Shia Islam

{{Short description|Second-largest branch of Islam}} {{Redirect2|Shia|Shias|}} {{Pp-semi-indef|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Shia Islam}} {{Islam}}

'''Shia Islam'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|iː|ə}} {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|z|l|ɑː|m|,_|ˈ|ɪ|z|l|æ|m}}}} is the second-largest branch of Islam. It is rooted in the belief that the Islamic prophet Muhammad explicitly designated his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib ({{Reign|656|661}}) as his rightful political successor (caliph) and the divinely guided spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). Shia Muslims maintain that Ali's divine right to leadership was unjustly usurped at the meeting of Saqifa, where certain companions of Muhammad apparently acted against the Prophet's mandate to appoint Abu Bakr ({{Reign|632|634}}) as caliph. While Sunni Muslims accept the rule of Abu Bakr, Umar ({{Reign|634|644}}), and Uthman ({{Reign|644|656}}), Shia Muslims remain steadfast in honouring what they perceive to be the Prophet's wishes, recognizing Ali alone as Muhammad's true and legitimate successor.

Shia Muslims believe the imamate continued rightfully through Ali's sons, Hasan and Husayn, after whom various Shia branches emerged to follow the lines of the true imams. Central to Shia devotion is a profound reverence for the {{Transliteration|ar|ahl al-bayt}}, the purified family of Muhammad, who are recognized as the infallible inheritors of his divinely granted knowledge and spiritual authority. Sacred Shia holy sites include the shrine of Ali in Najaf, the shrine of Husayn in Karbala, and other mausoleums of the revered {{Transliteration|ar|ahl al-bayt}}.

Shia Muslims constitute an estimated 10–13%<ref name="Shia2">See * {{cite encyclopedia |title=Shiʿi |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shii |access-date=2019-09-30 |date=2019-10-04 |quote=In the early 21st century some 10–13 percent of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims were Shiʿi. }} * {{Cite news |date=2011-12-06 |title=Sunnis and Shia: Islam's ancient schism |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-16047709 |access-date=2025-11-30 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB |quote=Shia constitute about 10% of all Muslims, and globally their population is estimated at between 154 and 200 million. }} * {{Cite news |title=Understanding the branches of Islam: Shia Islam |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2016)573914 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901052114/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2016)573914 |archive-date=1 September 2022 |access-date=2025-11-30 |work=European Parliament |language=en |quote=Shiite Muslims – estimated to make up 10-13% of the global Muslim population |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |date=7 October 2009 |title=Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/ |access-date=24 September 2013 |work=Pew Research Center |quote=The Pew Forum's estimate of the Shia population (10–13%) is in keeping with previous estimates, which generally have been in the range of 10–15%. Some previous estimates, however, have placed the number of Shias at nearly 20% of the world's Muslim population. }} * {{cite web |title=Shia |url=http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/essays/shi-a |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215070956/http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/essays/shi-a |archive-date=15 December 2012 |access-date=5 December 2011 |publisher=Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs |quote=Shi'a Islam is the second largest branch of the tradition, with up to 200 million followers who comprise around 15% of all Muslims worldwide… }}</ref> of the world's Muslim population, numbering approximately 200–260 million faithful followers as of 2026. The three principal Shia branches are Twelverism, Isma'ilism, and Zaydism. Shia Muslims form a majority in Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan, and comprise nearly half of the citizen population of Bahrain.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 July 2011 |title=وثيقة بحرينية: الشيعة أقل من النصف |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2011/7/4/%D9%88%D8%AB%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%82%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B5%D9%81 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320151402/https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2011/7/4/%D9%88%D8%AB%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%82%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B5%D9%81 |archive-date=20 March 2023 |work=Al Jazeera |quote=كشفت وثيقة بحرينية رسمية حديثة أن نسبة المواطنين السنة من إجمالي مواطني البلاد تعادل 51%، في حين توقفت نسبة الطائفة الشيعية عند 49% |trans-quote="A recent official Bahraini document revealed that the percentage of Sunni citizens out of the country's total citizens is 51%, while the percentage of the Shiite community stopped at 49%.."}}</ref> Substantial Shia communities also exist in Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and the Indian subcontinent. Iran remains the only country in the world where Shia Islam officially serves as the foundation of both its legal framework and system of governance.{{sfn|Armajani|2020|pp=1–3}}

==Terminology== The word Shia (or {{transliteration|ar|Shīʿa}}; {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|iː|ə}}; {{Langx|rtl=yes|ar|شيعي}}; {{plural form|{{tlit|ar|shīʿiyyūn}}}}) is derived from {{tlit|ar|shīʿatu ʿAlī}} ({{Langx|ar|شيعة علي|label=none|translation=followers of Ali}}).<ref name="Britannica738">The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1998, {{ISBN|0-85229-663-0}}, Vol. 10, p. 738</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Duncan S. Ferguson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPwHem3bV9sC&pg=PA192 |title=Exploring the Spirituality of the World Religions: The Quest for Personal, Spiritual and Social Transformation |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4411-4645-8 |page=192}}</ref><ref name="wehr-498">{{cite web |last1=Wehr |first1=Hans |title=Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |url=https://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=594 |page=598 |edition=4th}}</ref> In Arabic, "Shīʿa" means followers and supporters; the term derives from ''al-shiyāʿ'' and ''al-mushāyaʿa'', which convey the meanings of following, supporting, and obedience.{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} Shia Islam is also referred to in English as Shiism (or Shīʿism) ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|iː|ɪ|z|(|ə|)|m}}), and Shia Muslims as Shiites (or Shīʿites) ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|iː|aɪ|t}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Difference Between The Meaning Of ''Shia'' And ''Shiite''? However the term Shiite is being used less and is considered less proper than simply using the term "Shia". |url=https://www.englishforums.com/English/DifferenceBetweenMeaningShia-Shiite/dxnnw/post.htm |website=English forums |date=2 February 2007 |access-date=31 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731194040/https://www.englishforums.com/English/DifferenceBetweenMeaningShia-Shiite/dxnnw/post.htm |archive-date=31 July 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The term {{Transliteration|ar|Shia}} was first used during Muhammad's lifetime.<ref>{{harvnb|Ṭabataba'i|1977|p=34}}</ref>{{not in source|date=November 2025}} At present, the word refers to Muslims who believe that the leadership of the Muslim community after Muhammad belongs to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, and his successors.<ref name="jaarel 2015">{{cite journal |last=Foody |first=Kathleen |date=September 2015 |editor-last=Jain |editor-first=Andrea R. |title=Interiorizing Islam: Religious Experience and State Oversight in the Islamic Republic of Iran |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=599–623 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lfv029 |issn=0002-7189 |eissn=1477-4585 |jstor=24488178 |lccn=sc76000837 |oclc=1479270 |quote=For Shiʿi Muslims, Muhammad not only designated ʿAlī as his friend, but appointed him as his successor—as the "lord" or "master" of the new Muslim community. ʿAlī and his descendants would become known as the Imams, divinely guided leaders of the Shiʿi communities, sinless, and granted special insight into the Qurʾanic text. The theology of the Imams that developed over the next several centuries made little distinction between the authority of the Imams to politically lead the Muslim community and their spiritual prowess; quite to the contrary, their right to political leadership was grounded in their special spiritual insight. While in theory, the only just ruler of the Muslim community was the Imam, the Imams were politically marginal after the first generation. In practice, Shiʿi Muslims negotiated varied approaches to both interpretative authority over Islamic texts and governance of the community, both during the lifetimes of the Imams themselves and even more so following the disappearance of the twelfth and final Imam in the ninth century. |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Nawbakhti states that the term ''Shia'' refers to a group of Muslims who, at the time of Muhammad and after him, regarded ʿAlī as the Imam and caliph.<ref name="jaarel 2015"/><ref>{{harvnb|Sobhani|Shah-Kazemi|2001|p=97}}</ref> Al-Shahrastani explains that the term ''Shia'' refers to those who believe that ʿAlī was designated as the heir, Imam, and caliph by Muhammad,<ref name="jaarel 2015"/><ref>{{harvnb|Sobhani|Shah-Kazemi|2001|p=98}}</ref> and that ʿAlī's authority is maintained through his descendants.<ref name="jaarel 2015"/><ref>{{cite book | last=Vaezi | first=Ahmad | title=Shia political thought | year=2004 | publisher=Islamic Centre of England | location=London | page=56 | isbn=978-1-904934-01-1 | oclc=59136662}}</ref> For the adherents of Shia Islam, this conviction is implicit in the Quran and the history of Islam. Shia Muslim scholars emphasize that the notion of authority is linked to the family of the Abrahamic prophets, as the Quranic verses {{qref|3|33}} and {{qref|3|34}} illustrate: "Indeed, Allah chose Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of 'Imrân above all people. They are descendants of one another. And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing."<ref>{{harvnb|Cornell|2007|p=218}}</ref>

==History== {{main|History of Shia Islam}} The original Shia identity referred to the followers of Imam ʿAlī,<ref>"Shiʻite Islam", by Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, translated by Sayyid Husayn Nasr, State University of New York Press, 1975, p. 24</ref> and Shia theology was formulated after the ''hijra'' (7th century CE).<ref>Dakake (2008), pp. 1–2</ref> The first Shia governments and societies were established by the end of the 9th century. The 10th century has been referred to by the scholar of Islamic studies Louis Massignon as "the Shiite Ismaili century in the history of Islam".<ref>In his "Mutanabbi devant le siècle ismaëlien de l'Islam", in Mém. de l'Inst Français de Damas, 1935, p.</ref>

=== Origins === {{main|Origin of Shia Islam|Ali ibn Abi Talib|First Fitna}} [[File:Chronology of Ancient Nations, f.162r miniature.jpg|thumb|The investiture of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib at Ghadir Khumm (MS Arab 161, fol. 162r, 1308–1309, Ilkhanid manuscript illustration)]] The Shia, originally known as the "partisans" of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad's cousin and Fatima's husband, first emerged as a distinct movement composed of those fiercely loyal to him during the First Fitna (656–661). Shia doctrine is founded on the understanding that ʿAlī was uniquely designated to lead the Muslim community after Muhammad's death in 632. While the origins of Shia Islam remain a subject of scholarly debate, many Western historians have attempted to characterize early Shia Islam merely as a political faction rather than a religious movement,<ref>See: Lapidus p. 47, Holt p. 72</ref><ref name="franc23">Francis Robinson, ''Atlas of the Islamic World'', p. 23.</ref> while others recognize this framework as an anachronistic imposition of the Western separation of religion and politics.<ref>Jafri, S.H. Mohammad. "The Origin and Early Development of Shiʻa Islam", Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 6, {{ISBN|978-0-19-579387-1}}</ref>

Shia Muslims point to Muhammad's explicit designation of ʿAlī as his successor during a major sermon at Ghadir Khumm, in which he declared: "Anyone who has me as his {{transliteration|ar|mawla}}, has ʿAlī as his {{transliteration|ar|mawla}}".<ref name=":2" /><ref name="jaarel 2015" /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Shiʿi |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shii |access-date=28 December 2021 |last=Newman |first=Andrew J.}}</ref><ref name="Esposito, John 2002. p. 40">Esposito, John. "What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam". Oxford University Press, 2002 | {{ISBN|978-0-19-515713-0}}. p. 40</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=From the article on Shii Islam in Oxford Islamic Studies Online |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2189?_hi=26&_pos=238 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528231159/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2189?_hi=26&_pos=238 |archive-date=28 May 2012 |access-date=4 May 2011 |publisher=Oxfordislamicstudies.com}}</ref> Many versions of the sermon include the invocation: "O God, befriend the friend of ʿAlī and be the enemy of his enemy".<ref name="Amir-Moezzi">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ghadīr Khumm |entry=Ghadīr Khumm |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Three |date=2014 |author-link1=Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi |editor1=Kate Fleet |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_27419 |last1=Amir-Moezzi |first1=Mohammad Ali |editor2=Gundrun Krämer |editor-link2=Gudrun Krämer |editor3=Denis Matringe |editor4=John Nawas |editor5=Everett Rowson}}</ref> The interpretation of this prominent proclamation is central to the Sunni–Shia divide: while Sunni scholars tend to interpret it as a general affirmation of ʿAlī's merit, Shia Muslims maintain it to be a clear and unambiguous designation of ʿAlī as Muhammad's appointed successor.<ref name="jaarel 2015" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Olawuyi |first=Toyib |url=https://www.al-islam.org/khilafah-ali-over-abu-bakr-toyib-olawuyi/preface |title=On the Khilafah of Ali over Abu Bakr |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4928-5884-3 |pages=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422181325/http://www.al-islam.org/khilafah-ali-over-abu-bakr-toyib-olawuyi/preface |archive-date=22 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Shura Principle in Islam – by Sadek Sulaiman |url=http://www.alhewar.com/SadekShura.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160727210611/http://www.alhewar.com/SadekShura.htm |archive-date=27 July 2016 |access-date=18 June 2016 |website=www.alhewar.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-01-04 |title=Sunnis and Shia: Islam's ancient schism |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-16047709 |access-date=2021-08-14 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> Shia sources further record that those present at Ghadir Khumm immediately congratulated ʿAlī, acclaiming him as {{transliteration|ar|Amir al-Mu'minin}} ("commander of the believers").<ref name="Amir-Moezzi" />

When Muhammad died in 632 CE, ʿAlī and Muhammad's closest relatives remained occupied with the solemn duty of his funeral arrangements. While they were preparing his body, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, and Abu Ubaidah ibn al Jarrah convened a separate meeting with the leaders of Medina at Saqifa and secured the election of Abū Bakr as the first of the ''rāshidūn'' caliphs. While Sunni Muslims maintain that this election was politically legitimate, the process had no clear basis or precedent set by Muhammad, and ʿAlī's partisans viewed it as a direct violation of the Prophet's designation at Ghadir Khumm. Abū Bakr served from 632 to 634, followed by ʿUmar (634–644) and ʿUthmān (644–656).<ref name=":2" />

[[File:Kufa Mosque.jpg|thumb|Great Mosque of Kufa, site of ʿAlī's assassination (661)<ref name="Merriam-Webster 1999, p. 525" /><ref name="Esposito, John 2002. p. 46" />]] Following the assassination of ʿUthmān in 656, the Muslims of Medina finally turned to ʿAlī as the fourth caliph,<ref name="Merriam-Webster 1999, p. 525" /> and he established his capital in Kufa.<ref name="Britannica738" /> ʿAlī's subsequent rule over the early Islamic empire (656–661) was marked by entrenched opposition from rival factions.<ref name=":2" /> The resulting conflict, known as the First Fitna, became the first major civil war within the Muslim community, encompassing a series of revolts against ʿAlī by groups that had initially affirmed the legitimacy of his caliphate before ultimately turning against him.<ref name="Merriam-Webster 1999, p. 525" />

The conflict began with the Battle of the Camel in 656, in which ʿAlī's forces successfully prevailed against the coalition of Aisha, Ṭalḥah, and al-Zubayr. At the Battle of Siffin in 657, ʿAlī's campaign to subdue Muʿāwiyah, the governor of Damascus, was frustrated by a forced arbitration that proved structurally disadvantageous to ʿAlī.<ref name=":2" /> He subsequently withdrew to Kufa, where he decisively defeated the Khārijīs — former supporters who had fractured his coalition — at the Battle of Nahrawan in 658. In 661, ʿAlī was assassinated by a Khārijī while in a vulnerable state of prostration during prayer ({{transliteration|ar|sujud}}) at the Great Mosque of Kufa. Following this, Muʿāwiyah consolidated power, seized the caliphate, and founded the Umayyad dynasty.<ref>The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1998, {{ISBN|0-85229-663-0}}, Vol. 10, p. tid738</ref><ref name="Esposito, John 2002. p. 46" />

=== Hasan, Husayn, and Karbala === {{main|Hasan ibn Ali|Husayn ibn Ali|Battle of Karbala}} [[File:Bagh Toti 8167.jpg|left|thumb|Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm Shrine in Rey, Iran, contains the tomb of ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm al-Ḥasanī, a descendant of Ḥasan ibn 'Alī and a companion of Muhammad al-Taqī.]] Upon the death of ʿAlī, his elder son Ḥasan assumed leadership of the Muslims of Kufa. After a series of skirmishes between the Kufa Muslims and the army of Muawiyah, Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī agreed to cede the caliphate to Muawiyah and maintain peace among Muslims upon certain conditions: the enforced public cursing of ʿAlī, including during prayers, should be abandoned; Muawiyah should not use tax money for his own private needs; there should be peace, and followers of Ḥasan should be given security and their rights; Muawiyah would never adopt the title of ''Amir al-Mu'minin'' ("commander of the believers"); and Muawiyah would not nominate any successor.<ref>{{cite web |title="Solhe Emam Hassan"-Imam Hassan Sets Peace |url=http://www.valiasr-aj.com/fa/page.php?bank=question&id=1297 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311022151/http://www.valiasr-aj.com/fa/page.php?bank=question&id=1297 |archive-date=11 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=تهذیب التهذیب |page=271}}</ref> Ḥasan then retired to Medina, where in 670 CE he was poisoned by his wife Ja'da bint al-Ash'ath, after being secretly contacted by Muawiyah, who wished to pass the caliphate to his own son Yazid and viewed Ḥasan as an obstacle.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Madelung|first=Wilfred|title="Ḥasan b. ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 7 November 2018|year=2003}}</ref>

[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Battle of Karbala - Abbas Al-Musavi - overall.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Battle of Karbala'', painting by the Isfahan-based Persian artist Abbas Al-Mousavi, Brooklyn Museum (between 1868 and 1933)]] Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, ʿAlī's younger son and brother to Ḥasan, initially resisted calls to lead the Muslims against Muawiyah and reclaim the caliphate. In 680, Muawiyah died and passed the caliphate to his son Yazid, thereby breaking the treaty with Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī. Yazid demanded that Husayn swear allegiance (''bay'ah'') to him. ʿAlī's faction, having expected the caliphate to return to ʿAlī's line upon Muawiyah's death, viewed this as a betrayal of the peace treaty, and Ḥusayn refused this demand for allegiance. There was a groundswell of support in Kufa for Ḥusayn to return there and take his position as caliph and Imam, so Ḥusayn gathered his family and followers in Medina and set off for Kufa.<ref name=":2" />

{{multiple image | align = right | image1 = حرم_الامام_الحسين.jpg | width1 = 170 | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Arba'een Pilgrims in Bayn al-Harmian 019.jpg | width2 = 180 | alt2 = | caption2 = | footer = Left: the Shrine of Imam Ḥusayn; right: the shrine premises during Arba'een }}

En route to Kufa, Husayn was intercepted by an army of Yazid's men, which included forces from Kufa, near Karbala. Rather than surrendering, Husayn and his followers chose to stand and fight. In the Battle of Karbala, Ḥusayn and approximately 72 of his family members and followers were killed, and Husayn's head was delivered to Yazid in Damascus. The Shia community regards Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī as a martyr (''shahid'') and counts him as an Imam from the {{transliteration|ar|Ahl al-Bayt}}. The Battle of Karbala and the martyrdom of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī are widely cited as the definitive moment of separation between the Shia and Sunnī sects of Islam. Ḥusayn is the last Imam following ʿAlī mutually recognized by all branches of Shia Islam.<ref>Discovering Islam: making sense of Muslim history and society (2002) Akbar S. Ahmed</ref> The martyrdom of Husayn and his followers is commemorated on the Day of Ashura, occurring on the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar.<ref name=":2" />

===Imamate of the ''Ahl al-Bayt''=== {{main|Imamate in Shia doctrine}} [[File:Sword and shield reproduction from Bab al Nasr gate Cairo Egypt.jpg|thumb|right|''Zulfiqar'' with and without the shield. The Fatimid depiction of ʿAlī's sword is carved on the gates of Old Cairo, namely ''Bab al-Nasr'' (shown below). Two swords were captured from the temple of the pre-Islamic Arabian deity Manāt during the Raid of Sa'd ibn Zaid al-Ashhali. Muhammad gave them to ʿAlī, saying that one of them was "Zulfiqar", which became famously known as the sword of ʿAlī and a later symbol of Shia Islam.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMVkAAAAMAAJ |title=Religious trends in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry |first=Ghulam |last=Mustafa |year=1968 |page=11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906045928/https://books.google.com/books?id=tMVkAAAAMAAJ |archive-date=6 September 2015 |quote=Similarly, swords were also placed on the Idols, as it is related that Harith b. Abi Shamir, the Ghassanid king, had presented his two swords, called Mikhdham and Rasub, to the image of the goddess, Manat....to note that the famous sword of Ali, the fourth caliph, called Dhu-al-Fiqar, was one of these two swords}}</ref>]]

[[File:Sword and shield from the Bab al Nasr gate, Cairo Egypt.jpg|thumb|Depiction of ʿAlī's sword and shield carved on the ''Bab al-Nasr'' gate wall in Islamic Cairo, Egypt]] Later, most denominations of Shia Islam, including Twelvers and Ismāʿīlīs, became Imamis.<ref name="jaarel 2015" /><ref name="franc46">{{cite web |date=13 January 2015 |title=Lesson 13: Imam's Traits |url=http://www.al-islam.org/principles-shiite-creed-ayatullah-ibrahim-amini/lesson-13-imams-traits |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208045348/http://www.al-islam.org/principles-shiite-creed-ayatullah-ibrahim-amini/lesson-13-imams-traits |archive-date=8 February 2015 |work=Al-Islam.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Ahl al-BMatt |entry=Ahl al- Bayt |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |edition=2nd |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0378 |author2=van Arendonk, C. |author3=Tritton, A.S. |author=Goldziher, I. |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs}}</ref> Shia Muslims believe that Imams are the spiritual and political successors to Muhammad.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=امامت از منظر متکلّمان شیعی و فلاسفه اسلامی|url=http://ensani.ir/fa/article/69853/%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%AA%DA%A9%D9%84%D9%91%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B4%DB%8C%D8%B9%DB%8C-%D9%88-%D9%81%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%81%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C|access-date=2021-08-28|website=پرتال جامع علوم انسانی|language=fa|archive-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828162637/http://ensani.ir/fa/article/69853/%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%AA%DA%A9%D9%84%D9%91%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B4%DB%8C%D8%B9%DB%8C-%D9%88-%D9%81%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%81%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C|url-status=dead}}</ref> Imams are human individuals who not only rule over the Muslim community with justice but are also able to keep and interpret the divine law and its esoteric meaning. The words and deeds of Muhammad and the Imams serve as a guide and model for the community to follow; as a result, they must be free from error and sin, and must be chosen by divine decree ({{transliteration|ar|nass}}) through Muhammad.<ref name="Nasr_a">Nasr (1979), p. 10</ref><ref name="Momen 1985, p. 174">{{harvnb|Momen|1985|p=174}}</ref> According to this view, which is distinctive to Shia Islam, there is always an Imam of the Age, who is the divinely appointed authority on all matters of faith and law in the Muslim community. ʿAlī was the first Imam of this line, the rightful successor to Muhammad, followed by male descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=عسکری|first=سید مرتضی|title=ولایت علی در قرآن کریم و سنت پیامبر|publisher=مرکز فرهنگی انتشاراتی منیر، چاپ هفتم}}</ref>

[[File:Santuario de Fátima bint Musa, Qom, Irán, 2016-09-19, DD 15.jpg|thumb|Fatima Masumeh Shrine in Qom, Iran, which contains the mausoleum of Fatima Masumeh, the daughter of Musa al-Kazim and sister of Imam Reza, the 7th and 8th Imams in Twelver Shia Islam.]] This difference between following the ''Ahl al-Bayt'' (Muhammad's family and descendants) or pledging allegiance to Abū Bakr has shaped the Shia–Sunnī divide on the interpretation of some Quranic verses, hadith literature (accounts of the sayings and living habits attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad during his lifetime), and other areas of Islamic belief throughout the history of Islam. For instance, the hadith collections venerated by Shia Muslims are centred on narrations by members of the ''Ahl al-Bayt'' and their supporters, while some hadith transmitted by narrators not belonging to or supporting the ''Ahl al-Bayt'' are excluded.

Those of Abu Hurairah, for example — Ibn Asakir in his ''Taʿrikh Kabir'' and Muttaqi in his ''Kanzuʿl-Umma'' report that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb lashed him, rebuked him, and forbade him from narrating ''ḥadīth'' from Muhammad. ʿUmar is reported to have said: "Because you narrate hadith in large numbers from the Holy Prophet, you are fit only for attributing lies to him. So you must stop narrating hadith from the Prophet; otherwise, I will send you to the land of Dus." (An Arab clan in Yemen, to which Abu Hurairah belonged.)

According to Sunnī Muslims, ʿAlī was the fourth successor to Abū Bakr, while Shia Muslims maintain that ʿAlī was the first divinely sanctioned "Imam", or successor of Muhammad. The seminal event in Shia history is the martyrdom at the Battle of Karbala of ʿAlī's son, Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, and 71 of his followers in 680, who led a non-allegiance movement against the defiant caliph.

It is believed in the Twelver and Ismāʿīlī branches of Shia Islam that divine wisdom (''ʿaql'') was the source of the souls of the prophets and Imams, which bestowed upon them esoteric knowledge (''ḥikmah''), and that their sufferings were a means of divine grace to their devotees.<ref>Corbin 1993, pp. 45–51</ref><ref>Nasr (1979), p. 15</ref> Although the Imam was not the recipient of a divine revelation (''waḥy''), he maintained a close relationship with God, through which God guided him, and the Imam in turn guided the people. Imamate, or belief in the divine guide, is a fundamental belief in the Twelver and Ismāʿīlī branches of Shia Islam, and is based on the concept that God would not leave humanity without access to divine guidance.<ref name="Imamat">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Muslim world; vol.1 |last=Gleave |first=Robert |title=Imamate |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-02-865604-5|year=2004 }}</ref>

===Imam Mahdi, last Imam of the Shia=== {{main|Mahdi|Muhammad al-Mahdi|Occultation (Islam)|Reappearance of Hujjat Allah al-Mahdi}} {{further|History of Shia Islam|Imamate in Shia doctrine}} [[File:Ghazan et Öldjeïtu.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Ghazan and his brother Öljaitü were both tolerant of sectarian differences within the boundaries of Islam, in contrast to the traditions of Genghis Khan.]] In Shia Islam, Imam Mahdi is regarded as the prophesied eschatological redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine, or nineteen years (according to differing interpretations) before the Day of Judgment and will rid the world of evil. According to Islamic tradition, the Mahdi's tenure will coincide with the Second Coming of Jesus (ʿĪsā), who is to assist the Mahdi against the {{transliteration|ar|Masih ad-Dajjal}} (literally, the "false Messiah" or Antichrist). Jesus, who is considered the ''Masih'' ("Messiah") in Islam, will descend at the point of a white arcade east of Damascus, dressed in yellow robes with his head anointed. He will then join the Mahdi in his war against the Dajjal, where it is believed the Mahdi will slay the Dajjal and unite humankind.

===Dynasties=== {{main|List of Shia dynasties}} In the century following the Battle of Karbala (680 CE), as various Shia-affiliated groups diffused throughout the emerging Islamic world, several nations arose based on Shia leadership or population. *Idrisids (788–985): a Zaydi dynasty in what is now Morocco. *Qarmatians (899–1077): an Ismaili Iranian dynasty. Their headquarters were in Eastern Arabia and Bahrain. It was founded by Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi. *Buyids (934–1055): a Twelver Iranian dynasty that at its peak consisted of large portions of Iran and Iraq. *Uqaylids (990–1096): a Shia Arab dynasty with several lines that ruled in various parts of al-Jazira, northern Syria, and Iraq. *Ilkhanate (1256–1335): a Persianate Mongol khanate established in Iran in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanate initially embraced many religions, but was particularly sympathetic to Buddhism and Christianity. Later Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, chose Islam as the state religion; his brother Öljaitü promoted Shia Islam.<ref>{{Cite web|title=گرایش ایلخانان به اسلام و تشیّع|url=http://ensani.ir/fa/article/45590/|access-date=2021-08-28|website=پرتال جامع علوم انسانی|language=fa|archive-date=12 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412101802/http://ensani.ir/fa/article/45590/|url-status=dead}}</ref> *Bahmanids (1347–1527): a Shia Muslim state of the Deccan Plateau in Southern India, and one of the great medieval Indian kingdoms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://orbat.com/site/cimh/kings_master/kings/ibrahimII_adil_shahi/5_provinces.html |title=The Five Kingdoms of the Bahmani Sultanate |publisher=orbat.com |access-date=5 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223071144/http://orbat.com/site/cimh/kings_master/kings/ib |archive-date=23 February 2007}}</ref> The Bahmanid Sultanate was the first independent Islamic kingdom in Southern India.<ref name="Ansari">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/home/index.isc |last=Ansari |first=N.H. |title=Bahmanid Dynasty |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061019004703/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/home/index.isc |archive-date=19 October 2006 |url-status=usurped |publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica}}</ref>

[[File:Fatimid Caliphate.PNG|thumb|The Fatimid Caliphate at its peak, {{circa|1100}}]] ====Fatimid Caliphate==== [[File:El_Hakim_Mosque.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Al-Hakim Mosque, named after al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (985–1021), the 6th Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismāʿīlī Imam, in Islamic Cairo, Egypt.]] *Fatimids (909–1171): Controlled much of North Africa, the Levant, parts of Arabia, and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The dynasty takes its name from Fāṭimah, Muhammad's daughter, from whom they claim descent. **In 909, the Shia military leader Abu Abdallah al-Shiʻi overthrew the Sunni rulers in North Africa, an event which led to the foundation of the Fatimid Caliphate.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |title=Worlds Together Worlds Apart |last=Pollard |first=Elizabeth |publisher=W.W. Norton Company Inc |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-393-91847-2 |location=New York |page=313}}</ref> **Al-Qaid Jawhar ibn Abdallah ({{langx|ar|جوهر}}; {{floruit}} 966–d. 992) was a Shia Fatimid general. Under the command of Caliph al-Muʻizz, he led the conquest of North Africa and then of Egypt,<ref>{{cite book |author1=Chodorow, Stanley |author2=Knox, MacGregor |author3=Shirokauer, Conrad |author4=Strayer, Joseph R.|author5-link=Hans W. Gatzke |author5=Gatzke, Hans W. |title= The Mainstream of Civilization |publisher= Harcourt Press |year= 1994 |page= 209 |isbn= 978-0-15-501197-7}}</ref> founded the city of Cairo<ref>{{cite book |author=Fossier, Robert |author2=Sondheimer, Janet |author3=Airlie, Stuart |author4=Marsack, Robyn |title= The Cambridge illustrated history of the Middle Ages |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 1997 |page= [https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00robe/page/170 170] |isbn= 978-0-521-26645-1 |url= https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00robe/page/170 }}</ref> and the al-Azhar Mosque. A Greek slave by origin, he was freed by al-Muʻizz.<ref>{{cite book |author= Saunders, John Joseph |title= A History of Medieval Islam |publisher= Routledge |year= 1990 |page=133 |isbn= 978-0-415-05914-5}}</ref>

====Safavid Empire==== {{main|Safavid dynasty|Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam}} [[File:Portrait of Shah Ismail I. Inscribed "Ismael Sophy Rex Pers". Painted by Cristofano dell'Altissimo, dated 1552-1568.jpg|alt=|thumb|One of the first actions performed by Ismā'īl I of the Safavid Empire was the proclamation of the Twelver denomination of Shia Islam as the official religion of Iran, causing sectarian tensions in the Middle East when he destroyed the tombs of the Abbasid caliphs, the Sunnī Imam Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān, and the Ṣūfī Muslim ascetic ʿAbdul Qādir Gīlānī in 1508.<ref name="Masters 2009">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Masters |author-first=Bruce |year=2009 |chapter=Baghdad |editor1-last=Ágoston |editor1-first=Gábor |editor2-first=Bruce |editor2-last=Masters |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |location=New York |publisher=Facts On File |page=71 |isbn=978-0-8160-6259-1}}</ref> In 1533 the Ottoman Turks, upon their conquest of Iraq, rebuilt various important Sunnī shrines.<ref name="Masters 2009" />]] A major turning point in the history of Shia Islam was the dominion of the Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) in Persia. This caused a number of significant changes in the Muslim world: *The ending of the relative mutual tolerance between Sunnis and Shias that had existed from the time of the Mongol conquests onwards and the resurgence of antagonism between the two groups. *Initial dependence of Shia clerics on the state, followed by the emergence of an independent body of ''ulama'' capable of taking political stands different from official policies.<ref>Francis Robinson, ''Atlas of the Muslim World'', p. 49.</ref> *The growth in importance of Persian centres of Islamic education and religious learning, which resulted in the transformation of Twelver Shia Islam from a predominantly Arab phenomenon to a predominantly Persian one.<ref>{{harvnb|Momen|1985|p=123}}</ref> *The growth of the Akhbari school of thought, which taught that only the Quran, ''ḥadīth'' literature, and ''sunnah'' are to serve as bases for verdicts, rejecting the use of reasoning.

With the fall of the Safavids, the state in Iran — including the state system of courts with government-appointed judges (''qāḍī'') — became much weaker. This gave the ''sharīʿa'' courts of ''mujtahid'' an opportunity to fill the legal vacuum and enabled the ''ulama'' to assert their judicial authority. The Usuli school of thought also increased in strength at this time.<ref>{{harvnb|Momen|1985|pp=130, 191}}</ref>

<gallery> File:British Library Or. 3248, fol Shah Isma'el pronounces Shii Islam state religion.jpg|The declaration of Twelver Shīʿīsm as the state religion of Safavids File:Battle of Chaldiran (1514).jpg|The Battle of Chaldiran in 1514 was a major sectarian crisis between Muslims in the Middle East. File:Chaldiran Battlefield Site in 2004.JPG|A monument commemorating the Battle of Chaldiran, where more than 7,000 Muslims of the Shia and Sunnī sects killed each other </gallery>

==Beliefs== {{main|Shia Islamic beliefs and practices}}

Shia Islam encompasses various denominations and subgroups,<ref name="Britannica738" /> all bound by the belief that the leader of the Muslim community (''Ummah'') should hail from the ''Ahl al-Bayt'', the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Richard C. |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |date=2003 |publisher=Macmillan reference USA |isbn=978-0-02-865603-8 |location=New York |pages=621–624 |chapter=Shīʿa}}</ref> It embodies a completely independent system of religious interpretation and political authority in the Muslim world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Druze and Islam |url=http://americandruze.com/Druze%20And%20Islam.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514143649/http://americandruze.com/Druze%20And%20Islam.htm |archive-date=14 May 2011 |access-date=12 August 2010 |publisher=americandruze.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ijtihad in Islam |url=http://alqazwini.org/qazwini_org/articles/by_articles/ijtihad.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050102023635/http://alqazwini.org/qazwini_org/articles/by_art |archive-date=2 January 2005 |access-date=12 August 2010 |publisher=AlQazwini.org}}</ref>

=== ʿAlī: Muhammad's rightful successor === {{main|Shia view of Ali|Succession to Muhammad}} {{further|Ali in the Quran}} [[File:InsideImamAliMosqueNajafIraq.JPG|thumb|Ḍarīẖ over ʿAlī's ''qabr'' (grave), Sanctuary of Imām ʿAlī in Najaf, Iraq, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam.]] Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone, only God has the prerogative to appoint the successor to his prophet. They believe God chose ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib to be Muhammad's successor and the first caliph ({{Langx|ar|خليفة|translit=khalifa}}) of Islam. Shia Muslims believe that Muhammad designated ʿAlī as his successor by God's command on several occasions, most notably at Eid Al Ghadir.<ref>{{harvnb|Momen|1985|p=15}}</ref><ref name="shiite-doctrine">{{cite web |editor=Ehsan Yarshater |title=Shiʻite Doctrine |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/shiite-doctrine |first1=Mohammad Ali |last1=Amir-Moezzi |date=July 20, 2005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517022711/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/shiite-doctrine |archive-date=17 May 2015 |access-date=22 January 2019 |publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica}}</ref> Additionally, ʿAlī was Muhammad's first cousin, his closest living male relative, and his son-in-law, having married Muhammad's daughter, Fāṭimah.<ref name="Merriam-Webster 1999, p. 525">Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, Wendy Doniger, Consulting Editor, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, MA 1999, {{ISBN|0-87779-044-2}}, LoC: BL31.M47 1999, p. 525</ref><ref name="Esposito, John 2002. p. 46">"Esposito, John. "What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam" Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-19-515713-0}}. p. 46</ref>

=== Profession of faith (''Shahada'') === [[File:Kalema-tut-shahadat.jpg|thumb|Kalema at Qibla of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, Egypt, displaying the phrase ''Ali-un-Waliullah'' ({{lang|ar|علي ولي الله}}: "ʿAlī is the ''Wali'' (custodian) of God").]] The Shia version of the ''Shahada'' ({{Langx|ar|الشهادة}}), the Islamic profession of faith, differs from that of the Sunnīs.<ref name="Shahada">{{cite web |url=http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/shahada.htm |title=Encyclopedia of the Middle East |publisher=Mideastweb.org |date=14 November 2008 |access-date=4 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512174339/http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/shahada.htm |archive-date=12 May 2011}}</ref> The Sunnī version states ''La ilaha illallah, Muhammadun rasulullah'' ({{Langx|ar|لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ|lit=There is no god except God, Muhammad is the messenger of God}}); Shia Muslims add the phrase ''Ali-un-Waliullah'' ({{Langx|ar|عَلِيٌّ وَلِيُّ ٱللَّٰهِ|lit=Ali is the friend of God}}). The basis for the Shia belief in ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as the ''Wali'' of God is derived from the Qur'anic verse {{qref|5|55}}.

This additional phrase embodies the Shia emphasis on the inheritance of authority through Muhammad's family and lineage. The three clauses of the Shia version of the ''Shahada'' thus address the fundamental Islamic beliefs of ''Tawḥīd'' ({{Langx|ar|توحيد|lit=oneness of God}}), ''Nubuwwah'' ({{Langx|ar|نبوة|lit=prophethood}}), and ''Imamah'' ({{Langx|ar|إمامة|lit=Imamate or leadership}}).<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-12-09|title=اضافه شدن نام حضرت علی (ع) به شهادتین|url=https://article.tebyan.net/145755|access-date=2021-08-28|website=tebyan.net|language=fa|archive-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828160854/https://article.tebyan.net/145755|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Infallibility (''Ismah'') === {{main|Ismah}} ''Ismah'' ({{Langx|ar|عصمة|translit='Iṣmah or 'Isma|lit=protection}}) is the concept of infallibility or "divinely bestowed freedom from error and sin" in Islam.<ref name="Dabashi" /> Muslims believe that Muhammad, along with the other prophets and messengers, possessed ''ismah''. Twelver and Ismāʿīlī Shia Muslims also attribute the quality to Imams as well as to Fāṭimah, daughter of Muhammad, in contrast to the Zaydī Shias, who do not attribute ''ismah'' to the Imams.<ref>Francis Robinson, ''Atlas of the Muslim World'', p. 47.</ref> Though initially beginning as a political movement, infallibility and sinlessness of the Imams later evolved as a distinct belief of (non-Zaydī) Shia Islam.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shii | title=Shīʿite | encyclopedia=Britannica | access-date=21 July 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720054917/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shii | archive-date=20 July 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>

According to Shia Muslim theologians, infallibility is considered a rational and necessary precondition for spiritual and religious guidance. They argue that since God has commanded absolute obedience from these figures, they must only command that which is right. The state of infallibility is based on the Shia interpretation of the verse of purification.<ref>{{qref|33|33|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Momen|1985|p=155}}</ref> This does not mean that supernatural powers prevent them from committing a sin, but rather that due to their absolute belief in God, they refrain from doing anything that is sinful.<ref name="Dabashi">{{cite book |last=Dabashi |date=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTFdNNQP4ewC&pg=PA463 |title=Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran |page=463|publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1412839723 }}</ref> According to this belief, the Imams also possess complete knowledge of God's will, encompassing the totality of all times, and are believed to act without fault in religious matters.<ref>Corbin (1993), pp. 48–49</ref> ʿAlī is regarded as a "perfect man" ({{Langx|ar|الإنسان الكامل|translit=al-insan al-kamil}}) similar to Muhammad, not only ruling over the Muslim community in justice but interpreting the Islamic faith and its esoteric meaning.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/subdivisions/sunnishia_1.shtml |title=How do Sunnis and Shias differ theologically? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417082653/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/su |archive-date=17 April 2014 |date=2009-08-19 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

=== Divine justice (''ʿAdl'') ===

Divine justice ({{transliteration|ar|ʿadl}}) occupies a position in Twelver theology that has no direct equivalent in mainstream Sunni thought — it is one of the five ''uṣūl al-dīn'' (foundations of religion) in Twelver doctrine, elevated to the status of a foundational creed alongside monotheism, prophethood, imamate, and resurrection. Its centrality reflects a fundamental divergence between Shia and Sunni theology on the question of God's relationship to moral categories, human agency, and the intelligibility of divine action.

====The Ashari position and the Shia rejection====

The dominant theological school of mainstream Sunni Islam, the Ashariyya, holds that God's will is the ultimate source of all moral categories — that an act is good because God commands it and evil because God forbids it, rather than God commanding it because it is intrinsically good. On this view, moral categories are posterior to divine will and have no independent existence that could constrain or evaluate God's actions. The Ashari position on predestination follows from this framework: all human acts, including sins, are created by Allah and "acquired" ({{transliteration|ar|kasb}}) by humans through a mechanism that Ashari theologians acknowledged was philosophically difficult to render fully coherent, but which they regarded as established by revelation. The Athari school, foundational to Wahhabism and Salafism, tends toward a harder determinism in which divine decree encompasses all things without qualification.<ref>{{cite book|last=Watt|first=W. Montgomery|title=Islamic Philosophy and Theology|date=1985|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=9780748601059|pages=85–95}}</ref>

Twelver theology, shaped by the rational theological tradition of the Imams and particularly by the teachings of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, rejects both of these positions. In Shia theological epistemology, the human intellect ({{transliteration|ar|ʿaql}}) is capable of independently recognising moral categories — that justice is genuinely good and injustice genuinely evil — and God, whose essential nature is good, acts in accordance with these categories rather than arbitrarily defining them by fiat. Divine justice in Shia theology therefore means that God does not and cannot act unjustly, not because an external standard constrains Him but because injustice is incompatible with His essential nature.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Sayyid Muhammad Hossein|title=Shi'ite Islam|date=1975|publisher=State University of New York Press|pages=108–112}}</ref> This position aligns Shia theology more closely with the Muʿtazilite school than with Ashari Sunni theology on this specific question, though Shia scholars are careful to distinguish their position from Muʿtazilism, grounding it in the teachings of the Imams rather than in rationalist philosophy alone.{{sfn|Momen|1985|p=177}}

====''Amr Bayn al-Amrayn'': between determinism and free will====

The Shia position on human agency and divine decree is encapsulated in the doctrine of ''Amr bayn al-Amrayn'' ({{transliteration|ar|amr bayna al-amrayn}}: a matter between two matters), traced in the classical sources to Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq. When asked about the relationship between divine decree and human free will, the Imam is reported to have replied that the truth lies neither in pure compulsion ({{transliteration|ar|jabr}}) nor in pure delegation of independent power to humans ({{transliteration|ar|tafwīḍ}}), but in something between the two — a position that affirms genuine human agency and moral responsibility while maintaining that this agency operates within and depends upon the sustaining will of Allah rather than independently of it.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Sayyid Muhammad Hossein|title=Shi'ite Islam|date=1975|publisher=State University of New York Press|pages=108–112}}</ref>

This doctrine directly addresses what Shia scholars regard as the central incoherence of the Ashari ''kasb'' position: if Allah creates all acts including sins, then punishing humans for those acts is unjust, and divine justice becomes logically impossible to maintain. The ''amr bayn al-amrayn'' doctrine resolves this by affirming that human choices are genuinely the human's own — not compelled by divine decree in a way that would remove moral responsibility — while simultaneously maintaining that humans do not possess independent power that operates outside of Allah's sustaining will.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sobhani|first=Ja'far|title=Doctrines of Shi'i Islam|publisher=I.B. Tauris|others=Translated and Edited by Reza Shah-Kazemi|pages=57–63}}</ref>

====The theological and jurisprudential implications of ʿAdl====

The elevation of divine justice to the status of a foundational creed has significant implications throughout Shia theology and jurisprudence. The intellect's capacity to recognise justice and injustice independently means that rational argument is a legitimate and necessary tool of theological inquiry — a position that gives Shia theology a more explicitly rationalist character than Athari Sunni theology, which is suspicious of subjecting divine matters to rational evaluation. This rationalist orientation is reflected in the central role of the intellect ({{transliteration|ar|ʿaql}}) as one of the four sources of Jaʿfari jurisprudence alongside the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of Shia scholars.{{sfn|Momen|1985|pp=185–186}}

The doctrine of divine justice also provides the theological grounding for the Shia concept of the Imamate as a divine obligation: if Allah is just, He would not leave humanity without a divinely guided and infallible leader after the Prophet's death, since doing so would expose humanity to misguidance for which they could not be held fully responsible. The necessity of the Imam is therefore not merely a political convenience but a logical consequence of divine justice. This argument — known in Shia kalām as the ''qāʿida al-luṭf'' (the principle of grace or divine facilitation) — holds that divine justice requires Allah to provide whatever is necessary for humanity to achieve the purpose for which they were created, and that an infallible divinely guided Imam is a necessary component of this provision.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mavani|first=Hamid|title=Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism: From Ali to Post-Khomeini|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203694282|pages=40–45}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Sobhani|first=Ja'far|title=Doctrines of Shi'i Islam|publisher=I.B. Tauris|others=Translated and Edited by Reza Shah-Kazemi|pages=63–68}}</ref>

=== The Shia doctrine of prophethood (''Nubuwwah'') ===

The Twelver Shia understanding of prophethood ({{transliteration|ar|nubuwwah}}) differs from the mainstream Sunni position in several foundational respects, producing a portrait of Muhammad that is theologically distinct from the one that emerges from the Sunni hadith corpus.

====Pre-eternal prophethood and prophetic preparation====

In Twelver theology, Muhammad's prophethood was not conferred upon him at the age of forty in the cave of Ḥirāʾ but was a pre-eternal reality established before the creation of the physical world. This doctrine is grounded in narrations attributed to the Imams preserved in al-Kāfī and other Shia hadith collections, in which Muhammad is reported to have said: "I was a prophet while Adam was still between water and clay."<ref>{{cite book|last=Al-Kulayni|first=Muhammad ibn Yaqub|title=Kitab al-Kafi|volume=1|publisher=The Islamic Seminary Inc.|year=2015|isbn=978-0-9914308-6-4}}</ref> In Twelver theology, the event at the cave of Ḥirāʾ was therefore not a moment at which prophethood was bestowed upon Muhammad but rather the moment at which he received the divine command to declare publicly what was always already true — that he was the messenger of Allah and the seal of the prophets.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Sayyid Muhammad Hossein|title=Shi'ite Islam|date=1975|publisher=State University of New York Press|pages=172–175}}</ref>

This theological position has significant implications for how Shia scholars evaluate specific narrations in the Sunni hadith corpus concerning the first revelation. The account recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari (Hadith 3) — transmitted through Aisha — describes Muhammad returning from the cave frightened, saying to Khadīja: "I fear for myself," and being taken to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal, a Christian scholar, whose identification of the experience as revelation provided Muhammad with his initial validation. Shia scholars reject this account on theological grounds: a prophet divinely prepared for his mission from before birth cannot genuinely fear for his sanity, cannot be uncertain about the nature of his own revelation, and cannot require a Christian scholar's confirmation of an Islamic prophetic mission. The reliance on Waraqah ibn Nawfal is particularly problematic from the Shia perspective, since it implies that the Prophet's certainty about his prophethood was dependent on external human validation rather than direct divine assurance — a position Shia scholars argue contradicts both prophetic ismah and the Quranic description of divine communication ({{qref|53|3|4}}).{{sfn|Momen|1985|pp=147–150}}

====The full ''ismah'' of the Prophet====

Closely related to the doctrine of pre-eternal prophethood is the Twelver position on prophetic ''ismah'' (infallibility or divine protection from error and sin). While mainstream Sunni theology holds that prophets are protected from major sins and from errors in conveying revelation but may commit minor lapses or errors of personal judgment subsequently corrected by further revelation, Twelver theology holds that the prophets are fully infallible in all matters — actions, statements, and personal conduct — on the grounds that the prophet is the ''ḥujja'' (proof) of Allah on earth and that any error in his conduct would undermine the Quranic injunction to follow his example absolutely ({{qref|33|21}}).<ref>{{cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Sayyid Muhammad Hossein|title=Shi'ite Islam|date=1975|publisher=State University of New York Press|pages=172–180}}</ref>

This divergence produces concrete disagreements over specific narrations in the Sunni canonical collections. Shia scholars reject as incompatible with prophetic ismah the narrations in Sahih al-Bukhari describing the Prophet contemplating suicide during the interruption of revelation (''fatra al-wahy''), the ''hadith al-sihr'' (Bukhari 3268) which records that the Prophet was effectively bewitched by a Jewish man named Labid ibn al-Asam such that he would imagine he had done things he had not done, and narrations suggesting the Prophet forgot portions of the Quran during recitation. From the Shia perspective these narrations are not merely historically dubious but theologically impossible: a prophet under divine protection cannot contemplate suicide, cannot be effectively bewitched in ways that compromise the reliability of his statements and actions, and cannot forget a text whose preservation Allah directly guaranteed ({{qref|75|17}}).{{sfn|Momen|1985|pp=147–150}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Sayyid Muhammad Hossein|title=Shi'ite Islam|date=1975|publisher=State University of New York Press|pages=172–180}}</ref>

Shia scholars further argue that the portrait of the Prophet that emerges from the Sunni canonical collections — uncertain at the moment of revelation, distressed during its interruption, susceptible to bewitchment — reflects the political conditions of the Umayyad and Abbasid periods in which humanising the Prophet served the function of making fallible caliphal authority seem less inadequate by comparison, rather than representing an authentic biographical record of a figure whose ismah the Shia tradition regards as theologically necessary.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Sayyid Muhammad Hossein|title=Shi'ite Islam|date=1975|publisher=State University of New York Press|pages=172–180}}</ref>

====Nūr Muḥammad: the primordial light====

Central to Twelver Shia theology is the doctrine of Nūr Muḥammad (the Light of Muhammad), which holds that before the creation of the physical world, Allah created a primordial divine light ({{transliteration|ar|nūr}}) from which Muhammad and the Imams of his household were formed. This doctrine, rooted in narrations found in al-Kāfī and Bihar al-Anwar, establishes that Muhammad and the Imams share in a pre-eternal spiritual reality that transcends ordinary human existence — Allah created the light of Muhammad before the creation of the heavens and the earth, and from this primordial light the entire created order subsequently emerged.<ref>{{cite book|last=Majlisi|first=Muhammad Baqir|title=Bihar al-Anwar|volume=15|pages=24–25}}</ref>

The Nūr Muḥammad doctrine establishes the theological foundation for the continuity between prophethood and imamate in Shia thought: Muhammad and the Imams are not separate or successive figures but participants in a single pre-eternal divine reality whose outer ({{transliteration|ar|ẓāhir}}) dimension is the prophetic mission of legislation and revelation, and whose inner ({{transliteration|ar|bāṭin}}) dimension continues through the line of Imams after the Prophet's death. The question of who succeeded Muhammad was therefore not a political question about competence or seniority but a cosmological question about which individual shared in the nūr and possessed the divinely bestowed knowledge and authority necessary to guide the community.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Sayyid Muhammad Hossein|title=Shi'ite Islam|date=1975|publisher=State University of New York Press|pages=173–178}}</ref>

====The continuity of divine guidance: prophethood and imamate====

A foundational principle of Twelver theology is that Allah does not leave humanity without access to a divinely guided ''ḥujja'' (proof or guide) at any point in history. This principle, articulated in narrations attributed to Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq in al-Kāfī — "were there to remain on the earth but two men, one of them would be the proof of God" — establishes the theological necessity of the Imamate as a continuation of the same divine project of guidance that prophethood represented.{{sfn|Momen|1985|p=148}}

In this framework, the death of Muhammad did not end divine guidance but transformed its mode: legislation ({{transliteration|ar|tashrīʿ}}) concluded with the Prophet as the seal of the prophets, but the function of interpreting, applying, and esoterically illuminating that legislation continued through the line of Imams. The Imams are therefore not replacements for the Prophet nor independent sources of new divine law, but the authoritative custodians of his complete legacy, possessing both the exoteric knowledge of the sharīʿa and the esoteric knowledge of its deeper dimensions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mavani|first=Hamid|title=Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism: From Ali to Post-Khomeini|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203694282|pages=52–53}}</ref> From the Sunni perspective the succession was a political question the community could legitimately resolve through consultation. From the Shia perspective it was a theological question — who possessed the divinely bestowed nūr, knowledge, and ismah necessary to serve as the ongoing ḥujja of Allah — that only Allah could answer and that Muhammad had already answered at Ghadir Khumm.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Sayyid Muhammad Hossein|title=Shi'ite Islam|date=1975|publisher=State University of New York Press|pages=173–178}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mavani|first=Hamid|title=Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203694282|pages=52–55}}</ref>

=== Shia hadith epistemology ===

The Shia approach to hadith methodology differs from the Sunni approach in several foundational respects that follow directly from the theological positions outlined above. These differences concern not only which hadith are accepted and rejected but the underlying epistemological framework that determines what constitutes a reliable transmission of prophetic knowledge.

====The rejection of ʿAdālat al-Ṣaḥāba====

The most fundamental divergence between Shia and Sunni hadith methodology concerns the doctrine of ''ʿAdālat al-Ṣaḥāba'' — the collective presumption of uprightness applied to all companions of the Prophet in Sunni hadith criticism, by virtue of which a narrator's status as a companion is in itself sufficient to establish the reliability of their transmissions. Shia hadith methodology explicitly rejects this collective presumption and evaluates each companion individually on the basis of their known conduct and loyalty to the Ahl al-Bayt. Companions who remained steadfast in their support for ʿAlī — such as Salman al-Farisi, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Miqdad ibn Aswad, and Ammar ibn Yasir — are accorded high reliability; companions who opposed or abandoned ʿAlī are subject to critical evaluation regardless of their general proximity to the Prophet.{{sfn|Momen|1985|pp=172–175}}

The Shia theological basis for this rejection follows from the sacred history narrative: if the companions collectively failed to uphold the Prophet's designation at Ghadir Khumm, their collective presumption of virtue cannot be maintained. Shia hadith critics further argue that the doctrine is logically circular — the reliability of the companions is established by the Sunni tradition, but which companions count as reliable was itself determined by a tradition shaped by the very political events whose legitimacy is in dispute.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mavani|first=Hamid|title=Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203694282|pages=55–60}}</ref>

====The four books and the Shia hadith canon====

The canonical foundation of Shia hadith literature consists of four major collections compiled in the 10th and 11th centuries CE, collectively known as the ''Kutub al-Arbaʿa'' (the Four Books): ''al-Kāfī'' by Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī (d. 329 AH), considered the most authoritative and containing hadith attributed to the Prophet and all twelve Imams; ''Man lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh'' by Shaykh al-Ṣadūq (d. 381 AH); and ''Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām'' and ''al-Istibṣār'', both by Shaykh al-Ṭūsī (d. 460 AH).{{sfn|Momen|1985|pp=174–175}}

A critical distinction between the Shia and Sunni hadith canons is that Shia collections include hadith attributed to the twelve Imams alongside those attributed to the Prophet, on the theological basis that the Imams' statements constitute authoritative religious knowledge transmitted through the line of divinely guided successors. This effectively extends the hadith authority period from the Prophet's death in 632 CE to the beginning of the Major Occultation of the twelfth Imam in 874 CE, grounding Shia jurisprudence in a body of traditions that Sunni methodology does not recognise as authoritative.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mavani|first=Hamid|title=Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203694282|pages=60–65}}</ref>

====The four sources of Jaʿfari jurisprudence: the role of ʿaql====

The Jaʿfari school of jurisprudence recognises four sources of religious law: the Quran, the Sunnah (comprising both the Prophet's traditions and those of the twelve Imams), the consensus of Shia scholars (''ijmāʿ''), and the intellect ({{transliteration|ar|ʿaql}}). The inclusion of the intellect as an independent source of religious law is theologically grounded in the doctrine of divine justice — since the human intellect is capable of independently recognising moral categories, its conclusions in matters where revelation is silent or ambiguous carry genuine legal weight.{{sfn|Momen|1985|pp=185–186}}

The practical significance of ʿaql as a jurisprudential source is considerable: it gives Shia jurisprudence a degree of rational flexibility that allows it to engage with novel legal questions through reasoned argument rather than exclusively through textual precedent. This rationalist orientation also underlies the Shia institution of the ''marjaʿ al-taqlīd'' (source of emulation), the senior jurist whose qualified legal reasoning (''ijtihad'') ordinary believers are expected to follow in matters of religious practice — an institution that has no precise equivalent in Sunni jurisprudence, where the dominant Ashari and Athari theological frameworks are more suspicious of subjecting divine matters to rational evaluation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mavani|first=Hamid|title=Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203694282|pages=65–75}}</ref>

=== Occultation (''Ghaybah'') === {{main|Occultation (Islam)|Reappearance of Hujjat Allah al-Mahdi}} {{further|Major Occultation|Minor Occultation|The Fourteen Infallibles}} [[File:Jamkaran Mosque مسجد جمکران قم 21.jpg|thumb|Jamkaran Mosque in Qom, Iran, is a popular pilgrimage site for Shia Muslims. Local belief holds that the 12th Shia Imam once appeared and offered prayers at Jamkaran.]]

The Occultation is an eschatological belief held in various denominations of Shia Islam concerning a messianic figure, the hidden and last Imam known as "the Mahdi", who will one day return to fill the world with justice. According to the doctrine of Twelver Shia Islam, the main goal of Imam Mahdi will be to establish an Islamic state and to apply Islamic laws that were revealed to Muhammad.<ref>Nasr, Sayyed Hossein. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=btmNZgztDrAC&pg=PA19 Expectation of the Millennium: Shiìsm in History]'', State University of New York Press, 1989, p. 19, {{ISBN|978-0-88706-843-0}}</ref>

Some Shia subsects, such as Zaydism and Nizari Isma'ilism, do not believe in the idea of Occultation. The groups that believe in it differ as to which lineage of the Imamate is valid and therefore which individual has gone into Occultation. Twelver Shia Muslims believe that the prophesied Mahdi and 12th Shia Imam, Hujjat Allah al-Mahdi, is already on Earth in Occultation and will return at the end of time. Ṭayyibi Ismāʿīlīs and Bohra communities believe the same but for their 21st Imam, At-Tayyib Abi l-Qasim, and believe that a ''Da'i al-Mutlaq'' ("Unrestricted Missionary") maintains contact with him. Sunnī Muslims believe that the future Mahdi has not yet arrived on Earth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/comparison_charts/islamic_sects.htm |title=Compare Shia and Sunni Islam |date=March 17, 2004 |publisher=ReligionFacts |access-date=4 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429101140/http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/comparison_charts/islamic_sects.htm |archive-date=29 April 2011}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=March 2025}}

=== Holy Relics (''Tabarruk'') === Shia Muslims believe that the armaments and sacred items of all of the Abrahamic prophets, including Muhammad, were handed down in succession to the Imams of the ''Ahl al-Bayt''. Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, the 6th Shia Imam, in ''Kitab al-Kafi'' mentions that "with me are the arms of the Messenger of Allah. It is not disputable."<ref name="Kulayni">{{cite book |last1=Al-Kulayni |first1=Abu Jaʼfar Muhammad ibn Yaʼqub |title=Kitab al-Kafi |date=2015 |publisher=The Islamic Seminary Inc. |location=South Huntington, NY |isbn=978-0-9914308-6-4 }}{{page needed|date=August 2023}}</ref> Al-Ṣādiq also narrated that the passing down of armaments is synonymous with receiving the ''Imamat'' (leadership), similar to how the Ark of the Covenant in the house of the Israelites signaled prophethood.<ref name="Kulayni" /> Imam Ali al-Ridha narrates that wherever the armaments among us would go, knowledge would also follow and the armaments would never depart from those with knowledge.<ref name="Kulayni" />

=== Other doctrines ===

==== Doctrine about necessity of acquiring knowledge ==== According to Muhammad Rida al-Muzaffar, God gives humans the faculty of reason and argument. Also, God orders humans to think carefully about creation, while he refers to all creations as his signs of power and glory. These signs encompass all of the universe. Furthermore, there is an analogy of humans as the little world and the universe as the large world. God does not accept the faith of those who follow him without thinking and only with imitation, but God also blames them for such actions. In other words, humans have to think about the universe with reason and intellect, a faculty bestowed on us by God. Since there is more insistence on the faculty of intellect among Shia Muslims, even evaluating the claims of someone who claims prophecy is based on the intellect.<ref>{{cite book|author=Allamah Muhammad Rida Al Muzaffar|title=The faith of Shia Islam|year=1989|page=1|publisher=Ansariyan Qum}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.introducingislam.org/info/muzaffar/chapter1.php|title=The Beliefs of Shia Islam – Chapter 1|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025175646/http://www.introducingislam.org/info/muzaffar/chapter1.php|archive-date=25 October 2016}}</ref>

== Practices == [[File:Karbala in 2019.jpg|thumb|Shia Muslims gathered in prayer at the Shrine of Imam Ḥusayn in Karbala, Iraq]]

Shia religious practices, such as prayers, differ only slightly from the Sunnīs. While all Muslims pray five times daily, Shia Muslims have the option of combining ''Dhuhr'' with ''Asr'' and ''Maghrib'' with ''Isha''', as there are three distinct times mentioned in the Quran. The Sunnīs tend to combine only under certain circumstances.

=== Holidays === {{main|Shia days of remembrance}}

Shia Muslims celebrate the following annual holidays: * Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of fasting during the month of Ramadan * Eid al-Adha, which marks the end of the ''Hajj'' or pilgrimage to Mecca * Eid al-Ghadeer, which is the anniversary of the Ghadir Khum, the occasion when Muhammad announced ʿAlī's Imamate before a multitude of Muslims.<ref>{{cite book |first=Paula |last=Sanders |date=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fnBFANHMn4C&pg=PA121 |title=Ritual, politics, and the city in Fatimid Cairo |page=121|publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0791417812 }}</ref> Eid al-Ghadeer is held on the 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah. * The Mourning of Muharram and the Day of Ashura for Shia Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, brother of Ḥasan and grandson of Muhammad, who was killed by the army of Yazid ibn Muawiyah in Karbala (central Iraq). Ashura is a day of deep mourning which occurs on the 10th of Muharram. * Arba'in commemorates the suffering of the women and children of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī's household. After Ḥusayn was killed, they were marched over the desert, from Karbala (central Iraq) to Damascus (Syria). Many children (some of whom were direct descendants of Muhammad) died of thirst and exposure along the route. Arbaein occurs on the 20th of Safar, 40 days after Ashura. * Mawlid, Muhammad's birth date. Unlike Sunnī Muslims, who celebrate the 12th of Rabi I as Muhammad's day of birth or death (because they assert that his birth and death both occur in this week), Shia Muslims celebrate Muhammad's birthday on the 17th of the month, which coincides with the birth date of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, the 6th Shia Imam.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Bernard |last1=Trawicky |first2=Ruth |last2=Wilhelme Gregory |date=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDbKexa1jfcC&pg=PA233 |title=Anniversaries and holidays |page=233|publisher=American Library Association |isbn=978-0838910047 }}</ref> * Fāṭima's birthday on 20th of Jumada II. This day is also considered as the "'women and mothers' day"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.khamenei.ir/news/4724/Lady-Fatima-inspired-women-of-Iran-to-emerge-as-an-extraordinary|title=Lady Fatima inspired women of Iran to emerge as an extraordinary force|date=18 March 2017|access-date=26 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825203650/http://english.khamenei.ir/news/4724/Lady-Fatima-inspired-women-of-Iran-to-emerge-as-an-extraordinary|archive-date=25 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> * ʿAlī's birthday on 13th of Rajab. * Mid-Sha'ban is the birth date of the 12th and final Twelver imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi. It is celebrated by Shia Muslims on the 15th of Sha'ban. * Laylat al-Qadr, anniversary of the night of the revelation of the Quran. * Eid al-Mubahila celebrates a meeting between the ''Ahl al-Bayt'' (household of Muhammad) and a Christian deputation from Najran. Al-Mubahila is held on the 24th of Dhu al-Hijjah.

=== Holy sites === {{main|Holiest sites in Shia Islam}}

[[File:ImamReza(A).jpg|thumb|230x230px|Sanctuary of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Iran, is a complex which contains the mausoleum of Ali al-Rida, the 8th Imam in Shia Islam. 25 Million Shia visit the shrine each year.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Higgins |first=Andrew |date=2007-06-02 |title=Inside Iran's Holy Money Machine |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118072271215621679 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424032806/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118072271215621679 |archive-date=2016-04-24 |access-date=2017-10-24 |work=Wall Street Journal |language=en-US |issn=0099-9660}}</ref>]]After Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities of Islam, the cities of Najaf, Karbala, Mashhad and Qom are the most revered by Shia Muslims.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2881835.stm |title=Karbala and Najaf: Shia holy cities |date=20 April 2003}}</ref><ref name="Sardeg">{{cite web|last=Escobar|first=Pepe|date=May 24, 2002|title=Knocking on heaven's door|url=http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DE24Ag04.html|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020603155002/http://atimes.com/c-asia/DE24Ag04.html|archive-date=June 3, 2002|access-date=2006-11-12|work=Central Asia/Russia|publisher=Asia Times Online|quote=according to a famous hadith... 'our sixth imam, Imam Sadeg, says that we have five definitive holy places that we respect very much. The first is Mecca... second is Medina... third... is in Najaf. The fourth... in Kerbala. The last one belongs to... Qom.'}}</ref> The Sanctuary of Imām ʿAlī in Najaf, the Shrine of Imam Ḥusayn in Karbala, The Sanctuary of Imam Reza in Mashhad and the Shrine of Fāṭimah al-Maʿṣūmah in Qom are very essential for Shia Muslims. Other venerated pilgrimage sites include the Kadhimiya Mosque in Kadhimiya, Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, the Sahla Mosque, the Great Mosque of Kufa, the Jamkaran Mosque in Qom, and the Tomb of Daniel in Susa.

Most of the Shia sacred places and heritage sites in Saudi Arabia have been destroyed by the Al Saud-Wahhabi armies of the Ikhwan, the most notable being the tombs of the Imams located in the Al-Baqi' cemetery in 1925.<ref>{{cite book |first=Laurence |last=Louėr |date=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vcfDuatockC&pg=PA22 |title=Transnational Shia politics: religious and political networks in the Gulf |page=22|publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0231700405 }}</ref> In 2006, a bomb destroyed the shrine of Al-Askari Mosque.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Karen |last1=Dabrowska |first2=Geoff |last2=Hann |date=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhJ3lRnXyXcC&dq=askari+mosque+bomb+2006&pg=PA239 |title=Iraq Then and Now: A Guide to the Country and Its People |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170102072559/https://books.google.com/books?id=DhJ3lRnXyXcC&pg=PA239&dq=askari+mosque+bomb+2006&hl=en&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2 |archive-date=2 January 2017 |page=239|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides |isbn=978-1841622439 }}</ref> (''See'': Anti-Shi'ism).

=== Purity === Shia orthodoxy, particularly in Twelver Shi'ism, has considered non-Muslims as agents of impurity (''Najāsat)''. This categorization sometimes extends to ''kitābῑ'', individuals belonging to the People of the Book, with Jews explicitly labeled as impure by certain Shia religious scholars.<ref name=":3">{{Citation |last=Tsadik |first=Daniel |title=Najāsat |date=2010-10-01 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/najasat-SIM_0016420 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World |access-date=2024-01-08 |publisher=Brill |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Litvak |first=Meir |title=Constructing nationalism in Iran: from the Qajars to the Islamic Republic |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-1-138-21322-7 |series=Routledge studies in modern history |location=London |pages=174}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Citation |last=Moreen |first=Vera B. |title=Shiʽa and the Jews |date=2010-10-01 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/shia-and-the-jews-COM_0020130 |url-access=subscription |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World |access-date=2024-01-08 |publisher=Brill |language=en}}</ref> Armenians in Iran, who have historically played a crucial role in the Iranian economy, received relatively more lenient treatment.<ref name=":4" />

Shi'ite theologians and ''mujtahids'' (jurists), such as Muḥammad Bāqir Majlisῑ, held that Jews' impurity extended to the point where they were advised to stay at home on rainy or snowy days to prevent contaminating their Shia neighbors. Ayatollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 to 1989, asserted that every part of an unbeliever's body, including hair, nails, and bodily secretions, is impure. However, the former leader of Iran, ʿAlī Khameneʾī, stated in a ''fatwa'' that Jews and other Peoples of the Book are not inherently impure, and touching the moisture on their hands does not convey impurity.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jews and Wine in Shiite Iran – Some Observations on the Concept of Religious Impurity |url=https://associationforiranianstudies.org/content/jews-and-wine-shiite-iran-%E2%80%93-some-observations-concept-religious-impurity |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=Association for Iranian Studies |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108090844/https://associationforiranianstudies.org/content/jews-and-wine-shiite-iran-%E2%80%93-some-observations-concept-religious-impurity |archive-date= 8 January 2024 }}</ref><ref name=":5" />

==Demographics== {{Main|Islam by country}}

[[File:Islam by country.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Islam by country {{color box|#4a6600}}{{color box|#a8e600}}{{color box|#f8ffe6}} Sunnī {{color box|#66004a}}{{color box|#cc0096}}{{color box|#ffe6f8}} Shia {{color box|#000000}} Ibadi]] thumb|upright=1.8|A map of the Muslim world's schools of jurisprudence<ref>{{cite web |date=2009 |title=Jurisprudence and Law – Islam: Reorienting the Veil |url=http://veil.unc.edu/religions/islam/law/ |publisher=University of North Carolina}}</ref> Shia Islam is the second largest branch of Islam.<ref name="PEW2009">{{cite web |date=7 October 2009 |title=Mapping the Global Muslim Population |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151214172939/http://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/ |archive-date=14 December 2015 |access-date=10 December 2014 |quote=The Pew Forum's estimate of the Shia population (10–13%) is in keeping with previous estimates, which generally have been in the range of 10–15%.}}</ref> It is estimated that 10–13%<ref name="BritannicaShiite1">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Shīʿite |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shii/Shii-dynasties |access-date=18 January 2022 |quotation=In the early 21st century some 10–13 percent of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims were Shiʿi.}}</ref><ref name="PRC">{{cite web |date=7 October 2009 |title=Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151214172939/http://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/ |archive-date=14 December 2015 |access-date=25 August 2010 |work=Pew Research Center |quotation=Of the total Muslim population, 10–13% are Shia Muslims and 87–90% are Sunni Muslims. Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq.}}</ref><ref name="mgmpPRC">{{cite book |url=http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/Muslimpopulation/Muslimpopulation.pdf |title=Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population |date=October 2009 |publisher=Pew Research Center |editor-last=Miller |editor-first=Tracy |access-date=8 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113140829/http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/Muslimpopulation/Muslimpopulation.pdf |archive-date=13 January 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> of the global Muslim population are Shias. They may number up to 154–200&nbsp;million as of 2009.<ref name="PRC" /> In 1985, Shia Muslims were estimated to be 21% of the Muslim population in South Asia, although the total number is difficult to estimate.<ref>{{harvnb|Momen|1985|p=277}}</ref>

Shia Muslims form a distinct majority of the population in three countries of the Muslim world: Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan.<ref name="mafhoum1">{{cite web |title=Foreign Affairs – When the Shiites Rise – Vali Nasr |url=http://www.mafhoum.com/press9/282S26.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140115124722/http://www.mafhoum.com/press9/282S26.htm |archive-date=15 January 2014 |access-date=27 January 2014 |publisher=Mafhoum.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=11 December 2006 |title=Quick guide: Sunnis and Shias |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6213248.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228101639/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6213248.stm |archive-date=28 December 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> A c. 2008 estimate asserted that Shia Muslims constituted 36.3% of the entire population (and 38.6% of the Muslim population) of the Middle East.<ref name="sha">{{cite book |title=Atlas of the Middle East |date=2008 |publisher=National Geographic |isbn=978-1-4262-0221-6 |edition=Second |location=Washington, DC |pages=80–81}}</ref>

Estimates have placed the proportion of Shia Muslims in Lebanon between 27% and 45% of the population,<ref name="mafhoum1" /><ref>{{cite web |title=International Religious Freedom Report 2010 |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010/148830.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213121147/https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010/148830.htm |archive-date=13 December 2019 |access-date=17 November 2010 |publisher=U.S. Government Department of State}}</ref> 30–35% of the citizen population in Kuwait (no figures exist for the non-citizen population),<ref name="irfr2012">{{cite web |year=2012 |title=International Religious Freedom Report for 2012 |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2012&dlid=208398#wrapper |work=US State Department}}</ref><ref name="ssi">{{cite web |date=April 2008 |title=The New Middle East, Turkey, and the Search for Regional Stability |url=http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub861.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318173523/http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub861.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2015 |work=Strategic Studies Institute |page=87}}</ref> over 20% in Turkey,<ref name="PRC" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Shankland |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFFRzTqLp6AC&pg=PP1 |title=The Alevis in Turkey: The Emergence of a Secular Islamic Tradition |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7007-1606-7}}</ref> 5–20% of the population in Pakistan,<ref>{{cite web |date=February 2005 |title=Country Profile: Pakistan |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Pakistan.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050717171649/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Pakistan.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2005 |access-date=1 September 2010 |work=Library of Congress Country Studies on Pakistan |publisher=Library of Congress |quote=''Religion: The overwhelming majority of the population (96.3 percent) is Muslim, of whom approximately 95 percent are Sunni and 5 percent Shia.''}}</ref><ref name="PRC" /> and 10–19% of Afghanistan's population,<ref name="lcweb2.loc.gov">{{cite web |date=August 2008 |title=Shia women too can initiate divorce |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Afghanistan.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408085103/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Afghanistan.pdf |archive-date=8 April 2014 |access-date=27 August 2010 |publisher=Library of Congress Country Studies on Afghanistan |quote=''Religion: Virtually the entire population is Muslim. Between 80 and 85 percent of Muslims are Sunni and 15 to 19 percent, Shia.''}}</ref><ref name="CIAAFG">{{cite web |title=Afghanistan |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html?countryName=Afghanistan&countryCode=af&regionCode=sas&#af |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528122742/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html?countryName=Afghanistan&countryCode=af&regionCode=sas&#af |archive-date=28 May 2010 |access-date=27 August 2010 |work=Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) |publisher=The World Factbook on Afghanistan |quote=Religions: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%}}</ref> and 45% in Bahrain.<ref>Al Jazeera: [], 1973, retrieved 14 February 2021</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Joyce|first=Miriam|title=Bahrain from the Twentieth Century to the Arab Spring|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2012|isbn=978-1-137-03178-5|location=New York, NY|pages=121}}</ref>

Saudi Arabia hosts a number of distinct Shia communities, including the Twelver Baharna in the Eastern Province and Nakhawila of Medina, and the Ismāʿīlī Sulaymani and Zaydī Shias of Najran. Estimations put the number of Shia citizens at roughly 15% of the local population.<ref>{{cite news |last=al-Qudaihi |first=Anees |date=24 March 2009 |title=Saudi Arabia's Shia press for rights |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7959531.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407072038/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7959531.stm |archive-date=7 April 2010 |access-date=24 March 2009 |publisher=BBC Arabic Service}}</ref> Approximately 40% of the population of Yemen are Shia Muslims.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Merrick |first1=Jane |last2=Sengupta |first2=Kim |date=20 September 2009 |title=Yemen: The land with more guns than people |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-the-land-with-more-guns-than-people-1790461.html |access-date=21 March 2010 |work=The Independent |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Hriday |date=30 June 2011 |title=The Arab Spring: The Initiating Event for a New Arab World Order |url=https://www.e-ir.info/2011/06/30/the-arab-spring-the-initiating-event-for-a-new-arab-world-order/#_ednref24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829054650/https://www.e-ir.info/2011/06/30/the-arab-spring-the-initiating-event-for-a-new-arab-world-order/ |archive-date=29 August 2020 |website=E-international Relations |quote="In Yemen, Zaidists, a Shia offshoot, constitute 30% of the total population"}}</ref>

Significant Shia communities exist in the coastal regions of West Sumatra and Aceh in Indonesia (see Tabuik).<ref name="Leo">{{cite book |author=Leonard Leo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYSA2uew3CUC&pg=PA261 |title=International Religious Freedom (2010): Annual Report to Congress |publisher=Diane Publishing |isbn=978-1-4379-4439-6 |pages=261– |access-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101201437/http://books.google.com/books?id=eYSA2uew3CUC&pg=PA261 |archive-date=1 January 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Shia presence is negligible elsewhere in Southeast Asia, where Muslims are predominantly Shāfiʿī Sunnīs.

A significant Shia minority is present in Nigeria, made up of modern-era converts to a Shia movement centered around Kano and Sokoto states.<ref name="PRC" /><ref name="mgmpPRC" /><ref>{{cite news |author=Paul Ohia |date=16 November 2010 |title=Nigeria: 'No Settlement With Iran Yet' |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201011170502.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018004932/http://allafrica.com/stories/201011170502.html |archive-date=18 October 2012 |newspaper=This Day}}</ref> Several African countries like Kenya,<ref name="Nairobi">{{cite book |last1=Charton-Bigot |first1=Helene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLX9n4fG5V8C&pg=PA239 |title=Nairobi Today: the Paradox of a Fragmented City |last2=Rodriguez-Torres |first2=Deyssi |date=2010 |publisher=African Books Collective |isbn=978-9987080939 |pages=239}}</ref> South Africa,<ref name="Matthée2008">{{cite book |author=Heinrich Matthée |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwGjbDurQ5IC&pg=PA136 |title=Muslim Identities and Political Strategies: A Case Study of Muslims in the Greater Cape Town Area of South Africa, 1994–2000 |publisher=kassel university press GmbH |year=2008 |isbn=978-3-89958-406-6 |pages=136– |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009062019/http://books.google.com/books?id=hwGjbDurQ5IC&pg=PA136 |archive-date=9 October 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Somalia,<ref>{{cite book |last=Abdullahi |first=Mohamed Diriye |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Nu918tYMB8C&pg=PA55 |title=Culture and customs of Somalia |date=2001 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-31333-2 |pages=55}}</ref> etc. hold small minority populations of various Shia subsects, primarily descendants of immigrants from South Asia during the colonial period, such as the Khoja.<ref name="HaseMiyake2002">{{cite book |author1=Yasurō Hase |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qh0EAQAAIAAJ |title=South Asian migration in comparative perspective, movement, settlement and diaspora |author2=Hiroyuki Miyake |author3=Fumiko Oshikawa |publisher=Japan Center for Area Studies, National Museum of Ethnology |year=2002 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906043850/https://books.google.com/books?id=Qh0EAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=6 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Significant populations worldwide=== Figures indicated in the first three columns below are based on the October 2009 demographic study by the Pew Research Center report, ''Mapping the Global Muslim Population''.<ref name="PRC" /><ref name="mgmpPRC" />

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; float:left;" |+Nations with over 100,000 Shia<ref name="PRC" /><ref name="mgmpPRC" /> |- ! style="width:10%;"|Country ! style="width:10%;"|Article ! style="width:10%;"|Shia population in 2009 (Pew)<ref name="PRC" /><ref name="mgmpPRC" /><!-- This column shows Pew statistics only, please! --> ! style="width:10%;"|Percent of population that is Shia in 2009 (Pew)<ref name="PRC" /><ref name="mgmpPRC" /><!-- This column shows Pew statistics only, please! --> ! style="width:10%;"|Percent of global Shia population in 2009 (Pew)<ref name="PRC" /><ref name="mgmpPRC" /><!-- This column shows Pew statistics only, please! --> ! style="width:20%;" class="unsortable"|Population estimate ranges and notes <!-- Please provide reliable, verifiable reference with the claim --> |- | {{Flagicon|Iran}} Iran | Islam in Iran | align=right | {{ntsh|66000}}66,000,000–69,500,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|90}}90–95 | align=right | {{ntsh|37}}37–40 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|Pakistan}} Pakistan | Shia Islam in the Indian subcontinent | align=right | {{ntsh|25200}}25,272,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|15}}15 | align=right | {{ntsh|15}}15 | align=right | A 2023 census estimate was that Shia made up about 15-20% of Pakistan's population.<ref>{{cite web |date= 2023 |title=2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Pakistan |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/pakistan/ |publisher=US Department of State}}</ref> |- | {{Flagicon|Iraq}} Iraq | Shi'a Islam in Iraq | align=right | {{ntsh|19000}}19,000,000–24,000,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|55}}55–65 | align=right | {{ntsh|10}}10–11 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|India}} India | Shia Islam in the Indian subcontinent | align=right | {{ntsh|12300}}12,300,000–18,500,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|1.3}}1.3–2 | align=right | {{ntsh|9}}9–14 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|Yemen}} Yemen | Shia Islam in Yemen | align=right | {{ntsh|7000}}7,000,000–8,000,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|35}}35–40 | align=right | {{ntsh|5}}~5 | align=right | Majority following Zaydi Shia sect. |- | {{Flagicon|Turkey}} Turkey | Shi'a Islam in Turkey | align=right | {{ntsh|6000}}6,000,000–9,000,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|10}}~10–15 | align=right | {{ntsh|3}}~3–4 | align=right | Majority following Alevi Shia sect. |- | {{Flagicon|Azerbaijan}} Azerbaijan | Islam in Azerbaijan | align=right | {{ntsh|4500}}4,575,000–5,590,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|45}}45–55 | align=right | {{ntsh|2}}2–3 | align=right | Azerbaijan is majority Shia.<ref>{{cite news |last=Reynolds |first=James |date=12 August 2012 |title=Why Azerbaijan is closer to Israel than Iran |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-19063885 |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Umutlu |first=Ayseba |title=Islam's gradual resurgence in post-Soviet Azerbaijan |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/islam-gradual-resurgence-post-soviet-azerbaijan-180108110517329.html}}</ref><ref name="Bedford">{{cite book |last=Bedford |first=Sofie |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327829401 |title=Turkish–Azerbaijani Relations: One Nation – Two States? |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1138650817 |editor-last1=Ismayilov |editor-first1=Murad |page=128 |editor-last2=Graham |editor-first2=Norman A.}}</ref> A 2012 work noted that in Azerbaijan, among believers of all faiths, 10% identified as Sunni, 30% identified as Shia, and the remainder of followers of Islam simply identified as Muslim.<ref name="Bedford" /> |- | {{Flagicon|Afghanistan}}Afghanistan | Shi'a Islam in Afghanistan | align=right | {{ntsh|3000}}3,000,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|15}}15 | align=right | {{ntsh|1}}~2 | align=right | A reliable census has not been taken in Afghanistan in decades, but about 20% of Afghan population is Shia, mostly among ethnic Tajik and Hazara minorities.<ref>{{cite news |last=Massoud |first=Waheed |date=6 December 2011 |title=Why have Afghanistan's Shias been targeted now? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16045209 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> |- | {{Flagicon|Syria}} Syria | Islam in Syria | align=right | {{ntsh|2400}}2,400,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|13}}13 | align=right | {{ntsh|1}}~2 | align=right | Majority following Alawite Shia sect. |- | {{Flagicon|Lebanon}} Lebanon | Shi'a Islam in Lebanon | align=right | {{ntsh|1000}}2,100,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|31}} 31.2 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right |In 2020, the CIA World Factbook stated that Shia Muslims constitute 31.2% of Lebanon's population.<ref>{{cite web |date=2020 |title=Lebanon |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/lebanon/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111113708/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/lebanon |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 January 2021 |publisher=CIA World Factbook}}</ref> |- | {{Flagicon|KSA}} Saudi Arabia | Shi'a Islam in Saudi Arabia | align=right | {{ntsh|2000}}2,000,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|6}}~6 | align=right | {{ntsh|1}} | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|Nigeria}} Nigeria | Shi'a Islam in Nigeria | align=right | {{ntsh|3000}}<2,000,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|1}}<1 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | Estimates range from as low as 2% of Nigeria's Muslim population to as high as 17% of Nigeria's Muslim population.{{Efn|A 2019 Council on Foreign Relations article states: "Nobody really knows the size of the Shia population in Nigeria. Credible estimates that its numbers range between 2 and 3 percent of Nigeria's population, which would amount to roughly four million."<ref name=Campbell>{{cite web |first=John |last=Campbell |url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/more-trouble-between-nigerias-shia-minority-and-police |title=More Trouble Between Nigeria's Shia Minority and the Police |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |date=10 July 2019}}</ref> A 2019 BBC News article said that "Estimates of [Nigerian Shia] numbers vary wildly, ranging from less than 5% to 17% of Nigeria's Muslim population of about 100 million."<ref>{{cite news |first=Haruna Shehu |last=Tangaza |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49175639 |title=Islamic Movement in Nigeria: The Iranian-inspired Shia group |publisher=BBC |date=5 August 2019}}</ref>}} Some, but not all, Nigerian Shia are affiliated with the banned Islamic Movement in Nigeria, an Iranian-inspired Shia organization led by Ibrahim Zakzaky.<ref name="Campbell" /> |- | {{Flagicon|Tanzania}} Tanzania | Islam in Tanzania | align=right | {{ntsh|1500}}~1,500,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|2.5}}~2.5 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|Kuwait}} Kuwait | Shi'a Islam in Kuwait | align=right | {{ntsh|0500}}500,000–700,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|20}}20–25 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | Among Kuwait's estimated 1.4&nbsp;million citizens, about 30% are Shia (including Ismaili and Ahmadi, whom the Kuwaiti government count as Shia). Among Kuwait's large expatriate community of 3.3&nbsp;million noncitizens, about 64% are Muslim, and among expatriate Muslims, about 5% are Shia.<ref>{{cite web |title=2018 Report on International Religious Freedom: Kuwait |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-report-on-international-religious-freedom/kuwait/ |publisher=Office of International Religious Freedom, United States Department of State}}</ref> |- | {{Flagicon|Bahrain}} Bahrain | Islam in Bahrain | align=right | {{ntsh|400}}400,000–500,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|66}}65–70 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|Tajikistan}} Tajikistan | Shi'a Islam in Tajikistan | align=right | {{ntsh|400}}~400,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|4}}~4 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right |Shi'a Muslims in Tajikistan are predominantly Nizari Ismaili |- | {{Flagicon|Germany}} Germany | Islam in Germany | align=right | {{ntsh|400}}~400,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|0.5}}~0.5 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|UAE}} United Arab Emirates | Islam in the United Arab Emirates | align=right | {{ntsh|300}}~300,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|3}}~3 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|USA}} United States | Islam in the United States<br />Shia Islam in the Americas | align=right | {{ntsh|225}}~225,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|0.07}}~0.07 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | Shi'a form a majority amongst Arab Muslims in many American cities, e.g. Lebanese Shi'a forming the majority in Detroit.<ref>Aswad, B. and Abowd, T., 2013. Arab Americans. Race and Ethnicity: ''The United States and the World'', pp. 272–301.</ref> |- | {{Flagicon|UK}} United Kingdom | Islam in the United Kingdom | align=right | {{ntsh|125}}~125,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|0.2}}~0.2 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|Qatar}} Qatar | Islam in Qatar | align=right | {{ntsh|100}}~100,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|3.5}}~3.5 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | |- | {{Flagicon|Oman}} Oman | Islam in Oman | align=right | {{ntsh|100}}~100,000 | align=right | {{ntsh|2}}~2 | align=right | {{ntsh|0}}<1 | align=right | As of 2015, about 5% of Omanis are Shia (compared to about 50% Ibadi and 45% Sunni).<ref>{{cite news |last=Erlich |first=Reese |date=4 August 2015 |title=Mitigating Sunni-Shia conflict in 'the world's most charming police state' |url=https://theworld.org/stories/2016/07/30/mitigating-sunni-shia-conflict-world-s-most-charming-police-state |publisher=Agence France-Presse}}</ref> |} {{clear}}

==Major denominations or branches<span class="anchor" id="Branches"></span>== <!-- Section linked from Template:Shia_Islam --> {{main|Islamic schools and branches#Shīʿa Islam}}

{{further|List of extinct Shia sects|Schools of Islamic theology#Shia schools of theology}}

The Shia community throughout its history split over the issue of the Imamate. The largest branch are the Twelvers, followed by the Zaydīs and the Ismāʿīlīs. Each subsect of Shia Islam follows its own line of Imamate. All mainstream Twelver and Ismāʿīlī Shia Muslims follow the same school of thought, the Jaʽfari jurisprudence, named after Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, the 6th Shia Imam. Shia clergymen and jurists usually carry the title of ''mujtahid'' (i.e., someone authorized to issue legal opinions in Shia Islam).

===Twelver=== {{main|Twelver}}

'''Twelver Shia Islam''' is the largest branch of Shia Islam,<ref name="Newman2013">{{cite book |last=Newman |first=Andrew J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_M8BQAAQBAJ |title=Twelver Shiism: Unity and Diversity in the Life of Islam, 632 to 1722 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-7486-7833-4 |page=2 |chapter=Introduction |access-date=13 October 2015 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_M8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PP18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501201413/https://books.google.com/books?id=-_M8BQAAQBAJ |archive-date=1 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="PEW2009" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Guidère |first=Mathieu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCvhzGiDMYsC&pg=PA319 |title=Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalism |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8108-7965-2 |page=319}}</ref><ref>Tabataba'i (1979), p. 76</ref><ref>''God's rule: the politics of world religions'', p. 146, Jacob Neusner, 2003</ref><ref>Esposito, John. ''What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam'', Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-19-515713-0}}. p. 40</ref> and the terms ''Shia Muslim'' and ''Shia'' often refer to the Twelvers by default. The designation ''Twelver'' is derived from the doctrine of believing in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as "the Twelve Imams". Twelver Shia are otherwise known as ''Imami'' or ''Jaʿfari''; the latter term derives from Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, the 6th Shia Imam, who elaborated the Twelver jurisprudence.<ref>{{harvnb|Cornell|2007|p=237}}</ref> Twelver Shia constitute the majority of the population in Iran (90%),<ref>"Esposito, John. "What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam" Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-19-515713-0}}. p. 45.</ref> Iraq (65%) and Azerbaijan (55%).<ref name="Britannica738" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Administrative Department of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan – Presidential Library – Religion |url=http://files.preslib.az/projects/remz/pdf_en/atr_din.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123084541/http://files.preslib.az/projects/remz/pdf_en/atr_din.pdf |archive-date=23 November 2011}}</ref> Significant populations also exist in Afghanistan, Bahrain (40% of Muslims) and Lebanon (27–29% of Muslims).<ref name="esp45">Esposito, John. "What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam" Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-19-515713-0}}. p. 45</ref><ref name="review">{{cite web |date=25 March 2011 |title=Challenges For Saudi Arabia Amidst Protests in the Gulf – Analysis |url=http://www.eurasiareview.com/25032011-challenges-for-saudi-arabia-amidst-protests-in-the-gulf-analysis/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401034318/http://www.eurasiareview.com/25032011-challenges-for-saudi-arabia-amidst-protests-in-the-gulf-analysis/ |archive-date=1 April 2012 |work=Eurasia Review}}</ref>

====Doctrine==== Twelver doctrine is based on five principles.<ref name="shiite-doctrine"/> These five principles known as ''Usul ad-Din'' are as follow:<ref name="Rich2006">{{cite book |last=Richter |first=Joanne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9fxXEdeIP8C&pg=PA7 |title=Iran: the Culture |date=2006 |publisher=Crabtree Publishing Company |isbn=978-0778791423 |page=7}}</ref> # '''Monotheism''': God is one and unique; # '''Justice''': the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, fairness, and equity, along with the punishment of the breach of these ethics; # '''Prophethood''': the institution by which God sends emissaries, or prophets, to guide humankind; # '''Leadership''': a divine institution which succeeded the institution of Prophethood. Its appointees (''Imams'') are divinely appointed; # '''Resurrection and Last Judgment''': God's final assessment of humanity.

====Books==== Besides the Quran, which is the sacred text common to all Muslims, Twelver Shias derive scriptural and authoritative guidance from collections of sayings and traditions (hadith) attributed to Muhammad and the Twelve Imams. Below is a list of some of the most prominent of these books: * ''Nahj al-Balagha'' by Ash-Sharif Ar-Radhi<ref>Nahj al-balaghah, Mohaghegh (researcher) 'Atarodi Ghoochaani, the introduction of Sayyid Razi, p. 1</ref> – the most famous collection of sermons, letters & narration attributed to ʿAlī, the first Imam regarded by Shias * ''Kitab al-Kafi'' by Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni<ref>{{cite book |title=Al-Kafi Book I: Intellect and Foolishness |publisher=Taqwa Media |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-939420-00-8}}</ref> * ''Wasa'il al-Shiʻah'' by al-Hurr al-Amili

====The Twelve Imams==== {{main|Imamate in Twelver doctrine|The Twelve Imams|Hadith of the Twelve Successors|l2 = Sunni reports about there being 12 successors to the Prophet}}

{{further|Occultation (Islam)|Reappearance of Hujjat Allah al-Mahdi|The Fourteen Infallibles}}

According to the theology of Twelvers, the successor of Muhammad is an infallible human individual who not only rules over the Muslim community with justice but also is able to keep and interpret the divine law (''sharīʿa'') and its esoteric meaning. The words and deeds of Muhammad and the Twelve Imams are a guide and model for the Muslim community to follow; as a result, they must be free from error and sin, and Imams must be chosen by divine decree (''nass'') through Muhammad.<ref name="Nasr_a" /><ref name="Momen 1985, p. 174" /> The twelfth and final Imam is Hujjat Allah al-Mahdi, who is believed by Twelvers to be currently alive and hidden in Occultation.<ref name="Imamat" />

====Jurisprudence==== {{main|Ja'fari jurisprudence}}

{{further|Shia clergy}}

The Twelver jurisprudence is called ''Jaʽfari jurisprudence''. In this school of Islamic jurisprudence, the ''sunnah'' is considered to be comprehensive of the oral traditions of Muhammad and their implementation and interpretation by the Twelve Imams. There are three schools of Jaʿfari jurisprudence: Usuli, Akhbari, and Shaykhi; the Usuli school is by far the largest of the three. Twelver groups that do not follow the Jaʿfari jurisprudence include Alevis, Bektashi, and Qizilbash.

The five pillars of Islam to the Jaʿfari jurisprudence are known as ''Usul ad-Din'': # ''Tawḥīd'': unity and oneness of God; # ''Nubuwwah'': prophethood of Muhammad; # ''Muʿad'': resurrection and final judgment; # ''ʿAdl'': justice of God; # ''Imamah'': the rightful place of the Shia Imams.

In Jaʿfari jurisprudence, there are eight secondary pillars, known as ''Furu ad-Din'', which are as follows:<ref name="Rich2006" /> # ''Salat'' (prayer); # ''Sawm'' (fasting); # ''Hajj'' (pilgrimage) to Mecca; # ''Zakāt'' (alms giving to the poor); # ''Jihād'' (struggle) for the righteous cause; # Directing others towards good; # Directing others away from evil; # ''Khums'' (20% tax on savings yearly, after deduction of commercial expenses).

According to Twelvers, defining and interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') is the responsibility of Muhammad and the Twelve Imams. Since the 12th Imam is currently in Occultation, it is the duty of Shia clerics to refer to the Islamic literature, such as the Quran and hadith, and identify legal decisions within the confines of Islamic law to provide means to deal with current issues from an Islamic perspective. In other words, clergymen in Twelver Shia Islam are believed to be the guardians of ''fiqh'', which is believed to have been defined by Muhammad and his twelve successors. This process is known as ''ijtihad'' and the clerics are known as ''marjaʿ'', meaning "reference"; the labels ''Allamah'' and ''Ayatollah'' are in use for Twelver clerics.

====Islamists==== Islamist Shia ({{langx|fa|تشیع اخوانی}}) is a new denomination within Twelver Shia Islam greatly inspired by the political ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and mysticism of Ibn Arabi. It sees Islam as a political system and differs from the other mainstream Usuli and Akhbari groups in favoring the idea of the establishment of an Islamic state in Occultation under the rule of the 12th Imam.{{sfn|Khalaji|2009|p=64}}{{sfn|Bohdan|2020|p=243}} Hadi Khosroshahi was the first person to identify himself as ''ikhwani'' (Islamist) Shia Muslim.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-01 |title=اخوانی گوشه‌نشین |url=https://plus.irna.ir/news/83696140/%D8%A7%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C-%DA%AF%D9%88%D8%B4%D9%87-%D9%86%D8%B4%DB%8C%D9%86 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523163121/https://plus.irna.ir/news/83696140/%D8%A7%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C-%DA%AF%D9%88%D8%B4%D9%87-%D9%86%D8%B4%DB%8C%D9%86 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=ایرنا پلاس |language=fa}}</ref>

Because of the concept of the hidden Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, Shia Islam is inherently secular in the age of Occultation, therefore Islamist Shia Muslims had to borrow ideas from Sunnī Islamists and adjust them in accordance with the doctrine of Shia Islam.{{sfn|Bohdan|2020|pp=250–251}} Its foundations were laid during the Persian Constitutional Revolution at the start of 20th century in Qajar Empire (1905–1911), when Fazlullah Nouri supported the Persian king Ahmad Shah Qajar against the will of Muhammad Kazim Khurasani, the Usuli ''marjaʿ'' of the time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hermann |first=Denis |date=1 May 2013 |title=Akhund Khurasani and the Iranian Constitutional Movement |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263206.2013.783828 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=49 |issue=3 |page=437 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2013.783828 |issn=0026-3206 |s2cid=143672216|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Ismāʿīlī=== {{main|Isma'ilism}}

Ismāʿīlīs, otherwise known as ''Sevener'', derive their name from their acceptance of Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar as the divinely appointed spiritual successor (Imam) to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, the 6th Shia Imam, wherein they differ from the Twelvers, who recognize Mūsā al-Kāẓim, younger brother of Ismāʿīl, as the true Imam.

After the death or Occultation of Muhammad ibn Imam Ismāʿīl in the 8th century CE, the teachings of Ismāʿīlīsm further transformed into the belief system as it is known today, with an explicit concentration on the deeper, esoteric meaning (''bāṭin'') of the Islamic faith. With the eventual development of Twelver Shia Islam into the more literalistic ''(zahīr)'' oriented Akhbari and later Usuli schools of thought, Shia Islam further developed in two separate directions: the metaphorical Ismāʿīlī group focusing on the mystical path and nature of God and the divine manifestation in the personage of the "Imam of the Time" as the "Face of God", with the more literalistic Twelver group focusing on divine law (''sharī'ah'') and the deeds and sayings (''sunnah'') attributed to Muhammad and his successors (the ''Ahl al-Bayt''), who as A'immah were guides and a light (''nūr'') to God.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i |url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/ahsai1.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218072512/http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/ahsai1.htm |archive-date=18 February 2007 |access-date=25 April 2007}}</ref>

[[File:His Highness the Aga Khan (15760993697).jpg|thumb|Shāh Karim al-Husayni, known as the Aga Khan IV, was the 49th Imam of Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs.]] Though there are several subsects amongst the Ismāʿīlīs, the term in today's vernacular generally refers to the Shia Imami Ismāʿīlī Nizārī community, often referred to as the ''Ismāʿīlīs'' by default, who are followers of the Aga Khan and the largest group within Ismāʿīlīsm. Another Shia Imami Ismāʿīlī community are the Dawudi Bohras, led by a ''Da'i al-Mutlaq'' ("Unrestricted Missionary") as representative of a hidden Imam. While there are many other branches with extremely differing exterior practices, much of the spiritual theology has remained the same since the days of the faith's early Imams. In recent centuries, Ismāʿīlīs have largely been an Indo-Iranian community,<ref>Nasr, Vali, ''The Shia Revival'', Norton, (2006), p. 76</ref> but they can also be found in India, Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia,<ref>{{cite web |title=Congressional Human Rights Caucus Testimony&nbsp;– Najran, The Untold Story |url=http://lantos.house.gov/HoR/CA12/Human+Rights+Caucus/Briefing+Testimonies/107/TESTIMONY+OF+ALI+H.+ALYAMI.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061227222620/http://lantos.house.gov/HoR/CA12/Human+Rights+Caucus/Briefing+Testimonies/107/TESTIMONY+OF+ALI+H.+ALYAMI.htm |archive-date=27 December 2006 |access-date=8 January 2007}}</ref> Yemen, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, East and South Africa, and in recent years several Ismāʿīlīs have emigrated to China,<ref>{{cite web |date=22 September 2003 |title=News Summary: China; Latvia |url=http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/11253.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070506190104/http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/11253.htm |archive-date=6 May 2007 |access-date=1 June 2007}}</ref> Western Europe (primarily in the United Kingdom), Australia, New Zealand, and North America.<ref name="DaftaryShort1998p1">{{cite book |last=Daftary |first=Farhad |title=A Short History of the Ismailis |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7486-0687-0 |location=Edinburgh |pages=1–4}}</ref>

====Ismāʿīlī Imams==== {{main|List of Ismaili imams}}

In the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī interpretation of Shia Islam, the Imam is the guide and the intercessor between humans and God, and the individual through whom God is recognized. He is also responsible for the esoteric interpretation of the Quran (''taʾwīl''). He is the possessor of divine knowledge and therefore the "Prime Teacher". According to the "Epistle of the Right Path", a Persian Ismāʿīlī prose text from the post-Mongol period of Ismāʿīlī history, by an anonymous author, there has been a chain of Imams since the beginning of time, and there will continue to be an Imam present on the Earth until the end of time. The worlds would not exist in perfection without this uninterrupted chain of Imams. The proof (''hujja'') and gate (''bāb'') of the Imam are always aware of his presence and are witness to this uninterrupted chain.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Virani |first=Shafique N. |date=2010 |title=The Right Path: A Post-Mongol Persian Ismaili Treatise |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00210860903541988 |journal=Iranian Studies |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=197–221 |doi=10.1080/00210860903541988 |issn=0021-0862 |s2cid=170748666|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

After the death of Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar, many Ismāʿīlīs believed that one day the eschatological figure of Imam Mahdi, whom they believed to be Muhammad ibn Imam Ismāʿīl, would return and establish an age of justice. One group included the violent Qarmatians, who had a stronghold in Bahrain. In contrast, some Ismāʿīlīs believed the Imamate ''did'' continue, and that the Imams were in Occultation and still communicated and taught their followers through a network of ''Da'i'' ("Missionaries").

In 909 CE, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, a claimant to the Ismāʿīlī Imamate, established the Fatimid Caliphate. During this period, three lineages of Imams were formed. The first branch, known today as the Druze, began with Al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh.<ref name="Timani 2021">{{cite book |author-last=Timani |author-first=Hussam S. |title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements |publisher=Brill Publishers |year=2021 |isbn=978-90-04-43554-4 |editor1-last=Cusack |editor1-first=Carole M. |editor1-link=Carole M. Cusack |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=21 |location=Leiden and Boston |pages=724–742 |chapter=Part 5: In Between and on the Fringes of Islam – The Druze |doi=10.1163/9789004435544_038 |issn=1874-6691 |editor2-last=Upal |editor2-first=M. Afzal |editor2-link=Afzal Upal |doi-access=free}}</ref> Born in 985 CE, he ascended as ruler at the age of eleven. When in 1021 CE his mule returned without him, soaked in blood, a religious group that was forming in his lifetime broke off from mainstream Ismāʿīlīsm and did not acknowledge his successor.<ref name="Timani 2021" />

Later to be known as the Druze, they believe Al-Ḥākim to be God incarnate<ref name="Poonawala">{{cite journal |last=Poonawala |first=Ismail K. |date=July–September 1999 |title=Review: ''The Fatimids and Their Traditions of Learning'' by Heinz Halm |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |publisher=American Oriental Society |volume=119 |issue=3 |page=542 |doi=10.2307/605981 |issn=0003-0279 |jstor=605981 |lccn=12032032 |oclc=47785421}}</ref> and the prophesied Mahdi on Earth, who would one day return and bring justice to the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=al-Hakim bi Amr Allah: Fatimid Caliph of Egypt |url=http://baheyeldin.com/history/al-hakim-bi-amr-allah-fatimid-caliph-of-egypt.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070406065948/http://baheyeldin.com/history/al-hakim-bi-amr-allah-fatimid-caliph-of-egypt.html |archive-date=6 April 2007 |access-date=24 April 2007}}</ref> The Druze faith further split from Ismāʿīlīsm as it developed into a distinct monotheistic Abrahamic religion and ethno-religious group with its own unique doctrines,<ref name="Timani 2021" /> and finally separated from both Ismāʿīlīsm and Islam altogether.<ref name="Timani 2021" /> Thus, the Druze do not identify themselves as Muslims,<ref name="Timani 2021" /> and are not considered as such by Muslims either.<ref name="Timani 2021" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Pintak |first=Lawrence |title=America & Islam: Soundbites, Suicide Bombs and the Road to Donald Trump |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-78831-559-3 |page=86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Jonas |first=Margaret |title=The Templar Spirit: The Esoteric Inspiration, Rituals and Beliefs of the Knights Templar |publisher=Temple Lodge Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-906999-25-4 |page=83 |quote=[Druze] often they are not regarded as being Muslim at all, nor do all the Druze consider themselves as Muslim}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=8 August 2018 |title=Are the Druze People Arabs or Muslims? Deciphering Who They Are |url=https://www.arabamerica.com/are-the-druze-people-arabs-or-muslims-deciphering-who-they-are/ |access-date=13 April 2020 |website=Arab America |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=J. Stewart |first=Dona |title=The Middle East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-135-98079-5 |page=33 |quote=Most Druze do not consider themselves Muslim. Historically they faced much persecution and keep their religious beliefs secrets.}}</ref>

The second split occurred between Nizārī and Musta'lī Ismāʿīlīs following the death of Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah in 1094 CE. His rule was the longest of any caliph in any Islamic empire. Upon his death, his sons, Nizār (the older) and Al-Musta'lī (the younger), fought for political and spiritual control of the dynasty. Nizār was defeated and jailed, but according to the Nizārī tradition his son escaped to Alamut, where the Iranian Ismāʿīlī had accepted his claim.<ref name="DaftaryShort1998p106">{{cite book |last=Daftary |first=Farhad |title=A Short History of the Ismailis |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7486-0687-0 |location=Edinburgh |pages=106–108}}</ref> From here on, the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī community has continued with a present, living Imam.

The Musta'lī Ismāʿīlīs split between the Ṭayyibi and the Ḥāfiẓi; Ṭayyibi Ismāʿīlīs, also known as "Bohras", are further divided between Dawudi Bohras, Sulaymani Bohras, and Alavi Bohras. The former denomination claims that At-Tayyib Abi l-Qasim, son of Al-Amir bi-Ahkami l-Lah, and the Imams following him went into a period of anonymity (''Dawr-e-Satr'') and appointed a ''Da'i al-Mutlaq'' ("Unrestricted Missionary") to guide the community, in a similar manner as the Ismāʿīlīs had lived after the death of Muhammad ibn Imam Ismāʿīl. The latter denomination claims that the ruling Fatimid caliph was the Imam, and they died out with the fall of the Fatimid Empire.

====Pillars==== Ismāʿīlīs have categorized their practices which are known as ''seven pillars'': {| width="100%" | width="33%" valign="top"| * Walayah (Guardianship) * Taharah (Purity) | width="33%" valign="top"| * Salat (Prayer) * Zakāt (Charity) | width="33%" valign="top"| * Sawm (Fasting) * Hajj (Pilgrimage) | width="33%" valign="top"| * Jihad (Struggle) |}

====Contemporary leadership==== The Nizārīs place importance on a scholarly institution because of the existence of a present Imam. The Imam of the Age defines the jurisprudence, and his guidance may differ with Imams previous to him because of different times and circumstances. For Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs, the current Imam is Karim al-Husayni Aga Khan IV. The Nizārī line of Imams has continued to this day as an uninterrupted chain.

Divine leadership has continued in the Bohra branch through the institution of the "Missionary" (''Da'i''). According to the Bohra tradition, before the last Imam, At-Tayyib Abi l-Qasim, went into seclusion, his father, the 20th Al-Amir bi-Ahkami l-Lah, had instructed Al-Hurra Al-Malika the Malika (Queen consort) in Yemen to appoint a vicegerent after the seclusion—the ''Da'i al-Mutlaq'' ("Unrestricted Missionary"), who as the Imam's vicegerent has full authority to govern the community in all matters both spiritual and temporal while the lineage of Musta'lī-Ṭayyibi Imams remains in seclusion (''Dawr-e-Satr''). The three branches of Musta'lī Ismāʿīlīs (Dawudi Bohras, Sulaymani Bohras, and Alavi Bohras) differ on who the current "Unrestricted Missionary" is.{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}

===Zaydī=== {{main|Zaydism}}

[[File:Dinar of al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq, AH 298.jpg|thumb|Gold dinar of al-Ḥādī ila'l-Ḥaqq Yaḥyā, the first Zaydī Imam of Yemen, minted in 910–911 CE]] [[File:Zaydi State 1675.jpg|thumb|The Zaydī State of Yemen under the rule of Imam Al-Mutawakkil Ismāʿīl bin al-Qāsim (1644–1676)]] Zaydism, otherwise known as '''Zaydiyya''' or as '''Zaydi Shia Islam''', is a branch of Shia Islam named after Zayd ibn ʿAlī. Followers of the Zaydī school of jurisprudence are called Zaydīs or occasionally ''Fivers''. However, there is also a group called ''Zaydī Wāsiṭīs'' who are Twelvers (see below). Zaydīs constitute roughly 42–47% of the population of Yemen.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Yemen |url=http://www.yemenincanada.ca/map.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127175930/http://www.yemenincanada.ca/map.php |archive-date=27 January 2007 |access-date=9 April 2015 |website=Yemeni in Canada |publisher=Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Canada}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Yemen [Yamaniyyah]: general data of the country |url=http://www.populstat.info/Asia/yemeng.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041925/http://www.populstat.info/Asia/yemeng.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=9 April 2015 |website=Population Statistics}}</ref>

====Doctrine==== The Zaydīs, Twelvers, and Ismāʿīlīs all recognize the same first four Imams; however, the Zaydīs consider Zayd ibn ʿAlī as the 5th Imam. After the time of Zayd ibn ʿAlī, the Zaydīs believed that any descendant (''Sayyid'') of Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī or Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī could become the next Imam, after fulfilling certain conditions.<ref name="Washington">{{cite web |date=1991 |title=Sunni-Shiʻa Schism: Less There Than Meets the Eye |url=http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0591/9105024.htm |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20050423070201/http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0591/9105024.htm |archive-date=23 April 2005 |page=24}}</ref> Other well-known Zaydī Imams in history were Yahya ibn Zayd, Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, and Ibrahim ibn Abdullah.

The Zaydī doctrine of Imamah does not presuppose the infallibility of the Imam, nor the belief that the Imams are supposed to receive divine guidance. Moreover, Zaydīs do not believe that the Imamate must pass from father to son but believe it can be held by any ''Sayyid'' descended from either Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī or Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (as was the case after the death of the former). Historically, Zaydīs held that Zayd ibn ʿAlī was the rightful successor of the 4th Imam since he led a rebellion against the Umayyads in protest of their tyranny and corruption. Muhammad al-Baqir did not engage in political action, and the followers of Zayd ibn ʿAlī maintained that a true Imam must fight against corrupt rulers.

====Jurisprudence==== In matters of Islamic jurisprudence, Zaydīs follow the teachings of Zayd ibn ʿAlī, which are documented in his book ''Majmu'l Fiqh'' (in Arabic: {{big|مجموع الفِقه}}). Al-Ḥādī ila'l-Ḥaqq Yaḥyā, the first Zaydī Imam and founder of the Zaydī State in Yemen, is regarded as the codifier of Zaydī jurisprudence, and as such most Zaydī Shias today are known as ''Hadawis''.

====Timeline==== The Idrisids ({{langx|ar|{{big|الأدارسة}}}}) were Arab<ref> * {{cite book |last=Hodgson |first=Marshall |title=Venture of Islam |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1961 |location=Chicago |page=262}}{{clarify|reason=this is a multi-volume source; which volume?|date=February 2022}}</ref> Zaydī Shias<ref>{{cite book |last=Ibn Abī Zarʻ al-Fāsī |first=ʻAlī ibn ʻAbd Allāh |title=Rawḍ al-Qirṭās: Anīs al-Muṭrib bi-Rawd al-Qirṭās fī Akhbār Mulūk al-Maghrib wa-Tārīkh Madīnat Fās |title-link=Rawd al-Qirtas |publisher=Dār al-Manṣūr |year=1340 |location=ar-Rabāṭ |publication-date=1972 |page=38}} * {{cite web |title=حين يكتشف المغاربة أنهم كانوا شيعة وخوارج قبل أن يصبحوا مالكيين ! |url=http://hespress.com/?browser=view&EgyxpID=5116 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612182657/http://www.hespress.com/?browser=view&EgyxpID=5116 |archive-date=12 June 2008 |work=hespress.com}} * {{cite book |author=Ignác Goldziher |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontois0000gold |title=Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-691-10099-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontois0000gold/page/218 218] |url-access=registration}} * {{cite book |author=James Hastings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBwOF6jXBdIC&pg=PA844 |title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7661-3704-2 |page=844}}{{Dead link|date=January 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} * {{cite web |title=The Initial Destination of the Fatimid caliphate: The Yemen or The Maghrib? |url=http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=101310 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706101911/http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=101310 |archive-date=6 July 2015 |publisher=The Institute of Ismaili Studies}} * {{cite web |title=Shiʻah tenets concerning the question of the imamate – New Page 1 |url=http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter3/Ch_3_25.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829024816/http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter3/Ch_3_25.htm |archive-date=29 August 2012 |work=muslimphilosophy.com}}</ref> whose dynasty, named after its first sultan, Idris I, ruled in the western Maghreb from 788 to 985 CE. Another Zaydī State was established in the region of Gilan, Deylaman, and Tabaristan (northern Iran) in 864 CE by the Alavids;<ref>Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi,''At-tarikh as-saghir 'an ash-shia al-yamaniyeen'' (Arabic: التاريخ الصغير عن الشيعة اليمنيين, A short History of the Yemenite Shiʻites), 2005 Referencing: Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature</ref> it lasted until the death of its leader at the hand of the Samanids in 928 CE. Roughly forty years later, the Zaydī State was revived in Gilan and survived under Hasanid leaders until 1126 CE. Afterwards, from the 12th to 13th centuries, the Zaydī Shias of Deylaman, Gilan, and Tabaristan then acknowledged the Zaydī Imams of Yemen or rival Zaydī Imams within Iran.<ref>Article by Sayyid 'Ali ibn 'Ali Al-Zaidi, ''At-tarikh as-saghir 'an ash-shia al-yamaniyeen'' (Arabic: التاريخ الصغير عن الشيعة اليمنيين, A short History of the Yemenite Shiʻites), 2005 Referencing: Encyclopædia Iranica</ref>

The Buyids were initially Zaydī Shias,<ref>{{cite book |last=Walker |first=Paul Ernest |title=Hamid Al-Din Al-Kirmani: Ismaili Thought in the Age of Al-Hakim |publisher=I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-86064-321-7 |series=Ismaili Heritage Series |volume=3 |place=London; New York |page=13}}</ref> as were the Banu Ukhaidhir rulers of al-Yamama in the 9th and 10th centuries.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=al-Uk̲h̲ayḍir |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |publisher=Brill |url=http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-7693 |last=Madelung |first=W. |date=7 December 2007 |access-date=12 June 2008 |archive-date=15 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250815023326/https://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-7693 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The leader of the Zaydī community took the title of caliph; thus, the ruler of Yemen was known by this title. Al-Hadi Yahya bin al-Hussain bin al-Qasim ar-Rassi, a descendant of Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, founded the Zaydī Imamate at Sa'dah in 893–897 CE, and the Rassid dynasty continued to rule over Yemen until the middle of the 20th century, when the republican revolution of 1962 deposed the last Zaydī Imam. ''See'': Arab Cold War.

The founding Zaydī branch in Yemen was the Jarudiyya. With increasing interaction with the Ḥanafī and Shāfiʿī schools of Sunnī jurisprudence, there was a shift from the Jarudiyya group to the Sulaimaniyya, Tabiriyya, Butriyya, and Salihiyya.<ref>Article by Sayyid Ali ibn ' Ali Al-Zaidi, ''At-tarikh as-saghir 'an ash-shia al-yamaniyeen'' (Arabic: التاريخ الصغير عن الشيعة اليمنيين, A short History of the Yemenite Shiʻites), 2005</ref> Zaydī Shias form the second dominant religious group in Yemen. Currently, they constitute about 40–45% of the population in Yemen; Jaʿfaris and Ismāʿīlīs constitute the 2–5%.<ref>{{cite web |title=Universiteit Utrecht Universiteitsbibliotheek |url=http://www.library.uu.nl/wesp/populstat/Asia/yemeng.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502125032/http://www.library.uu.nl/wesp/populstat/Asia/yemeng.htm |archive-date=2 May 2006 |access-date=4 May 2011 |publisher=Library.uu.nl}}</ref> In Saudi Arabia there are over 1&nbsp;million Zaydī Shias, primarily in the western provinces.

Currently, the most prominent Zaydī political movement is the Houthi movement in Yemen,<ref name="Nevola-Shiban 2020">{{cite book |author1-last=Nevola |author1-first=Luca |title=Global, Regional, and Local Dynamics in the Yemen Crisis |author2-last=Shiban |author2-first=Baraa |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-030-35578-4 |editor1-last=Day |editor1-first=Stephen W. |location=Cham, Switzerland |pages=233–251 |chapter=The Role of "Coup Forces," Saleh, and the Houthis |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-35578-4_15 |editor2-last=Brehony |editor2-first=Noel |chapter-url=https://www.doabooks.org/doab?func=fulltext&uiLanguage=en&rid=50561 |s2cid=213121908}}</ref> known by the name of ''Shabab al-Mu'mineen'' ("Believing Youth") or ''Ansar Allah'' ("Partisans of God").<ref name="Glenn 2015">{{cite magazine |last=Glenn |first=Cameron |date=29 April 2015 |title=Who are Yemen's Houthis? |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/who-are-yemens-houthis |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307094845/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/who-are-yemens-houthis |archive-date=7 March 2022 |access-date=8 March 2022 |magazine=The Islamists |publisher=Woodrow Wilson International Center |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> In 2014–2015, Houthis took over the Yemeni government in Sanaa, which led to the fall of the Saudi Arabian-backed government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.<ref name="Nevola-Shiban 2020" /><ref name="Glenn 2015" /><ref name="government">{{cite news |date=6 February 2015 |title=Yemen's Houthis form own government in Sanaa |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/02/yemen-houthi-rebels-announce-presidential-council-150206122736448.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207102231/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/02/yemen-houthi-rebels-announce-presidential-council-150206122736448.html |archive-date=7 February 2015 |access-date=7 February 2015 |agency=Al Jazeera}}</ref> Houthis and their allies gained control of a significant part of Yemen's territory, and resisted the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen seeking to restore Hadi in power.<ref name="Nevola-Shiban 2020" /><ref name="Glenn 2015" /> (''See'': Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict). Both the Houthis and the Saudi Arabian-led coalition were being attacked by the Sunnī Islamist militant group and Salafi-jihadist terrorist organization ISIL/ISIS/IS/Daesh.<ref>{{cite web |date=7 October 2015 |title=Yemen govt vows to stay in Aden despite IS bombings |url=https://news.yahoo.com/yemen-govt-vows-stay-aden-despite-bombings-102423218.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222173259/http://news.yahoo.com/yemen-govt-vows-stay-aden-despite-bombings-102423218.html |archive-date=22 December 2015 |work=Yahoo News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=7 October 2015 |title=Arab Coalition Faces New Islamic State Foe in Yemen Conflict |url=http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/arab-coalition-faces-new-islamic-state-foe-in-yemen-conflict-1229476 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064145/http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/arab-coalition-faces-new-islamic-state-foe-in-yemen-conflict-1229476 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |work=NDTV.com}}</ref><ref name="Poljarevic 2021" /><ref name="Rickenbacher 2019" /><ref name="Badara 2017" /><ref name="Bunzel 2015" />

==Persecution of Shia Muslims== {{main|Anti-Shi'ism|Shia–Sunni relations}}

{{further|Sectarian violence among Muslims|}} [[File:Mausoleo de Shah Cheragh, Shiraz, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 32.jpg|thumb|249x249px|Shāh Cherāgh in Shiraz, Iran, houses the mausoleums of the two sons of Musa al-Kazim, the seventh Imam in Twelver Shia Islam and a descendant of Muhammad.]] The history of Shia–Sunni relations has often involved religious discrimination, persecution, and violence, dating back to the earliest development of the two competing sects. At various times throughout the history of Islam, Shia groups and minorities have faced persecution perpetrated by Sunnī Muslims.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Stevan Lars Nielson |author2=E. Thomas Dowd |title=The Psychologies in Religion: Working with the Religious Client|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PcKBtc8bymoC&pg=PA237|year=2006|publisher=Springer Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-8261-2857-7|page=237}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,30809-2523714,00.html | work=The Times | location=London | title=Hanging will bring only more bloodshed | date=30 December 2006 | access-date=23 May 2010 | first=Bronwen | last=Maddox | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029030344/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ | archive-date=29 October 2019 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/681/re2.htm |title=Al-Ahram Weekly &#124; Region &#124; Shiʻism or schism |publisher=Weekly.ahram.org.eg |date=17 March 2004 |access-date=4 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404044349/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/681/re2.htm |archive-date=4 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/shia.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813160720/http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/shia.php |title=The Shia, Ted Thornton, NMH, Northfield Mount Hermon |archive-date=13 August 2009}}</ref>

Militarily established and holding control over the Umayyad government, many Sunnī rulers perceived the Shias as a threat—both to their political and religious authority.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm |title=The Origins of the Sunni/Shia split in Islam |publisher=Islamfortoday.com |access-date=4 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070126045119/http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm |archive-date=26 January 2007}}</ref> The Sunnī rulers under the Umayyad dynasty sought to marginalize the Shia minority, and later the Abbasids turned on their Shia allies and imprisoned, persecuted, and killed them. The persecution of Shia Muslims throughout history by their Sunnī co-religionists has often been characterized by brutal and genocidal acts. Comprising only about 10–15% of the global Muslim population,<ref name="PEW2009"/> Shia Muslims remain a marginalized community to this day in many Sunnī-dominant Arab countries, and are denied the rights to practice their religion and freely organize.<ref>Nasr, Vali (2006). ''The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future''. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-393-06211-3}} pp. 52–53</ref>

In 1514, the Ottoman sultan Selim I (1512–1520) ordered the massacre of 40,000 Alevis and Bektashi (Anatolian Shia Muslims).<ref>George C. Kohn (2007). ''Dictionary of Wars''. Infobase Publishing. p. 385. {{ISBN|0-8160-6577-2}}</ref> According to Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, "Sultan Selim I carried things so far that he announced that the killing of one Shia had as much otherworldly reward as killing 70 Christians."<ref>Al-e Ahmad, Jalal. ''Plagued by the West'' (''Gharbzadegi''), translated by Paul Sprachman. Delmor, NY: Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University, 1982.</ref> In 1802, the Al Saud-Wahhabi armies of the Ikhwan from the First Saudi State (1727–1818) attacked and sacked the city of Karbala, the Shia shrine in Najaf (eastern region of Iraq) that commemorates the martyrdom and death of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/7.htm |title=Saudi Arabia – The Saud Family and Wahhabi Islam |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721222356/http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/7.htm |archive-date=21 July 2011 |publisher=Library of Congress Country Studies}}</ref>

During the rule of Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist Iraq, Shia political activists were arrested, tortured, expelled or killed, as part of a crackdown launched after an assassination attempt against Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in 1980.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gritten|first1=David|title=Long path to Iraq's sectarian split|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4750320.stm|access-date=19 April 2015|work=BBC News|date=25 February 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727005418/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4750320.stm|archive-date=27 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Whitaker |first=Brian |date=25 April 2003 |title=Christian outsider in Saddam's inner circle |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Iraq/Story/0,2763,943280,00.html |access-date=24 December 2007}}</ref> In March 2011, the Malaysian government declared Shia Islam a "deviant" sect and banned Shia Muslims from promoting their faith to other Muslims, but left them free to practice it themselves privately.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/belief/minister-malaysian-shia-keep-your-beliefs-yourself|title= Malaysian government to Shia Muslims: Keep your beliefs to yourself|publisher= globalpost.com|access-date= 17 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140228011729/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/belief/minister-malaysian-shia-keep-your-beliefs-yourself|archive-date= 28 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/192853.pdf|title = Malaysia|work=International Religious Freedom Report|date=2011|publisher=United States Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor|access-date = 17 March 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170328212153/https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/192853.pdf|archive-date = 28 March 2017|url-status = live}}</ref>

The most recent campaign of anti-Shia oppression was the Islamic State organization's persecution of Shias in its territories in Northern Iraq,<ref name="Poljarevic 2021">{{cite book |author-last=Poljarevic |author-first=Emin |year=2021 |chapter=Theology of Violence-oriented Takfirism as a Political Theory: The Case of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) |editor1-last=Cusack |editor1-first=Carole M. |editor1-link=Carole M. Cusack |editor2-last=Upal |editor2-first=Muhammad Afzal |editor2-link=Afzal Upal |title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements |location=Leiden and Boston |publisher=Brill Publishers |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=21 |doi=10.1163/9789004435544_026 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-90-04-43554-4 |issn=1874-6691 |pages=485–512}}</ref><ref name="Baele 2019">{{cite journal |last=Baele |first=Stephane J. |date=October 2019 |title=Conspiratorial Narratives in Violent Political Actors' Language |editor-last=Giles |editor-first=Howard |journal=Journal of Language and Social Psychology |publisher=SAGE Publications |volume=38 |issue=5–6 |pages=706–734 |doi=10.1177/0261927X19868494 |doi-access=free |hdl=10871/37355 |hdl-access=free |issn=1552-6526 |s2cid=195448888 }}</ref><ref name="Rickenbacher 2019">{{cite journal |last=Rickenbacher |first=Daniel |date=August 2019 |title=The Centrality of Anti-Semitism in the Islamic State's Ideology and Its Connection to Anti-Shiism |editor-last=Jikeli |editor-first=Gunther |journal=Religions |location=Basel |publisher=MDPI |volume=10 |issue=8: ''The Return of Religious Antisemitism?'' |page=483 |doi=10.3390/rel10080483 |doi-access=free |issn=2077-1444}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Ghasemi |first=Faezeh |date=2020 |title=Anti-Shiism Discourse |publisher=University of Tehran |type=PhD |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342697889}}<br />{{bullet}}{{cite journal |first=Faezeh |last=Ghasemi |title=Anti-Shiite and Anti-Iranian Discourses in ISIS Texts |journal=Discourse |volume=11 |issue=3 |date=2017 |pages=75–96 |url=https://www.magiran.com/paper/1713990}}<br />{{bullet}}{{cite web |first=Toby |last=Matthiesen |title=The Islamic State Exploits Entrenched Anti-Shia Incitement |date=21 July 2015 |work=Sada |publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/?fa=60799&lang=en}}</ref> which occurred alongside the persecution of various religious groups and the genocide of Yazidis by the same organization.<ref name="Poljarevic 2021"/><ref name="Rickenbacher 2019"/><ref name="Badara 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Badara |first1=Mohamed |last2=Nagata |first2=Masaki |date=November 2017 |title=Modern Extremist Groups and the Division of the World: A Critique from an Islamic Perspective |journal=Arab Law Quarterly |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill Publishers |volume=31 |issue=4 |doi=10.1163/15730255-12314024 |doi-access=free |issn=1573-0255 |pages=305–335}}</ref><ref name="Bunzel 2015">{{cite journal |last=Bunzel |first=Cole |date=March 2015 |url=http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Papers/2015/03/ideology-of-islamic-state-bunzel/The-ideology-of-the-Islamic-State.pdf?la=en |title=From Paper State to Caliphate: The Ideology of the Islamic State |journal=The Brookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World |volume=19 |pages=1–48 |publisher=Center for Middle East Policy (Brookings Institution) |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321022758/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Papers/2015/03/ideology-of-islamic-state-bunzel/The-ideology-of-the-Islamic-State.pdf?la=en |archive-date=21 March 2015 |url-status=live |access-date=13 September 2020}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Shia Islam|Islam|Religion}} {{div col|colwidth=25em}} * {{anl|Alawism}} * Criticism of Twelver Shia Islam * {{anl|Islamic primary rulings}} * List of Shia books * List of Shia Islamic dynasties * List of Shia Muslim scholars of Islam * List of Shia Muslims * Shi'ite iconography * {{anl|Shia crescent}} * {{anl|Shia Rights Watch}} * Shia view of the Quran * {{anl|Tatbir}} {{div col end}}

==References== === Notes === {{Notelist}}

=== Citations === {{reflist}}

=== Sources === {{refbegin}} *{{Cite journal |last=Bohdan |first=Siarhei |date=Summer 2020 |title="They Were Going Together with the Ikhwan": The Influence of Muslim Brotherhood Thinkers on Shi'i Islamists during the Cold War |url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mei/mei/2020/00000074/00000002/art00005;jsessionid=3669aj37j07cl.x-ic-live-03 |journal=The Middle East Journal |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=243–262 |doi=10.3751/74.2.14 |s2cid=225510058 |issn=1940-3461 |url-access=subscription}} * {{cite book |last1=Cornell |first1=Vincent J. |title=Voices of Islam |date=2007 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=978-0-275-98732-9| author-link=Vincent Cornell}} * {{cite book |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/ |title=Encyclopædia Iranica Online |publisher=Columbia University Center for Iranian Studies |access-date=2019-09-11 }} * {{cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Muslim World |volume=1: ''Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World: A–L'' |last=Martin |first=Richard C. |publisher=MacMillan |isbn=978-0-02-865604-5 |year=2004 }} * {{cite book |last=Corbin |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Corbin |title=History of Islamic Philosophy |translator=Liadain Sherrard and Philip Sherrard |publisher=London; Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies |year=1993 |orig-date=1964 |isbn=978-0-7103-0416-2|title-link=Philip Sherrard }} * {{cite book |last=Dakake |first=Maria Massi |title=The Charismatic Community: Shiʻite Identity in Early Islam |publisher=Suny Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7914-7033-6}} * {{cite book |last1=Holt |first1=P. M. |author-link1=Peter M. Holt |last2=Lewis |first2=Bernard |author-link2=Bernard Lewis |title=Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 1 |year=1977a |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-29136-1}} *{{Cite journal |last=Khalaji |first=Mehdi |date=November 27, 2009 |title=The Dilemmas of Pan-Islamic Unity |url=https://www.hudson.org/research/9859-the-dilemmas-of-pan-islamic-unity- |journal=Current Trends in Islamist Ideology |volume=9 |pages=64–79}} * {{cite book |last=Lapidus |first=Ira |author-link=Ira M. Lapidus |title=A History of Islamic Societies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-521-77933-3}} * {{cite book |last=Momen |first=Moojan |author-link=Moojan Momen |title=An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shiʻism |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-300-03499-8}} * {{cite book|last=Sachedina |first=Abdulaziz Abdulhussein |author-link=Abdulaziz Sachedina |title=The Just Ruler (al-sultān Al-ʻādil) in Shīʻite Islam: The Comprehensive Authority of the Jurist in Imamite Jurisprudence |publisher=Oxford University Press US |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-19-511915-2}} * {{cite book |last1=Sobhani |last2=Shah-Kazemi |first1=Ja'afar |first2=Reza |title=Doctrines of Shiʻi Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices |date=2001 |publisher=I. B. Tauris [u.a.] |location=London |author-link= Ja'far Sobhani |author-link2=Reza Shah-Kazemi |isbn=978-1-86064-780-2 |edition=[Online-Ausg.]}} * {{cite book | last=Tabatabaei| first=Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn| title= Shiʻite Islam| publisher=State University of New York Press | year=1979| isbn=978-0-87395-272-9 |translator=Seyyed Hossein Nasr| author-link=Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei}} * {{cite book |last1=Ṭabataba'i |first1=Allamah Sayyid Muḥammad Husayn |title=Shiʻite Islam |date=1977 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |isbn=978-0-87395-390-0}} * {{cite book | last=Vaezi | first=Ahmad | title=Shia political thought | publisher=Islamic Centre of England | location=London | year=2004 | isbn=978-1-904934-01-1 | oclc=59136662}} {{refend}}

==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |first=Peter J. |last=Chelkowski |date=2010 |title=Eternal Performance: Taziyah and Other Shiite Rituals |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-1-906497-51-4}} {{NIE Poster|Shiites}} {{EB1911 poster|Shi'ites}} {{Commons category|Shiism|Shia Islam}} * {{cite book |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php? |title=Shiʻism: A Religion of Protest |last=Dabashi |first=Hamid |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-674-06428-7 |author-link=Hamid Dabashi}} * {{cite book |last=Halm |first=Heinz |author-link=Heinz Halm |title=Shiʻism |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7486-1888-0}} * {{cite book |last=Halm |first=Heinz |title=The Shiʻites: A Short History |publisher=Markus Wiener Pub |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-55876-437-8}} * {{cite book |last=Lalani |first=Arzina R. |title=Early Shiʻi Thought: The Teachings of Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-86064-434-4}} * {{cite book |last=Marcinkowski |first=Christoph |year=2010 |title=Shiʻite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts |publisher=Lit Verlag |isbn=978-3-643-80049-7}} * {{cite book |last=Shirazi |first=Sultanu'l-Wa'izin |author-link=Sultan al-Wa'izin Shirazi |title=Peshawar Nights, A Transcript of a Dialogue between Shia and Sunni scholars |publisher=Ansariyan Publications |url=http://www.al-islam.org/peshawar/index.html |isbn=978-964-438-320-5 |date=2013}} * {{cite book |last=Nasr |first=Seyyed Hossein |author2=Hamid Dabashi |author-link=Seyyed Hossein Nasr |title=Expectation of the Millennium: Shiʻism in History |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-88706-843-0}} * {{cite book |last=Rogerson |first=Barnaby |author-link=Barnaby Rogerson |title=The Heirs of Muhammad: Islam's First Century and the Origins of the Sunni Shia split |url=https://archive.org/details/heirsofmuhammadi00roge |url-access=registration |publisher=Overlook Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58567-896-9}} * {{cite book |last=Wollaston |first=Arthur N. |title=The Sunnis and Shias |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4254-7916-9}} * {{cite book |last=Moosa |first=Matti |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-8156-2411-0}} * Shi'a Minorities in the Contemporary World: Migration, Transnationalism and Multilocality. United Kingdom, Edinburgh University Press, 2020. {{refend}}

==External links == {{sister project links||d=Q9585|c=Category:Shiism|n=Category:Shia Islam|b=no|q=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}} * {{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |year=2022 |title=Shi'a History and Identity |url=https://shiism.wcfia.harvard.edu/research/shia-history-and-identity |website=shiism.wcfia.harvard.edu |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Project on Shi'ism and Global Affairs at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (Harvard University) |access-date=4 March 2022 |archive-date=4 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604053950/https://shiism.wcfia.harvard.edu/research/shia-history-and-identity |url-status=dead }} * {{cite web |last1=Daftary |first1=Farhad |last2=Nanji |first2=Azim |year=2018 |orig-date=2006 |title=What is Shi'a Islam? |url=https://www.iis.ac.uk/academic-article/what-shia-islam |website=www.iis.ac.uk |location=London |publisher=Institute of Ismaili Studies at the Aga Khan Centre |access-date=4 March 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331025405/https://www.iis.ac.uk/academic-article/what-shia-islam |url-status=dead }} * {{cite web |author-last=Muharrami |author-first=Ghulam-Husayn |translator-last=Limba |translator-first=Mansoor L. |year=2003 |title=History of Shi'ism: From the Advent of Islam up to the End of Minor Occultation |url=https://www.al-islam.org/history-shiism-advent-islam-end-minor-occultation-ghulam-husayn-muharrami |website=Al-Islam.org |publisher=Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project |access-date=4 March 2022}} * {{cite news |author=Ayatullāh Jaʿfar Subḥānī |year= |title=Shia Islam: History and Doctrines |url=https://en.shafaqna.com/tag/shia-islam-history-and-doctrines/ |website= |location=United Kingdom |publisher=Shafaqna (International Shia News Agency) |access-date=18 April 2023}}

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Category:Shia Islam