Page:EB1911 - Volume 24.djvu/892 - Wikisource, the free online library (2024)

Other points in which Shiites differ from Sunnites depend ontheir legitimistic opinions, or are accommodations of the rites ofShiite tenets.Islam to the Persian nationality, or else are pettymatters affecting ceremonial. The rejection of all theSunnite books of tradition goes with the repudiationof the caliphs under whose protection these were handed down.The Shiites, however, have their own collections of traditions.An allegorical and mystical interpretation reconciles the wordsof the Koran with the inordinate respect paid to ‘Alī; the Sunnitedoctrine of the uncreated Koran is denied. To the Mahommedanconfession “There is no god but God and Mahomet isHis ambassador” they add “and ‘Alī is the vice regent of God”(walī, properly “confidant”). There are some modifications indetail as to the four main religious duties of Islam—the prescriptionsof ritual purity, in particular, being made the mainduty of the faithful. The prayers are almost exactly the same,but to take part in public worship is not obligatory, as there isat present no legitimate imām whose authority can direct theprayer of the congregation. Pilgrimage to Mecca may be performedby a hired substitute, or its place can be taken by a visitto the tombs of Shiite saints, e.g. that of ‘Alī at Nejef, of Ḥosainat Kerbelā, of Reẓā at Meshed, or of the “unstained Fāṭima”at Ḳum (Fāṭima-i-ma’aṣūm, daughter of Mūsā, the 7th imām).The Shiites are much the most zealous of Moslems in the worshipof saints (real or supposed descendants of ‘Alī) and in pilgrimagesto their graves, and they have a characteristic eagerness to beburied in those holy places. The Persians have an hereditarylove for pomps and festivities, and so the Shiites have devisedmany religious feasts. Of these the great sacrificial feast(‘īd-i-Qurbān; Turkish Qurbān Bairām) is also Sunnite; the firstten days of the month Moḥarram are dedicated to the mourningfor the death of Ḥosain at Kerbelā (q.v.), which is celebrated bypassion-plays (ta‘zīya), while the universal joy of the Nauroz,or the New Year of the Old Persian calendar, receives a Mahommedansanction by the tradition that on this day the prophetconferred the caliphate on ‘Alī.

While they naturally reject the four Sunnite schools of jurisprudence,the Shiites also derive all law from the Koran, andtheir trained clergy (mollahs) are the only class that can givelegitimate legal responses. The training of the mollah resemblesthat of the Sunnite ‘ālim. The course at the madrasa (medresse)embraces grammar, with some rhetoric and prosody, logic,dogmatic Koran exegesis, tradition and jurisprudence, andfinally some arithmetic and algebra. The best madrasa is atKerbelā. The scholar discharged from his studies becomesfirst a simple mollah, i.e. local judge and notary. A small placehas one such judge, larger towns a college of judges under ahead called the sheikh ul-Islām. The place of the Sunnitemuftis is filled by certain of the imām-jum‘a, i.e. presidents ofthe chief mosques in the leading towns, who in respect of thisfunction bear the title of imām mujtahid. This is a dignity conferredby the tacit consent of people and clergy, and is held atone time only by a very few distinguished men. In Persia, thecadi (ḳāẓi) is an inferior judge who acts for the sheikh u ’l-Islāmin special cases, and a mufti is a solicitor acting under the judgeto prepare cases for court.

Under the Safawids, when the clergy had great influence, theyhad at their head the ṣadru ’ṣ-ṣodūr, who administered all piousfoundations and was the highest judicial authority. But sogreat a power was found dangerous; ‘Abbās the Great (1586-1628)abstained from filling up a vacancy which occurred in it,and, though Shāh Safī (1628-1641) restored the office, he placedit in commission. Nādir Shāh abolished it in his attempt toget rid of the Shiite hierarchy (1736), and since then it has notbeen restored. Yet the imām-jum‘a of Isfāhān, the old Safawicapital, is tacitly regarded as representative of the invisibleimām of the house of ‘Alī, who is the true head of the church.Various vain attempts were made in the 19th century to subordinatethe authority of the clergy to the government. Outsidethe clergy the greatest influence in religious matters is thatexercised by the dervishes (q.v.). As it was long necessary toprofess orthodoxy for fear of the Arabs, it came to be an establishedShiite doctrine that it is lawful to deny one's faith in caseof danger. This “caution” (taqīya) or “concealment” (ketmān)has become a second nature with the Persians. Another mischievousthing is the permission of temporary marriages—marriagesfor a few hours on a money payment. This legitimizedharlotry (mot‘a) is forbidden by the Sunna, but the Shiites allowit, and the mollahs adjust the contract and share the women'sprofits. There is still mental life and vigour among the Shiites,as appears among the sects, which, allowance being made for“taqīya,” play no inconsiderable part. The Akhbārīs(traditionalists), who adopt a semi philosophical wayof explainingaway the plainest doctrines (such as the resurrection of the flesh)on the authority of false traditions of ‘Alī, are not so much asect as a school of theology within the same pale as the orthodoxShia or Mujtahids. A real dissenting sect, however, is theSheikhīs, of whose doctrines we have but imperfect and discrepantaccounts. Representatives of the old extreme Shiites, who held‘Alī for a divine incarnation, are found all over Persia in the‘Alī-Ilāhī or ‘Alī-Allāhī sect (“‘Alī deifiers”). Finally, in the19th century arose the remarkable attempt at reform known asBābiism (q.v.).

SHIKAR, the Hindostani term for sport, in the sense of shootingand hunting. The word is in universal use by Anglo-Indiansfor the pursuit of large game, such as tiger-shooting andpig-sticking. The shikari is either the native expert, who-marks thegame for the sportsman, or else the European sportsman himself.

SHIKARPUR, a town of British India, in the Sukkur districtof Sind, Bombay. It is situated about 18 m. from the right bankof the Indus, with a station on the North-Western railway, 23 m.N.W. of Sukkur. Pop. (1901) 49,491. Shikarpur has alwaysbeen an important place as commanding the trade route throughthe Bolan Pass, and its merchants have dealings with manytowns in Central Asia. It has a large market and manufacturesof carpets, cotton cloth and pottery. Shikarpur was formerly theheadquarters of a district of the same name. In 1901 twosubdivisions of this district were detached to form the new districtof Larkana, and the two other subdivisions were then constitutedthe district of Sukkur.