Editing Ismailism (section)

====The beginnings of Ismāʿīlī Daʿwah====
{{Main|Zaidiyyah}}
After being set free by Yazid, [[Zaynab bint Ali]], the daughter of [[Fatimah]] and [[Ali]] and the sister of Hasan and Husayn, started to spread the word of Karbala to the Muslim world, making speeches regarding the event. This was the first organized [[dawah|daʿwah]] of the Shia, which would later develop into an extremely spiritual institution for the Ismāʿīlīs.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

After the poisoning of [[Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin]] by [[Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik]] in 713, the first succession crisis of the Shia arose with [[Zayd ibn Ali|Zayd ibn ʻAlī]]'s companions and the [[Zaidiyyah|Zaydī]]s who claimed [[Zayd ibn Ali|Zayd ibn ʻAlī]] as the Imām, whilst the rest of the Shia upheld [[Muhammad al-Baqir]] as the Imām. The Zaidis argued that any [[sayyid]] or "descendant of Muhammad through Hasan or Husayn" who rebelled against tyranny and the injustice of his age could be the Imām. The Zaidis created the first Shia states in Iran, Iraq, and Yemen.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

In contrast to his predecessors, Muhammad al-Baqir focused on academic Islamic scholarship in [[Medina]], where he promulgated his teachings to many Muslims, both Shia and non-Shia, in an extremely organized form of Daʿwah.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.al-islam.org/kaaba14/8.htm |title=Imam Baqir |access-date=2007-04-24}}</ref> In fact, the earliest text of the Ismaili school of thought is said to be the ''[[Umm al-Kitab (Ismaili book)|Umm al-kitab]]'' (The Archetypal Book), a conversation between Muhammad al-Baqir and three of his disciples.<ref>[[Seyyed Hossein Nasr|S.H. Nasr]] (2006), ''[[Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy|Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy]]'', State University of New York Press, p. 146</ref>

This tradition would pass on to his son, [[Ja'far al-Sadiq]], who inherited the Imāmate on his father's death in 743. Ja'far al-Sadiq excelled in the scholarship of the day and had many pupils, including three of the four founders of the Sunni [[madhhab]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://al-islam.org/masoom/bios/6thimam.html |title=Imam Ja'far b. Muhammad al Sadi'q |access-date=2007-04-24}}</ref>

However, following al-Sadiq's poisoning in 765, a fundamental split occurred in the community. [[Isma'il ibn Ja'far|Ismaʻil ibn Jafar]], who at one point was appointed by his father as the next Imam, appeared to have predeceased his father in 755. While Twelvers argue that either he was never heir apparent or he truly predeceased his father and hence [[Musa al-Kadhim]] was the true heir to the Imamate, the Ismāʿīlīs argue that either the death of Ismaʻil was staged in order to protect him from Abbasid persecution or that the Imamate passed to Muhammad ibn Ismaʻil in lineal descent.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shaykh 'Abd al-Hakeem Seth|first=Carney|date=2 October 2014|title=Succession of Ismail ibn Jafar|url=https://ismailignosis.com/2014/10/02/who-succeeded-imam-jafar-al-sadiq-seven-proofs-for-the-imamat-of-imam-ismail-ibn-jafar/|website=Ismaili Gnosis}}</ref>