Shi'a Islam in Saudi Arabia

Shi'a Islam In Saudi Arabia

Approximately 15 percent of citizens in Saudi Arabia are Shia Muslims. The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formed in 1932, is based on a strict interpretation of Wahabi Salafist Islam founded by a scholar named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (Encyclopædia Britannica), but this sizable minority persists.

Most Shi'i Muslims are Twelver Bahrani people in the Eastern Province with the largest concentrations in Qatif, Al-Hasa, and Dammam. There is also a Twelver minority in Medina called the Nakhawila). Sizable Zaydi and Isma'ili communities also live in Najran along the border with Yemen.

Read more about Shi'a Islam In Saudi Arabia:  Community Structure, Political Inspiration and Religious Authority, Restrictions and Persecutions, Medina, See Also

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