What is the Concept of the Rāfiḍah (Rejectors) among the Zaydis, and What is the Cause of the Rejection?
The concept of Rāfiḍah among the Zaydis is a religious and legal term that was defined and established by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family).
Al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Zaydī narrates with his chain of transmission:
“Yahya ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to me, saying:
My father narrated from his father that when Zayd ibn ʿAlī rose and called people to support the truth, the Shīʿa and many others answered his call. But a group refrained, saying to him:
‘You are not the Imam.’
He asked: ‘Then who is the Imam?’
They replied: ‘Your nephew Jaʿfar.’
He said: ‘If Jaʿfar says he is the Imam, he speaks the truth. So write to him and ask.’
They said: ‘The road is blocked, and we cannot send a messenger except for forty dinars.’
He said: ‘Here are forty dinars—write to him and send it.’
The next day they came and said: ‘He is trying to placate you.’
Zayd replied: ‘Woe unto you! Would an Imam placate anyone without necessity, or conceal the truth, or fear anyone besides Allah? Choose: either you fight with me and pledge allegiance to me as they pledged to ʿAlī, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn—or at least aid me with your weapons and restrain your tongues.’
They said: ‘We will do neither.’
He said: ‘Allāhu Akbar! By Allah, you are the Rāfiḍah that my grandfather, the Messenger of Allah, spoke of when he said:
“After me there will be a people who will refuse to perform jihād alongside the righteous ones from my family. They will say that enjoining good and forbidding evil is not obligatory upon them. They will imitate others in their religion and follow their desires.”
From this narration, several points arise that answer the question:
First Point:
The story of the rejection (rafḍ) is not the one commonly circulated among the general public—namely, that a group came to Abū al-Ḥusayn (Zayd) and tested him by asking about Abū Bakr and ʿUmar.
Rather, the group in question tested him only to find an excuse to avoid pledging allegiance and joining the struggle—out of fear of spears and swords.
They said: “You are not the Imam.”
This is the version that is mutually corroborated and agreed upon by all Zaydi sources as the main reason behind the origin of the term Rāfiḍah.
If some historians or even some Zaydis mentioned the version of testing him regarding the Shaykhs (Abu Bakr and ʿUmar), it was usually not doctrinal, but merely anecdotal.
This is evident in the works of the Zaydi scholars.
And, to be fair, even if the version about testing him concerning the Companions were true, then the group may have asked two questions—
one about Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and another about the designation (waṣiyyah) and whether the Imam was Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad.
That is possible but unlikely.
Still, the main cause of the rejection remains that this group of Shīʿa refused to fight alongside Imam Zayd ibn ʿAlī, not that they rejected Abū Bakr and ʿUmar.
Imam al-Manṣūr Billāh ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥamzah said:
“As for calling those Rāfiḍah who rejected Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and others,
the correct view is that Rāfiḍah refers to those who rejected Zayd ibn ʿAlī.” [2]
Even Ibn Taymiyyah himself affirmed that the cause of the rejection was their refusal of Imam Zayd, not their rejection of the Shaykhs.
He said:
“From the time of Zayd’s uprising, the Shīʿa split into Rāfiḍah and Zaydiyyah.
When Zayd was asked about Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, he prayed for mercy upon them.
Some people then rejected him (rafadūhu), so he said to them: ‘You have rejected me,’ and they were called Rāfiḍah because they rejected him.
Those Shīʿa who did not reject him were called Zaydis, being his followers.” [3]
Even Nashwān al-Ḥimyarī—the author of Al-Ḥūr al-ʿĪn—stated the same:
“The Rāfiḍah among the Shīʿa were so called because they rejected Zayd ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and abandoned rising with him.” [4]
It is well known that none of the early Imāmī Shīʿa joined Imam Zayd in his uprising.
They even discouraged people from supporting him and argued against him, claiming to refute his reasoning.
Examples include Muʾmin al-Ṭāq and Abū Bakr al-Ḥaḍramī.
Indeed, the scholar al-ʿAllāmah al-Ḥillī said about Sulaymān ibn Khālid al-Aqṭaʿ:
“None of the companions of Abū Jaʿfar (Imam al-Bāqir) went out with Zayd except him.” [5]
Meaning, Sulaymān was the only one of al-Bāqir’s followers who joined Zayd’s rebellion.
And even Sulaymān was later made to repent by the early Imāmī Shīʿa for joining Zayd.
Al-Mīrzā al-Nūrī said:
“Regarding Sulaymān ibn Khālid al-Bujalī al-Aqṭaʿ al-Kūfī—he had gone out with Zayd ibn ʿAlī, but escaped.
I say: Then he repented and returned to the truth before his death.” [6]
And Allah is the One whose help is sought.
Thus, dear researcher, the story of the rejection (rafḍ) becomes clear from this first point.
Second Point:
From this Prophetic narration, the fair-minded researcher will see that the religious meaning of the title Rāfiḍah refers to:
“A people who refuse to perform jihād alongside the righteous ones from my family,”
as the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said.
Hence, Imam al-Aʿẓam Zayd ibn ʿAlī said, in another narration reported by Imam al-Hādī ilā al-Ḥaqq from him:
“O Allah, place Your curse, the curse of my forefathers and ancestors, and my own curse upon those who rejected me and withdrew from my pledge—just as the people of Ḥarūrāʾ rejected ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib until they fought him.” [7]
Third Point:
Although Nashwān al-Ḥimyarī reported that the story of the rejection was about testing him concerning the two Shaykhs,
according to the criterion of the Prophet’s household (ʿitrah), the statements of the Ahl al-Bayt take precedence when opinions differ.
Nashwān’s report derives from historians among the ʿĀmma (non-Zaydis), not from the ʿitrah themselves.
We have already presented the evidence and narrations transmitted by the Imams from their forefathers.
Whoever wishes to explore further may consult the sayings of the ʿitrah from numerous sources in our discussion of “al-Rāfiḍah.”
May Allah grant you success.
Authored by:
Ustādh al-Kāẓim al-Zaydī – may Allah bless him.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.
Footnotes
[1] Al-Muḥīṭ bi’l-Imāmah — manuscript.
Also narrated by al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Ḥasanī in al-Maṣābīḥ.
[2] Al-Shāfī, vol. 2, p. 434.
[3] Minhāj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah, vol. 1, p. 35.
[4] Al-Ḥūr al-ʿĪn, p. 221.
[5] Khilāṣat al-Aqwāl, p. 153.
[6] Khātimat al-Mustadrak, vol. 4, p. 328.
[7] Majmūʿ Kutub wa-Rasāʾil al-Imām al-Hādī ilā al-Ḥaqq, p. 60.