Talib |access-date=2007-04-24}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=May 2022}}

Even some of Ali's early followers regarded him as "an absolute and divinely guided leader", whose demands of his followers were "the same kind of loyalty that would have been expected for the Prophet".<ref>Maria Masse Dakake, ''The Charismatic Community'', 57</ref> For example, one of Ali's supporters who also was devoted to Muhammad said to him: "our opinion is your opinion and we are in the palm of your right hand."<ref>Maria Masse Dakake, ''The Charismatic Community'', 58</ref> The early followers of Ali seem to have taken his guidance as "right guidance" deriving from Divine support. In other words, Ali's guidance was seen to be the expression of God's will and the Quranic message. This spiritual and absolute authority of Ali was known as {{transliteration|ar|walayah}}, and it was inherited by his successors, the Imams.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

In the 1st century after Muhammad, the term {{transliteration|ar|'sunnah'}} was not specifically defined as "{{transliteration|ar|Sunnah}} of the Prophet", but was used in connection to Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and some Umayyad Caliphs. The idea of {{transliteration|ar|[[hadith]]}}, or traditions ascribed to Muhammad, was not mainstream, nor was {{transliteration|ar|hadith}} criticised. Even the earliest legal texts by Malik b. Anas and Abu Hanifa employ many methods including analogical reasoning and opinion and do not rely exclusively on {{transliteration|ar|hadith}}. Only in the 2nd century does the Sunni jurist al-Shafi'i first argue that only the sunnah of Muhammad should be a source of law, and that this {{transliteration|ar|sunnah}} is embodied in {{transliteration|ar|hadith}}s. It would take another one hundred years after al-Shafi'i for Sunni Muslim jurists to fully base their methodologies on prophetic {{transliteration|ar|hadith}}s.<ref>Adis Duderija, "Evolution in the Concept of Sunnah during the First Four Generations of Muslims in Relation to the Development of the Concept of an Authentic Ḥadīth as based on Recent Western Scholarship", Arab Law Quarterly 26 (2012) 393–437</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://repository.um.edu.my/28465/1/ALQ_026_04_01-Duderija%20(5).pdf |title=Arab Law Quarterly 26 (2012) 393–437 |access-date=10 April 2016 |archive-date=24 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424090417/http://repository.um.edu.my/28465/1/ALQ_026_04_01-Duderija%20(5).pdf }}</ref> Meanwhile, Imami Shia Muslims followed the Imams' interpretations of Islam as normative without any need for {{transliteration|ar|hadith}}s and other sources of Sunni law such as analogy and opinion.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}