Shigatze
or DIGARCHI, a town river; 140 miles W. by S. of Lhassa, at feet. Nearby is the Tashilunpo, the residence of one of the great monastery (3,500 monks) of the Tibetan incarnations of Buddha. 12,0 from the Arabian shîah, "a party"), the SHIITES (also SHEEAHS ; "sectaries," nites to Ali's followers, who call them- name given by orthodox Muslims or Sunname given by orthodox Muslims or Sunselves al-adelíyyah, "the right people."
They were the champions of Ali's right to be Mohammed's successor as being his cousin and son-in-law; and after Ali's death they took the side of his sons Has- Hussein (Hosaín), and Mosians, believers in the divine right and hammed ibn al- Hanafiyyah. The Perthis side. All Shîites allegorize the Ko- even in the divine nature of kings, took ran; but the ultra Shîites, founded by converted Jew of Yemen, differed from the moderate Shîites gration of souls, and in calling Ali and or Zaidites in believing in the transmior Zaidites in believing in the transmihis legitimate successors his legitimate successors incarnations of God. By Shîite help the Abbâsides in 750 wrested the caliphate from the Omas the Abbasides were, and decided as Persian ascendency little. They were the strength of the was for 100 years, the Shîites gained "veiled prophet" in 770-779 and of Bâlek in 817-837. Their disaffection was one chief reason for the introduction of Turks into the caliph's service (830-840). cious, the Sixth Shîite Imâm, developed the Ismaili sect of the Shîites. Those followed the eldest son Ismael; the majority, following Moosa, the second son, were afterward named Twelvers, the series of In 765 the death of Jaafar the Veratheir Imâms ending with the 12th. In Irâk in 887 arose the Karmathian branch of the Ismailis. In 909 an Ismaîli proclaimed himself in north claimed himself in north Africa as the first Fâtimide caliph. The 6th caliph of 10th and final incarnation by Darazi, who this line, Hâkim, was declared to be God's founded the sect of the Druses. In 1090 as the Sheikh of the Mountains insti- Hassan Sabbâh, an Ismaîli of Khorassân, tuted the order of Assassins, who genas the Sheikh of the Mountains instierally recognized the erally recognized the Fâtimide caliphate. in Persia and Syria. The moderate Shîism, that has been the national religion of Persia since the native royal line of Safiides ascended the throne in 1499, is more Koranic than and Sunna, but not those of the orthodox Muslims. It has its own modes of religious washing, prayer.
SHIKARPUR Shîites, habitually ill-used in Arabia, absent themselves much from Mecca, and, unable to bless Abu-bekr and Omar, who are buried in Medina, go still less thither.
But they do pilgrimage unhindered to the tombs of Ali and Hussein in the pashalic of Bagdad, and to the tomb of Riza, one of their 12 imâms, in Meshhed, the capital of Khorassan, and to the tombs of Shîite saints. They keep the orthodox feasts and others, among which the Moharram feast, occupying the first 10 days of the month Moharram, and commemorating the martyrdom of Hussein, is the chief. They detest Ayeshah and the founders of the four orthodox schools, and hold all caliphs save Ali to have been usurpers. They own no caliphate nor imâmate; these have been dormant since the death of Mohammed, their 12th imâm, in 879, but shall be revived in him when he, the Hidden Imâm, reappears as the Mahdi. Shîism, the ancient protest of Persian patriotism against Arabian ascendency, has spread through Afghanistan into India, but toward the W. has made no way. The Shîites, divided and subdivided into sects, number 10,000,000, most of whom are Aryans. Toleration and free thought are common in towns and among the more cultivated Persians.
In 1736 Nâdir Shah tried but failed to restore the Shîites to orthodoxy.