Distinctions between the Twelver Shi’ah & Zaydiyyah

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh Nur ad-Din Abu ‘Ubadah ‘Ali ibn Juma’ah wrote that the Zaydis follow Imam Zayd ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn (r.a.), and are the Shi’ah denomination most similar to the Sunnis.  They agree with the Sunnis, as opposed to the Twelver Shi’ah that the question of the imamiyyah is a branch of religion which does admit rational interpretation, and is likewise subject to independent judgement. 

The Twelver Shi’ah hold their opinion to be established through express textual support, that is, authentically-narrated reports indisputably indicating the person of the imam.  Zaydis recognise texts indicating the person of the imam, but hold them to be less definitive both in their transmission and their signification, and to describe the attributes of the imam, but not specify him by name. 

Further distinctions between the Twelver Shi’ah and Zaydis are logically entailed by these differences, in that the former hold that one who denies the Imamate of Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib (k.w.) and his descendants in effect denies decisive proof-texts and so disbelieves; while the latter hold that denying these matters means rather that one has sinfully erred in judgement, but remains within the fold of faith.  The Zaydis hold that Sayyidina ‘Ali (k.w.) had precedence over Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman (r.a.), Sayyidina Abu Hafsw ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab (r.a.), and Sayyidina Abu ‘Amr ‘Utsman ibn ‘Affan (r.a.) in that he had more right than them to the title of caliph, but due to his younger age and the perilous conditions in the troubled state of the time, it is permissible to admit the caliphate of those before him.  This, again, is contrary to the Twelver Shi’ah, who hold that the prior three caliphs were flagrant usurpers. 

The Twelver Shi’ah, Isma’ilis, and certain Zaydis affirm a doctrine of the awaited Mahdi (a.s.), as opposed to the Sunnis, of whom the majority believe in the Mahdi (a.s.), and another party do not, but in neither case make this doctrine foundational to their creed.