Ma`rifat Siyasi

After the Holy Prophet, there was a kind deviation in the Islamic Ummah, which has been referred to as "collective apostasy" in Shiite narrative texts. Despite confirming the occurrence of apostasy in the Islamic Ummah and discussing the narrations that indicate the acceptance of such an event in the Islamic Ummah, Sunni jurists and narrators have not stated which event this apostasy refers to and what it means. However, in Shiite jurisprudential narrations and texts, while explaining which political event this apostasy is related to in the social life of Muslims, the meaning of this type of apostasy has been discussed conceptually. There is no consensus among Shiite jurists on the conceptual interpretation of "apostasy." Using the analytical-ijtihadi approach and focusing on Shiite narrations on the conceptual interpretation of "apostasy", the present study discusses four theories and possibilities and finally proves that from among the four possibilities, "apostasy" meaning deviation and misguidance has a graded meaning, and in these narrations it refers to the political deviation of the Ummah from obeying and accepting the divinely appointed leader; this disobedience renders the deeds vain and degrades man to the point of disbelief. Moreover, these narrations indicate the importance of divine appointment of a political ruler, and imply that even the unanimous consent of the people to a non-divinely appointed ruler does not create political legitimacy