With the escalation of events during the last two decades, the followers of the Zaidi sect returned to the fore, who mix between 3 contradictory currents of tendency and vision: the Kharijites, the Shiites, and the Mu'tazila. What is the history of the presence of the Zaidi sect in Yemen?

And what are its doctrinal and intellectual foundations? Questions raised by episode (12/28/2022) of the “Mawazine” program.

Al-Zaydism is attributed to Imam Zaid bin Ali Zaid Al-Abidin bin Al-Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib, who was born in the year 80 AH, and is considered among the imams of Islam unanimously agreed on their leadership. Al-Musnad” and “The Virtues of the Companions”.

And by the year 122 AH, Imam Zaid led a revolution against the rule of the Umayyads that ended with his death, and until then the sect affiliated with him and called Zaidi had not yet arisen, but after more than a century of putting down his revolution, a Zaidi revolution was established in Tabaristan in northern Iran, and this was followed by the establishment of its state in Yemen, and many scholars have emerged from the sect, who are highly respected in the Islamic world.

Regarding the historical circumstances that led to the emergence of the Zaydi sect, Muhammad Azzan, a researcher specializing in Islamic thought, said - in his interview with the "Mawazine" program - that Zaydism is affiliated with Imam Zaid, who died in 122 AH, and who adopted a resistance movement to the rule of Hisham bin Abd al-Malik al-Umayyad and raised the banner of exodus. On obedience to the unjust ruler, pointing out that everyone who adopted this idea was described as a Zaidi, and before they were called the Zaidi movement, they were called the owners of the sword.

The Zaydi sect - according to the specialized researcher - is based on the idea of ​​revolting against the unjust ruler, and it shares with the Shiite extension the issue of loyalty to the Ahl al-Bayt, but it is not in the style of the Shiite Twelver sect. For example, they believe that Imam Ali bin Abi Talib was the first candidate for the imamate, but they differ On the issue of the text on it and the ruling of his progress in the caliphate.

The early Zaidis also acknowledge the validity of the caliphate of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, may God be pleased with him, but they insist that Imam Ali was more important than him.

The followers of the Zaydi school of thought take from the two imams Bukhari and Muslim, but they do not adhere as the Sunnis do.

The Zaydi sect adopts the idea of ​​revolting only against the unjust ruler, while the Kharijites revolt against the ruler even if he is not unjust, and they revolt against everyone who disagrees with them in political opinion, but there have been developments that have brought the two sects away from some of their constants and principles, according to Ezzan.

The multiplicity of sects within Zaydism

The Yemeni researcher said that the founder of the Zaydi movement in Yemen, Imam al-Hadi, contradicts in many jurisprudential schools what was narrated on the authority of Imam Zaid bin Ali, pointing to the multiplicity of sects within Zaydism, including the Jarudiyah and Salhiyya currents, and they are completely different from each other.

In his turn, Professor of Islamic Educational Thought at the University of Sana'a, Ahmed Al-Dagshi, spoke in his intervention to the "Mawazine" program about the historically well-known Al-Matrafiyya sect within the Zaydi sect, and said that it is a Zaydi-Hadawian sect that does not differ from Hadawism in anything in terms of the theoretical aspect, and he said that Al-Hadawian Zaydism is a verbal sect Close to the Mu'tazilah, if not a copy of it.

Al-Dagshi also stressed the need to distinguish between Zaydism of Imam Zayd, which now no longer exists, and the dominant Hadawian trend in Yemen.

According to the specialized researcher, the existing Zaydi school of thought is a political one, and what the Houthi movement adopts is the Jarudi extension, meaning that they choose the opinion of Abu al-Jaroud, and he said that the Houthis believe in the idea of ​​the right of the Ahl al-Bayt to the caliphate and the imamate, and they differ in this with the Twelvers who believe in 12 An infallible imam.

Regarding whether the imama as a theory is valid under the modern state, the researcher specializing in Islamic thought explained that the idea of ​​limiting the imama to a specific family is an old idea that is no longer valid in the modern era.

As for the professor of Islamic educational thought, he pointed out that the conditions of the Imamate for the Zaidi Hadiya are the genealogical condition, that is, that he be a descendant of Fatima from her two sons, Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein, and the condition of knowledge, courage, and the call accompanied by the sword, which are conditions that have become a problem and are always difficult to verify.