A History of the Islamic Sects (2) : The Shi'ite Denominations and the Sects Attributed to Shi'ism

In this work, by Shiite we have the general notion of its meaning in mind which encompasses all who are sympathetic with Ali (AS) and even those who claim to possess his attributes, so that by the Shiite history we do not mean the Islamic history, neither the history of its political transformations, but the history of rhetorical transformations and evolution of thought and its scholars are aimed at. Therefore it is natural that the book includes the history of sects such as Kisaniah who lived a short life and dissipated soon Zeidiah who focused on social political spheres and also Bateniyeh and Ismaeilyiah who lived in secrecy at least a part of their life, and
Twelver Shiite (Shiite Athna’ashari ) which is the epitome of moderation among various Shiite sects and also the history of those who claimed affinity with the Shiite such as Ghaliah who polluted the mind of the Shiites with their notions.
The aim of the author is to picture the general contour of history of the Shi’ah sects.
The book is in seven chapters discussing some general issues like: Shi’ah; Kisaniah sect; Zeidiah; Ismaeiliah; Twelevers; Ghaliah; and Vaghifah. In studying each of these sects, apart from some introductory notes, the history of its evolution is also explained. And since the study of the transformations of a sect is not possible or is partial without at least a basic familiarity with its concepts, a general account of their thoughts is provided and finally the history of their scholars and their internecine sects are introduced.