Category: Shia Muslims in the World
The origins of Alawits branch of Shiism or the Nusayris may be traced to a certain Abu Shuʿayb Muhammad b. Nusayr al-Namiri (or al-Numayri), who hailed from the ghulat circles on the fringes of Imami Shiʿism Ibn Nusayr was a supporter of the tenth and eleventh Twelver Shiʿi Imams and later proclaimed the divinity of […]
Zaydi Shiʿism was initially formed during the 2nd/8th century by the merger of two currents in Kufan Shiʿism; the two doctrinal currents with their Shiʿi adherents were designated in heresiographical literature as the Batriyya and the Jarudiyya, also referred to as the ‘weak’ and the ‘strong’ Zaydis, respectively. Disagreements: The main disagreement regarding the concept […]
The history and origins of the Zaydiyya as another major Shiʿi Muslim community has to be studied along with other branches of this sect of Islam which were discussed in the pervious posts. The general influence and geographical distribution of the Zaydiyya branch of Shiʿi Islam, named after their fourth imam, Zayd b. ʿAli Zayn […]
The history of the imamate in Ismaili branch of Shiism may be traced to the dispute over the succession to Imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, who died in 148/765. According to the majority of the available sources, Imam al-Sadiq had originally designated his second son Ismaʿil, the eponym of the Ismaʿiliyya, as his successor to the imamate […]
Representing the second largest Shia community, the Ismailis have had their own complex history. The history and origins of Ismailis go back to the medieval times during which the Ismailis established states of their own on separate occasions, and for relatively long periods played crucial parts in the history of the Muslim world. During the […]
Islam is a civilization as well as a major world religion, with some 1.3 billion Muslims scattered across almost every region of the globe, especially in the Middle East (the birthplace of Islam), Asia and Africa. Currently, around 15 per cent of the Muslim population of the world belong to various communities or different branches […]
Arrival: The first significant wave of Muslims arrived between 1875 and 1912 in USA and the period is a turning point in the history of Shiism in USA. Shias and Sunnis who got to USA at about the same time, worshiped together, shared similar experiences, and encountered the same challenges. Among the early immigrants were […]
Most of the scholars of Islamic movements in Nigeria tend to erroneously believe that Shiism in Nigeria is a result of the Iranian Revolution of 1979. There has been a passive Shia community in northern Nigeria since the early colonial period. Lebanese traders were the first Shia community in northern Nigeria and they constituted an […]
Most Saudi Shias live in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia; in the al-Ahsa oasis and in the town of Qatif. There is also a Twelver Shia community in Medina (nakhawila), and an Ismaili Shia community in Najran, on the border to Yemen. The number of Saudi Shia is a disputed issue due to its […]
The emergence of Shia community in Lebanon can be traced back to the 7th century AD and the first Arab conquests. Their numbers were very limited and they were mainly concentrated in the Kessrouan region, a Maronite population center today. Immigration: Shia immigration would remain important in the following centuries as these minority populations of […]