ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Mihna

Mihna was a time a long time ago when some people who were leaders wanted everyone to agree on the same beliefs about religion. They thought this was very important and wanted to make sure everyone was following the same path. They wanted to know that everyone believed in the religion the same way.

So, the leaders asked questions to everyone to make sure they all agreed. They asked questions about belief, and made people answer to see if they had the same ideas.

Now, some people didn't agree with what the leaders were saying, and they wanted to have their own ideas about religion and belief. But the leaders didn't like this, and they said that people who had their own ideas were wrong.

The leaders then punished the people who didn't agree with them. This wasn't very fair, but they did it anyway. People were forced to say that they believed the same thing as the leaders or else they would be hurt or worse.

But even though the leaders were trying to make everyone believe the same thing, some people still had different ideas. And eventually, the leaders realized they couldn't force everyone to believe the same thing, and they stopped the mihna.