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Shīʿite
Islam
Alternative Titles:
Shīʿī, Shīʿa, Shīʿah, Shīʿism, Shiʿah, Shiʿite
Shīʿite, Arabic Shīʿī, collective Shīʿah, member of the smaller of the two major branches of Islam, distinguished from the majority Sunnis.
Early in the history of Islam, the Shīʿites were a political faction (Arabic shīʿat ʿAlī, “party of ʿAlī”) that supported the power of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (the fourth caliph [khalīfah, successor of Muhammad]) and, later, of his descendants. Starting as a political faction, this group gradually developed into a religious movement, Shīʿism, which not only influenced Sunni Islam but also produced a number of important sects to which the term Shīʿah is applied.
The Prophet Muhammad died in …(100 of 2409 words)
