ABSTRACT
Opposed to the Khaw&rij are the SMa'ahs, or Separatists, a term specially applied to the adherents of ’Aly, whom the former re pudiated. “ They maintain him to be the lawful Khalifah and Imam, and that the supreme authority, both in spirituals and temporals, of right belongs to his descendants, notwithstanding they may be deprived of it by the injustice of others, or their own fear. They also teach that the office of Im&m is not a common thing depending on the will of the vulgar, so that they may set up whom they please; but a fundamental affair of religion, and an article which the Prophet cquld not have neglected, or left to the fancy of the common people.”3 In accordance with these doctrines the Shia’ahs claim the right of succession to the Imamate for ’Aly and his male descendants. Some recognize seven, and others twelve, as alone being entitled to that dignity. The last, who is surnamed el-Mahdy, or the Guide, they believe to be still alive, and that he will re-appear with the prophet Elijah at the second coming of Christ.
