Choice of SUNNIS

Abu Bakr (1st Khalifa) 632
Omar 634
Othman 644
Ali

Choice of SHIAHS

Abd-ul-Muttalib
Abdullah
MOHAMMED A.D. 570-632
Fatima married Ali
Abu Tälib
ALI (4th Sunni and 1st Shiah Khalifa murdered in Kufa)
(2) Hasan poisoned A.D. 680
(3) Husain killed at battle of Kerbela A.D. 680
(4) Ali II
(5) Mohammed
(6) Jafar-as-Sadik
Choice of ISMAILIS
(7) Ismail
Mohammed disappeared circ. 770
Choice of IMAMIAS or ISNA-ASHARIAS
(7) Abu'I Hasan Musa
(8) Ali III
(9) Abu Jafar Mohammed
(10) Ali
(11) Abu Mohammed al Askari
(12) Mohammed al Mahdi

SHIAHS
ISMAILIS circ. A.D. 770
BATINIS (founded by Abdullah ibn Maymūn) circ. A.D. 872
FATIMITES (under Ubeidallah 1st Fatimite Khalifa) A.D. 909
Fatimite Khalifas of Egypt A.D. 977
HAKIM 6th Fatimite Khalifa A.D. 996
Founds Dar-ul-Hikmat A.D. 1004
ASSASSINS (under Hasan Saba) A.D. 1090
DRUSES (under Hazza) circ. A.D. 1021
KARMATHITES (under Hamdan Karmath) A.D. 896

THE SUCCESSORS OF THE PROPHET

The above table shows the rival lines of Khalifas--on the left the elected successors, choice of the Sunnis; on the right the lineal descendants, choice of the Shiahs. The figure at the side of each name indicates the number in succession of the Khalifa mentioned. The table inset shows the sects to which the disputes over the succession gave birth.

So far, however, in spite of divisions, no body of Shiahs had ever deviated from the fundamental doctrines of Islamism, but merely claimed that these had been handed down through a different line from that recognized by the Sunnis. The earliest Ismailis, who formed themselves into a party at about the time of the death of Mohammed, son of Ismail (i.e. circ. A.D. 770), still remained believers, declaring only that the true teaching of the Prophet had descended to Mohammed, who was not dead but would return in the fullness of time and that he was the Mahdi whom Moslems must await. But in about A.D. 873 an intriguer of extraordinary subtlety succeeded in capturing the movement, which, hitherto merely schismatic, now became definitely subversive, not only of Islamism, but of all religious belief.

This man, Abdullah ibn Maymūn, the son of a learned and free-thinking doctor in Southern Persia, brought up in the doctrines of Gnostic Dualism and profoundly versed in all religions, was in reality, like his father, a pure materialist. By professing adherence to the creed of orthodox Shi-ism, and proclaiming a knowledge of the mystic doctrines which the Ismailis believed to have descended through Ismail to his son Mohammed, Abdullah succeeded in placing himself at the head of the Ismailis.

His advocacy of Ismail was thus merely a mask, his real aim being materialism, which he now proceeded to make into a system by founding a sect known as the Batinis with seven degrees of initiation. Dozy has given the following description of this amazing project:

To link together into one body the vanquished and the conquerors; to unite in the form of a vast secret society with many degrees of initiation free-thinkers--who regarded religion only as a curb for the people--and bigots of all sects; to make tools of believers in order to give power to sceptics; to induce conquerors to overturn the empires they had founded; to build up a party, numerous, compact, and disciplined, which in due time would give the throne, if not to himself, at least to his descendants, such was Abdullah ibn Maymūn's general aim--an extraordinary conception which he worked out with marvellous tact, incomparable skill, and a profound knowledge of the human heart. The means which he adopted were devised with diabolical cunning....

It was ... not among the Shi-ites that he sought his true supporters, but among the Ghebers, the Manicheans, the pagans of Harran, and the students of Greek philosophy; on the last alone could he rely, to them alone could he gradually unfold the final mystery, and reveal that Imams, religions, and morality were nothing but an imposture and an absurdity. The rest of mankind--the "asses," as Abdullah called them--were incapable of understanding such doctrines. But to gain his end he by no means disdained their aid; on the contrary, he solicited it, but he took care to initiate devout and lowly souls only in the first grades of the sect. His missionaries, who were inculcated with the idea that their first duty was to conceal their true sentiments and adapt themselves to the views of their auditors, appeared in many guises, and spoke, as it were, in a different language to each class. They won over the ignorant vulgar by feats of legerdemain which passed for miracles, or excited their curiosity by enigmatical discourse. In the presence of the devout they assumed the mask of virtue and piety. With mystics they were mystical, and unfolded the inner meanings of phenomena, or explained allegories and the figurative sense of the allegories themselves....

By means such as these the extraordinary result was brought about that a multitude of men of diverse beliefs were all working together for an object known only to a few of them....[128]