Islamic Sects - Shia Islam

Shia Islam (شيعة Shī‘ah, sometimes Shi'a or Shi'ite), is the second-largest denomination of Islam, comprising 10% of the total Muslim population in the world. Shia Muslims—though a minority in the Muslim world—constitute the majority of the populations in Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran, and Iraq, as well as a plurality in Lebanon and Yemen.

In addition to believing in the authority of the Qur'an and teachings of Muhammad, Shia believe that his family, the Ahl al-Bayt (the "People of the House"), including his descendants known as Imams, have special spiritual and political rule over the community and believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams and was the rightful successor to Muhammad, and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three Rashidun caliphs.

The Shi'a Islamic faith is vast and includes many different groups. There are various Shi'a theological beliefs, schools of jurisprudence, philosophical beliefs, and spiritual movements. The Shia identity emerged soon after the death of 'Umar Ibnil-Khattab (the second caliph) and Shi'a theology was formulated in the second century and the first Shi'a governments and societies were established by the end of the ninth century.

An estimate of approximately 10% of the world's Muslims are Shi'a, which corresponds to about 100-120 million Shi'a Muslims worldwide. Shi'a Muslims also constitute over 30% of the population in Lebanon, over 25% of the population in Yemen, over 35% of the population in Kuwait, 10–20% of the population (primarily Alevi) in Turkey, 10% (primarily Bektashi) of the population in Albania, 12% of the population in Pakistan and 2% of population in Afghanistan. They also make up at least 15%-31% of the Muslim populations in India, 10-15% in the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Saudi Arabia, although the total number is difficult to estimate due to the intermingling between the two groups and practice of taqiyya by Shiites.

Significant Shi'a communities exist on the coastal regions of West Sumatra and Aceh in Indonesia (see Tabuik). The Shi'a presence is negligible elsewhere in Southeast Asia, where Muslims are predominantly Shafi'i Sunnis.

A significant syncretic Shi'a minority is present in Nigeria, centered around the state of Kano (see Shia in Nigeria). East Africa holds several populations of Ismaili Shia, primarily descendants of immigrants from South Asia during the colonial period, such as the Khoja.

According to Shi'a Muslims community, one of the lingering problems in estimating Shi'a population is that unless Shi'a form a significant minority in a Muslim country, the entire population is often listed as Sunni. The reverse, however, has not held true, which may contribute to imprecise estimates of the size of each sect. For example, the 1926 rise of the House of Saud in Arabia brought official discrimination against Shi'a.

Shi'a Islam is divided into three branches. The largest and best known are the Twelver (اثنا عشرية iṯnāʿašariyya), named after their adherence to the Twelve Imams. They form a majority of the population in Iran, Azerbaijan, Bahrain and Iraq. Other smaller branches include the Ismaili and Zaidi, who dispute the Twelver lineage of Imams and beliefs.

The Twelver Shi'a faith is predominantly found in Iran (90%), Azerbaijan (85%), Bahrain (65%), Iraq (65%), Lebanon (35%), Kuwait (25%), Albania (20%), Pakistan (15%), Afghanistan (3%). and India (25%-31%) of its Muslim population.

The Zaidi dispute the succession of the fifth Twelver Imam, Muhammad al-Baqir, because he did not stage a revolution against the corrupt government, unlike Zaid ibn Ali. They do not believe in a normal lineage, but rather that any descendant of Hasan ibn Ali or Husayn ibn Ali who stages a revolution against a corrupt government is an imam. The Zaidi are mainly found in Yemen.

The Ismaili dispute the succession of the seventh Twelver Imam, Musa al-Kadhim, believing his older brother Isma'il ibn Jafar actually succeeded their father Ja'far al-Sadiq, and did not predecease him like Twelver Shi'a believe. Ismaili form small communities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India, Syria, United Kingdom, Canada, Uganda, Portugal, Yemen, mainland China, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia and have several subbranches.