The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2224 page)

Shewbread
.

The bread laid out in the Jerusalem
Temple
(Leviticus 24. 5–9).

 
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(Arab., ‘party’). Those Muslims who believe that
‘Al
was the legitimate successor (
khal
fa
) to
Mu
ammad
and that ‘Al
,
al-
asan
, and
al-
usain
were cheated of their right to succeed and fell (as
martyrs
) victims to tyranny. Close to the
Sunni
majority in most respects, their most important differences are: the Sh
‘a community's suffering is consecrated by the suffering (regarded as martyrdom) of the founding
Im
ms
; the office of Im
m is bestowed by God on a chosen person from Mu
ammad's family; these Im
ms are a spiritually perfect élite and are therefore infallible; the
hidden Im
m's
return will bring victory over an unjust political order, against which true believers have always been in opposition; meanwhile, the Sh
‘a community is guided by the
mujt
hids