The answer:

 The term „Shia‟ in the Arabic language means the „follower‟. The

holy Quran in this regard says, البراهيم شيعته من ان و) Abraham is one

of the followers of Noah)

*

. But in the Muslims‟ terminology, the

term „Shia‟ is applied to a group of Muslims, who believe that the

Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and his descendants) had

appointed his successor and the Muslims‟ Caliph before departing this

life in some special occasions, among which happened to be on Zil-

Hajah, 18, the 10th year of Hijrah, known as Ghadir, in a big

congregation, in which he introduced the Muslims‟ political,

scientific, and religious leader. It is noteworthy to say that after the

Prophet‟s demise, Mohajerin (the Migrants) and Ansar (the Helpers)

were divided into two groups:

A group was of the opinion that the Prophet (peace be upon him and

his descendants) had not neglected the issue of Caliphate and thus had

appointed his successor, and that is Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s), the first

believer after him.

 This group, consisted of some of Mohajerin (the Migrants) and

Ansar (the Helpers), headed by the Bani-Hashem nobilities and

some of the brilliant disciples of the Prophet (peace be upon him and

*

Safat Sura, verse no. 83

his descendants), such as Salman, Abuzar, Meghdad, Khabab Ibn

Arat, etc. They remained steadfast on this belief and were entitled as

Ali‟s Shia.

 The honored Prophet (peace be upon him and his descendants), of

course, applied this title to Ali‟s followers in his lifetime, where he

referred to Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s) as:

** والذي نفسي بيده، ان هذا وشيعته لهم الفائزون يوم القيامة

(By Allah, Whom my life is in His hand, he [Ali (a.s)] and his

followers are prosperous on the Day of Resurrection.)

 Therefore, the term „Shia‟ is applied to a group of Muslims, who

were so-called due to their belief that God appoints His caliphs. This

group has already remained believing in following the Prophet‟s

Ahlul-Bait (a.s).

 This fact clarifies the Shia point of view, and therefore, the

baselessness of the biased or ignorant fabricators‟ claims, stating that

Shiism came into existence after the Prophet (peace be upon him and

his descendants) is proved. For further study on the history of Shiism,

refer to the books „Shiism and the principles‟, „Al-Morajeat‟, and

„Ayan Ul-Shia‟.

The other group believed that the Caliphate position is elective;

therefore, they swore allegiance to Abubakr, and later they were

entitled as the Sunnites. Consequently, in spite of a lot of common

points in their principles, major discrepancies occurred to both sides

on the issue of the Caliphate and the Prophet‟s successorship.

Mohajerin (the Migrants) and Ansar (the Helpers) were the

preliminary sources of forming both groups.