The dissatisfaction in the Eastern half of the caliphate with the Omayyad dynasty gave impetus to Shi'ites growth and many leaders founded sects of their own, with some of which obedience to a person not to law was inculcated as a religion. There is little doubt that the decline of the Omayyads and the suc cess of the Abbasids was due in considerable measure to the aid of the Shi'ites, the early caliphs of that dynasty, until Motawakkil, be longing to that sect. The Shi'ites are divided by Shahrastani into five divisions, of which the Isma'lites, the followers of Isma'il, the sixth Imam, have given rise, owing to the propa ganda of Abd Allah ibn Maimun, to the Car mathians, Fatimites, the Assassins and the Druses. In Persia the Shah is the temporary sub stitute for the vanished Imam. The differences of the Shi'ites apart from the question of the suc cession are due to adapting the rites of Islam to the Persian nationality and concern minor matters of ritual. They have their own col lection of traditions, but the prayers are almost identical with those of the Sunnites, although there is no obligation to attend public worship in the lack of a legitimate Imam. Saints are zealously worshiped — religious feasts are multiplied. The Koran is also their source of law. Next to the clergy (Mollahs), the der vishes wield the greatest religious influence. New sects appear among the Shi'ites from time to time — the latest being Babism, founded in Persia (1844-45) by Mirza Ali Mohammed and his successors, who held to the view of pro gressive revelation and display a high intelli gence and ethical strength — at least in later writings. The sects that have survived and represent the great majority in Islam have been briefly mentioned as followers of the Surma. The Hanafites spring from the school of the Imam Abu Hanifah (767), predominat ing to-day in Turkey, central Asia and in India. The Shafiites, called after Imam Al Shafii (d. 819), are to be met in Egypt, south-, ern Arabia, the Dutch colonies and in German East Africa. The Malikites, named after Malik Ibn Anas, the famous Imam of Medina (d. 795), can be found in northern Africa and in Upper Egypt. The Hanbalites, rigid tra ditionalists, with the accompanying fanaticism, look back to Imam Ahmad ibn Hanhal (d. 855). Declining after the 15th century, the sect or school revived in the 18th, when the Wah abite movement arose in central Arabia, adopt ing its viewpoint of reform. Corresponding to the monastic orders in Europe, brotherhoods have arisen in Islam, which assume the im portance of distinct sects, like the order of dervishes. The latest is the Brotherhood of As-Sanusi, established in 1837, of a °severely reforming and puritanic character? as Mac donald expresses it. Holding to the strictest monotheism, all customs and ideas that °do not accord with the view of the exact letter" of the Koran are prohibited. A theocratic state has been founded in the eastern Sahara, be tween Egypt and Tripoli, from which mis sionaries are sent to establish houses through out North Africa and Morocco and far into the interior. Mecca is an important centre for the new cult, into which pilgrims and the Bedouin are initiated in large numbers. In marked con trast are the Ibadites, who take their name from Ibn Ibad, associated with one of the earliest Mohammedan sects. They are found in Zanzibar and the coast of East Africa and in Algeria, where they maintain a certain sim plicity and hold their primitive theological and legal views. It is forbidden them to marry other Muslims. The Ibadites in reality go back to the more modern elements of the Kharijites, one of the earliest parties in Islam, who organ ized themselves after Ali's rejection for the caliphate as an independent body. Literally
°goers out? as the name implies, they are op posed to all other parties, as renegades to be killed at sight. Their democracy was absolute — the caliph could be of any family, to be elected and deposed by the entire Muslim com munity. A picturesque if narrow sect, they have maintained themselves as an offshoot in a remote corner of the Islam world.
In the days of Ommayad caliphate (661 750) the three centres of religious thought Damascus, Medina and the East — were open to non-Mohammedan influences and two heret ical sects arose— the Murjiites and the Qadarites. The former postponed—hence their judgment of human actions until the day of judgment. They held, too, that no believer in the unity of God and his apostle Mohammed would meet everlasting death — a heresy in that day. The Qadarites opposed predestination and free will and claimed that man had power over his actions — heretical doctrine in the world of Medina to be pun ished by death. In the East, with the Chris. tians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians and the rest in close contact with the Mohammedans, rational ism arose in the sect of Mu'tazilites or usepa ratists,)) who wielded great influence and shared the favor of the state until 849, when orthodox doctrines again held sway. The Koran, tradi tion, reason, custom, were pivots upon which both schools of law and of theology turned, but although the schools were many not all gave rise to special sects that had any lengthy ex istence.
The sect of the Mu'tazilites might have at tained a much wider activity had not Ash'ari (873-935) in his 40th year changed from ration alist to orthodox and founded a scholastic theology of his own which was effective. Hold ing a mediate position between extreme views on most points, his platform became dominant among the Shafi'ites. He asserted that God's attributes cannot be compared to human at tributes. As to free will, he maintained man's responsibility, if denying his power. Despite occasional attacks and persecutions, this theol ogy made its way East and West and is the prevalent system. The system of al-Matiridi, i a Hanifite (d. 945), is its only active opponent to-day, represented by the creed of an-Nasafi, still used as a textbook in schools. Of the 13 points of difference between Mataridi and Ash'ari, Macdonald states that Muslim theo logians admit seven are not much more than combats of words. Even Ghazzali, in most re spects the greatest and most representative of Muslim theologians, accepted the system of Ash`ari. Apart from the Wahabite movement in Arabia and the more recent Babism in Persia, Muslim orthodoxy has not been dis turbed by new sects of any significance.
Bibliography.— Goldziher, Ig.naz, 'Moham med Studien' (Halle 1889-90) ; Hughes, A., 'A Dictionary of Islam' (London 1885) ; Haar briicker 'Asch-Scharastani's Religions arteien, fibersetzt and erklare (Halle 1850-51 ; Mac donald, D. B., 'Muslim Theology, urispru dence and Constitutional Theory) (New York 1903, with four pages bibliography); Muller, 'Der Islam un Abendland' (Berlin 1885-87); Schreiner, 'Beit. zur Gesch. der Theolog. Beweg. in Islam) (Z. D. M. G. 11, pp. 463 ff.. 513 ff.; 111, pp. 51 ff.); Sell, E., 'The Faith of Islam) (London 1896) ; Steiner, 'Die Mu' taziliten' (Leipzig 1865) ; Von Kremer, 'Gesch. der herrsch. Ideen des Islams) (Leipzig 1868), and his 'Culturgesch. des Orients unter den Chanter') (Leipzig 1873). Burton's 'Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah' (London 1898) throws light on present-day Mohammedan sects, despite the author's diffuse style.