A comparison of the Teaching of Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil in Imamyah and Zaidyah
- Author:
- Akbar Bagheri
- Level:
- Master
- Subject(s):
- The difference between Shiites
- Language:
- Farsi
- Faculty:
- Faculty of Shi’i Studies
- Year:
- 2013
- Publisher:
- URD Press
- Supervisor(s):
- Mahdi Farmanian
- Advisor(s):
- Seyyed Hasan Eslami Ardakani
The Teaching of enjoining good and forbidding evil enjoys a high status in Islam; and all of the Islamic sects in general agree to it. However, they differ as regards the conditions of necessity and stages of practice, presenting different behaviors. In Shiism, the Imamyah and Zaidyah have taken different views of this teaching in practice. According to Imamyah, one can refrain from this teaching if it possibly leads to injury or murder; but, the Zaidyah holds that one should act according to teaching even if it leads to murder. Although Zaidyah adherents are influenced by the Mutazilites, they are more like the Kawarij who are the most fundamentalist group in Islam; and Imamyah sect which has been more tolerant even in relation to the cruel rulers is more similar to the Sunnite. By appealing to this teaching, the later Imamyah managed to establish an Islamic government. Although the theological differences of the two sects still remain, the similarities between Imamyah and Zaidyah are prominent and worth examining.