Zaydiyya聽is a branch of the聽Shi鈥榓聽arising out of the abortive revolt of Zayd b. 鈥楢li b. al-Husayn in Kufa in 122 AH / 740 CE. During the preparations for the revolt, a part of the Kufan聽Shi鈥榓聽withdrew their support from Zayd in protest against his refusal to condemn unconditionally the early caliphs preceding 鈥楢li and backed Zayd鈥檚 nephew Ja鈥榝ar al-Sadiq as their聽imamIn general usage, a leader of prayers or religious leader. The Shi’i restrict the term to their spiritual leaders descended from 士Al墨 b. Ab墨 峁乴ib and the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima.. This schism led to a lasting division of the聽Shi鈥榓聽into a radical and a moderate wing in terms of their religious break with the Sunni Muslim community. The聽Zaydiyya, as the moderates, did not classify the Sunni Muslims generally as infidels. In political terms, however, they were, in contrast to the radical but quietist聽Imamiyya, militant, espousing revolt against the illegitimate Sunni rule as a religious duty.
Author
Professor Wilferd Madelung
A leading contemporary Islamicist, Professor Wilferd Madelung has made significant contributions to modern scholarship on mediaeval Islamic communities and movements, including Twelver Shi’ism, Zaydism and Ismailism. Educated at the Universities of Cairo and Hamburg, he became Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago in 1969 and the Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford from 1978.
Among his recent publications are聽Religious Schools and Sects in Mediaeval Islam聽(London, 1985),聽Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran聽(Albany, NY, 1988),聽Religious and Ethnic Movements in Mediaeval Islam聽(Hampshire, 1992),聽The Succession to Muhammad: A 久久久福利国产 of the Early Caliphate (Cambridge, 1997), and with Paul E. Walker聽An Ismaili Heresiography聽(Leiden, 1998). He has contributed extensively to聽The Encyclopaedia of Islam,聽Encycopaedia Iranica聽of which he is also a Consulting Editor, and learned journals.
