Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi examines the heresiographic sources, both
Sunnite and so-called moderate-Shi’ite, that accuse the first Shi’ites of ideological
‘extremism’ due, firstly, to their alleged messianism, and, secondly,
and somewhat complementarily, to their more-or-less-straightforward
divinisation of their imām or ‘spiritual leader’. Considering that these
accusations may well be to some extent reliable, how are we to envisage
the connection that apparently existed between such doctrines and
Muhammad’s own early message, with its emphasis on the more-orless-
imminent end of the world and its subsequent announcement of the
coming of the Messiah, be he Jesus or ‘Alī?