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When Sunnis and Shi'ites spoke politely of each other, they used these name. However, when they wanted to be derogatory, Sunnis called their Shi'ite opponents Rafida and the Shi'ites responded by calling their Sunni opponents Nawasib.<ref>Madelung, Wilferd. Islamic Legal Orthodoxy: Twelver Shiite Responses to the Sunni Legal System by Devin J. Stewart. ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 120, NO. 1 (Jan.- Mar., 2000), pp. 111-114</ref> |
When Sunnis and Shi'ites spoke politely of each other, they used these name. However, when they wanted to be derogatory, Sunnis called their Shi'ite opponents Rafida and the Shi'ites responded by calling their Sunni opponents Nawasib.<ref>Madelung, Wilferd. Islamic Legal Orthodoxy: Twelver Shiite Responses to the Sunni Legal System by Devin J. Stewart. ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 120, NO. 1 (Jan.- Mar., 2000), pp. 111-114</ref> |
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At certain points, the Shi'i decided to turn this negative term that was being used against them daily and turn it into something positive. The Shi'is sometimes designated themselves as Rawafid, which is someone who refuses; it's also a derogatory term applied by the Sunnis to describe the Shi'is who refused to accept the early caliphates. They decided to refer to themselves a Rawafid since it gave them a sense of pride because the revolted against Zayd ibn 'Ali's tyranny.<ref>"Rawafid." In ''The Oxford Dictionary of Islam''. Ed. John L. Esposito. ''Oxford Islamic Studies Online.''[http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1985].</ref> Through the years, Rafida was transformed within the Shi'i world from an abusive nickname into a name signifying special praise, making it a positive term.<ref name="Kohlberg"/> Not only did they use the word as honorific amongst the community, they furthered the positive term by writing it into ancient history stories where they had always rejected evil, not turned towards evil.<ref name="Wasserstrom"/> |
At certain points, the Shi'i decided to turn this negative term that was being used against them daily and turn it into something positive. The Shi'is sometimes designated themselves as Rawafid, which is someone who refuses; it's also a derogatory term applied by the Sunnis to describe the Shi'is who refused to accept the early caliphates. They decided to refer to themselves a Rawafid since it gave them a sense of pride because the revolted against Zayd ibn 'Ali's tyranny.<ref>"Rawafid." In ''The Oxford Dictionary of Islam''. Ed. John L. Esposito. ''Oxford Islamic Studies Online.''[http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1985].</ref>(What tyranny? This reference is inaccurate! Twelver Shi'ites and some other groups celebrate Zayd ibn Ali as a martyr??? See: http://www.al-islam....awar/3.1.html#1 and http://en.wikipedia....idiyyah#Beliefs) Through the years, Rafida was transformed within the Shi'i world from an abusive nickname into a name signifying special praise, making it a positive term.<ref name="Kohlberg"/> Not only did they use the word as honorific amongst the community, they furthered the positive term by writing it into ancient history stories where they had always rejected evil, not turned towards evil.<ref name="Wasserstrom"/> |
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==Current== |
==Current== |
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Revision as of 15:32, 14 June 2011
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2009) |
Rāfiḍah (Arabic: رافضة [rɑːfidˤa]; pl. rawāfiḍ) is a collective noun which means "defectors" or "deserters". The word is derived from the Arabic verb root ر ف ض, rafada, which translates to, "to desert". The Arabic non-collective singular form is rafidi (رافضي). This is an Islamic term which refers in a derogatory way to those who, in the opinion of the person using the term, reject so-called legitimate Islamic authority and leadership. To those who the term is being directed towards, rafida has been referred to as a pejorative appellation, a negative affect, and an abusive nickname.[1]
The term is used today by Sunni extremists to refer to Shia Muslims who do not recognize Abu Bakr and his successors as legitimate rulers of the Muslim nation. Shias, in turn, refer to Salafis as nawasib or wahhabi.
Origin
The term Rafida followed Shiaism from a very early period, back to the uprising of Zayd b. 'Ali against the Umayyads. This uprising foreshadowed the collapse of the Umayyad dynasty, which in turn led to the split between Shia for those who agreed with Zayd and those who did not agree with the ways of Zayd.[1] The meaning of the term went through several changes as the use of the term progressed through time. Familiarly known, it became a popular pejorative term of the Imamiyya, the Twelver Shia, intended to recall the two major sins of rejecting Zayd ibn Ali and that of rejecting the first caliphs:Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman.[1]
There is much debate of the exact origin of rafida being used; however, one example of an early instance is from the Kitab al-mahasin of Abu Ja'far Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Khalid al-Barqi. A section of the Kitab al-mahasin reveals occasions of the use of rafida, ascribed to Ja'far al-Sadiq: A man came to Ja'far al-Sadiq that someone had warned him against becoming a Rafidi and Ja'far replied "By God, this name which God has granted you is excellent, as long as you follow our teaching and do not attribute lies to us." Muhammad al-Baqir also mentioned an instance when he pointed at himself stating "I am one of the Rafida."[1] While this may be the origin, others refer to another historical text. Ja'far al-Sadiq explains that Rafida is far from an abusive nickname but an honorific one given first by God and preserved in the Old testament and the New Testament: he mentions that there were 70 men among the people of Pharaoh who rejected him and his ways and rather joined Moses, and God called those 70 men, Rafida. Mughira, a man of Islam who was rejected by both major parties of Islam is said to have coined the term rafida against those who had rejected him.[2]
Even though rafida was mostly referred to in a derogatory way, the Imamis turned rafida into an honorific term: people who rejected their master, Pharaoh, to join Moses, God then called them Rafida. After the death of Muhammad, the Shia were the only ones who rejected evil, making them the successors of the original Rafida.[3] They considered their rejection of evil to be leaving the power of Zayd ibn 'Ali and staying true to the ways of 'Ali.
Rafida however, does not appear in the Qur'an verses or the bible, so the Shia could not point to the Qur'an for facts and support of the existence and origin of the term. There are also those who insist that rafida was mentioned in the original texts, but the enemies later deleted the context including rafida.[1]
Usage
The fourteenth-century Sunni traveler Ibn Battuta used it in his description of the extremist Nusairi Shi'ite sect during his visit to Syria in 1326.[4] The term continues to be used in this way today.[5] Rafida was also sometimes used to indicate extreme Shi'ites as opposed to the Shi'i, which was used to indicate the moderate Shi'ites.[6] The pejorative use of the term continued to denote the Imamiyya throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era.[3] Additionally, Umar's successors, the Sunnis, used the Dajjal to describe the ultimate rejector of their ways; the Dajjal was worse than calling a Shi'i rafida.[2]
When Sunnis and Shi'ites spoke politely of each other, they used these name. However, when they wanted to be derogatory, Sunnis called their Shi'ite opponents Rafida and the Shi'ites responded by calling their Sunni opponents Nawasib.[7]
At certain points, the Shi'i decided to turn this negative term that was being used against them daily and turn it into something positive. The Shi'is sometimes designated themselves as Rawafid, which is someone who refuses; it's also a derogatory term applied by the Sunnis to describe the Shi'is who refused to accept the early caliphates. They decided to refer to themselves a Rawafid since it gave them a sense of pride because the revolted against Zayd ibn 'Ali's tyranny.[8](What tyranny? This reference is inaccurate! Twelver Shi'ites and some other groups celebrate Zayd ibn Ali as a martyr??? See: http://www.al-islam....awar/3.1.html#1 and http://en.wikipedia....idiyyah#Beliefs) Through the years, Rafida was transformed within the Shi'i world from an abusive nickname into a name signifying special praise, making it a positive term.[1] Not only did they use the word as honorific amongst the community, they furthered the positive term by writing it into ancient history stories where they had always rejected evil, not turned towards evil.[2]
Current
In Saudi Arabia today, Shiites are referred to still as rafida.[9] The Iraqi Shi' still live in hostility because of the ways of the Sunni government, and how still after improvement in Saudi-Iranian relations, anti-Shi'a material is surfacing throughout the community.[10] A discourse was released after improvement by the name of "The Rafida in the Land of Tawhid", which included orders by a member of the Higher Council, to kill Shi'is.[10]
Until 1993, schoolbooks in Saudi Arabia openly denounced the Shi'i and Sufi beliefs and referred to the Shi'i as rafida in the books.[11] The curriculum was changed after protests and rafida is no longer used in the text books; the Shi'a beliefs are still however denounced in the books.[11]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Kohlberg, Etan Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 99, No.4 (Oct.- Dec., 1979), pp. 677-679
- ^ a b c Wasserstrom, Steve. History of Religions, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Aug., 1985), pp. 1-29
- ^ a b Kohlberg, E. "al-Rafida or al-Rawafid." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2010. Brill Online.
- ^ Gibb, H.A.R., 'The Travels of Ibn Battuta, Hakluyt, (1999) v.1, p.93
- ^ Nasr, Vali, Shia Revival, Norton, (2006) p.53
- ^ Abrahamov, Binyamin.Arabica, T. 34, Fasc. 1 (Mar., 1987), pp. 80-105
- ^ Madelung, Wilferd. Islamic Legal Orthodoxy: Twelver Shiite Responses to the Sunni Legal System by Devin J. Stewart. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 120, NO. 1 (Jan.- Mar., 2000), pp. 111-114
- ^ "Rawafid." In The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Ed. John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic Studies Online.[1].
- ^ Rosen, Nir, "America's unlikely savior; Recently, the U.S. was calling for Muqtada al-Sadr's head. Now, the fiery cleric may be the only man who can defuse Iraq's Sunni-Shiite conflict," Salon, February 3, 2005, accessed February 8, 2010
- ^ a b Jones, Toby. Middle East Report, No. 237 (Winter, 2005), pp. 20-25
- ^ a b Prokop, Michaela. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 79, No. 1 (Jan., 2003), pp. 77-89