ABSTRACT
According to Muslim historical anthropologist al-Jahiz, in early Islam only those Muslims who preferred Ali to Uthman ibn Affan were called the Shiites. The Andalusian historian Ibn Hazm maintained that only after 655, that is, after the death of Uthman, the third rightly guided caliph, did the supporters of Ali come to be recognized as "the Shiites of Ali". The persecution of the Shiites under the Umayyads, however exaggerated it might be in the later sources, further testifies to the strong presence of this particular view of succession to Muhammad's authority in early Islamic history. The nature of authority in Shiite Islam is composed of ingredients similar to those that had originally shaped the initial Muhammadan charisma. The force of charisma, persisting in the post-Muhammadan era, seeks its perpetuation, rather than traditionalization or legalization, in the figure of Ali and his posterity.
