Portal:Shia Islam

Shia Islam

Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (khalīfa) and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most notably at the event of Ghadir Khumm, but was prevented from succeeding Muhammad as the leader of the Muslims as a result of the choice made by some of Muhammad's other companions (ṣaḥāba) at Saqifah. This view primarily contrasts with that of Sunnī Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor before his death and consider Abū Bakr, who was appointed caliph by a group of senior Muslims at Saqifah, to be the first rightful (rāshidūn) caliph after Muhammad. Adherents of Shīʿa Islam are called Shīʿa Muslims, Shīʿītes, or simply Shīʿa or Shia.

Shīʿa Islam is based on a ḥadīth report concerning Muhammad's pronouncement at Ghadir Khumm. Shīʿa Muslims believe that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, should have been the designated successor to Muhammad as Islam's spiritual and political leader. This belief later developed into the concept of Imamah, the idea that certain descendants of Muhammad, the Ahl al-Bayt, are rightful rulers or Imams, whom Shīʿa Muslims believe possess special spiritual and political authority over the Muslim community. Although there are many Shīʿa subsects, modern Shīʿa Islam has been divided into two main groupings: Twelvers and Ismāʿīlīs, with Twelver Shīʿas being the largest and most influential group among Shīʿa Muslims.

Shīʿa Islam is the second largest branch of Islam, followed by 10–15% of all Muslims. Twelver Shīʿīsm is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85% of all Shīʿa Muslims. (Full article...)

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Selected pictures

Image 1Ali ibn Abi Talib, first Shia Imam, was assassinated by a Kharijite called Ibn Muljam on 26 January 661 at the Great Mosque of Kufa, in present-day Iraq
Photograph: Yousef Abdinejad
Image 2Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque (Persian: مسجد شیخ لطف الله) is one of the architectural masterpieces of Safavid Iranian architecture, standing on the eastern side of Naghsh-i Jahan Square, Isfahan, Iran
Photograph: مانفی
Image 3A calligraphy of prophet Muahmmad's hadith regarding helping the poor
Author: Ali Ra'if Efendi
Image 4The rest place and mausoleum of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Imam of Shia, in the city of Karbala, Iraq. Imam Husayn, who was a grandson of Muhammad, was buried near the place where he was martyred during the Battle of Karbala in 680 C.E.
Photograph: Amir Hesaminejad
Image 5Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad
Photograph: Mohebin14
Image 6Imam Ali Mosque in Marneuli in Georgia
Photograph: Zviad Avaliani
Image 7Two leaves of an early Quranic manuscript in the Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts of the University of Birmingham's Cadbury Research Library were discovered in 2015 as being dated between 568 and 645, making it one of the oldest Quran manuscripts to have survived.
Image 8The Nasir ol Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, is a traditional mosque in Shiraz, Iran. It is located at the district of Gowad-e-Arabān, near Shāh Chérāgh Mosque
Photograph: Ayyoubsabawiki
Image 9Example of mirror writing in Islamic calligraphy. 18th-century Ottoman levha, or calligraphic panel, which depicts the Shi'i phrase 'Ali is the vicegerent of God' (Arabic: علي ولي الله) in obverse and reverse, creating an exact mirror image. The calligrapher has used the central vertical fold in the thick cream-colored paper to help trace the exact calligraphic duplication prior to mounting it onto a cardboard and pasting rectangular pink frames along its borders
Author: Mahmoud Ibrahim
Image 10A Tazieh scene which is a kind of Passion Play on the tragic fate of Husayn ibn Ali in Battle of Karbala
Photograph: Payam Moein

Chosen holy figures

Image 1

"Muhammad, the Messenger of God."
inscribed on the gates of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina

Muhammad ibn Abdullah (Arabic: مُحَمَّد ٱبن عَبْد ٱللَّٰه, romanized: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Classical Arabic pronunciation: [muˈħammad]; c. 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of the world religion of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet, divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is believed to be the final prophet of God in all the main branches of Islam, though the modern Ahmadiyya movement diverges from this belief. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity, with the Quran as well as his teachings and practices forming the basis of Islamic religious belief.

Muhammad was born approximately 570 CE in Mecca. He was the son of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb. His father Abdullah was the son of Quraysh tribal leader Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, and he died a few months before Muhammad's birth. His mother Amina died when he was six, leaving Muhammad an orphan. He was raised under the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and paternal uncle, Abu Talib. In later years, he would periodically seclude himself in a mountain cave named Hira for several nights of prayer. When he was 40, Muhammad reported being visited by Gabriel in the cave and receiving his first revelation from God. In 613, Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "submission" (islām) to God is the right way of life (dīn), and that he was a prophet and messenger of God, similar to the other prophets in Islam. (Full article...)
Image 2

Fatimah's name in Islamic calligraphy

Fatimah bint Muhammad (Arabic: فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد, romanized: Fāṭimah bint Muḥammad, IPA: [ˈfaːtˤima b.nat muˈħammad]; 605 CE/18 BH [disputed] – 28 August 632/14 Jumada al-awwal 11 AH), commonly known as Fatimah al-Zahra (Arabic: فَاطِمَة ٱلزَّهْرَاء, romanized: Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ), was born to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and Khadijah. Sunni Muslims hold that Fatimah was the youngest of their daughters, whereas Shia Muslims maintain that Fatimah was the only biological daughter of the couple. Fatimah's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam. Fatimah's children include Hasan and Husayn, the second and third Shia Imams, respectively.

Fatimah has been compared to Mary, mother of Jesus, especially in Shia Islam. Muhammad is said to have regarded her as the outstanding woman of all time and the dearest person to him. Fatimah is often viewed as an ultimate archetype for Muslim women and an example of compassion, generosity, and enduring suffering. Her name remains a popular choice throughout the Muslim world. It is through Fatimah that Muhammad's family line has survived to this date. (Full article...)
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Hasan's name in Arabic calligraphy

Hasan ibn Ali (Arabic: حسن ابن علي, romanized: Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī; c. 625 – 2 April 670), was the eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He briefly ruled as caliph from January 661 until August 661. He is considered the second Shia Imam, succeeding Ali and preceding his brother, Husayn. In Sunni Islam, Hasan is considered one of the greatest sahaba and part of Muhammad's family of Muhammad. Part of the ahl al-bayt and the ahl al-kisa, he participated in the event of Mubahala. Muhammad described Hasan and Husayn as "the masters of youth in Paradise".

During the caliphate of Ali (r. 656–661), Hasan accompanied him in the military campaigns of the First Muslim Civil War. After Ali's assassination in 661, Hasan was subsequently acknowledged caliph in Kufa. Ali's main political rival Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) refused to recognize Hasan's rule and led an army into Kufa for to press the latter for abdication. In response, Hasan sent a vanguard under Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas to block Mu'awiya's advance until he arrived with the main army. Meanwhile, Hasan was severely wounded in an abortive assassination attempt made by the Kharijites, a faction opposed to both Ali and Mu'awiya. This attack demoralized Hasan's army, and many deserted. On the other hand, Ubayd Allah and most of his troops defected after Mu'awiya bribed him. In August 661 (Rabi al-Thani 41 AH), Hasan signed a peace treaty with Mu'awiya on the basis that the latter should rule in compliance with the Quran and the sunna, a council appointed his successor, and his supporters received amnesty. Hasan retired from politics and abdicated in Medina where he eventually died either by a long-term illness or poisoning by his wife, Ja'da bint al-Ash'ath, at the instigation of Mu'awiya (who wanted to install his son, Yazid (r. 680–683), as his successor). (Full article...)
Image 4

Husayn's name in Arabic calligraphy

Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Arabic: الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680 CE), also known as Abu Abd Allah or Imam Husayn, was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, and a younger brother of Hasan ibn Ali. He is the third Shia Imam after his brother, Hasan, and before his son, Zayn al-Abidin. He is considered a member of the Ahl al-Bayt as well as the Ahl al-Kisa, and he was a participant in the event of Mubahala. Prophet Muhammad described Husayn and his brother, Hasan, as "the masters of the youth of Paradise."

During the caliphate of Ali, Husayn accompanied him in wars. After the assassination of Ali, he obeyed his brother in recognizing Hasan-Muawiya treaty, in spite of being suggested to do otherwise. In the nine-year period between Hasan's abdication in AH 41 (660 AD) and his death in AH 49 (669 AD), Hasan and Husayn retreated to Medina, trying to keep aloof from political involvement for or against Mu'awiya. After the death of Hasan, when Iraqis turned to Husayn, concerning an uprising, Husayn instructed them to wait as long as Mu'awiya was alive due to Hasan's peace treaty with him.
Prior to his death, Mu'awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor, contrary to the Hasan-Muawiya treaty.
When Mu'awiya died in 680, Yazid demanded that Husayn pledge allegiance to him. Husayn refused to do so. As a consequence, he left Medina, his hometown, to take refuge in Mecca in AH 60 (679 CE). There, the people of Kufa sent letters to him, invited him to Kufa and asked him to be their Imam and pledged their allegiance to him.
On Husayn's way to Kufa with a retinue of about 70 men, his caravan was intercepted by a 1,000-strong army of the caliph at some distance from Kufa. He was forced to head north and encamp in the plain of Karbala on 2 October, where a larger Umayyad army of 4,000 arrived soon afterwards. Negotiations failed after the Umayyad governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad refused Husayn safe passage without submitting to his authority, a condition declined by Husayn. Battle ensued on 10 October during which Husayn was killed along with most of his relatives and companions, while his surviving family members were taken prisoner. The battle was followed by the Second Fitna, during which the Iraqis organized two separate campaigns to avenge the death of Husayn; the first one by the Tawwabin and the other one by Mukhtar al-Thaqafi and his supporters. (Full article...)
Image 5

Calligraphic representation of Ali's name

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Arabic: علي بن أبي طالب; c. 600 – 28 January 661 CE) was a cousin, son-in-law and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled as the fourth rightly guided caliph from 656 until his assassination in 661. He is one of the central figures in Shia Islam as the first Shia Imam and in Sunni Islam as the fourth of the "rightly guided" (rāshidūn) caliphs (name used for the first four successors to Muhammad). He was the son of Abu Talib and Fatimah bint Asad, the husband of Fatima, and the father of Hasan, Husayn, Zaynab, and Umm Kulthum.

As a child, Muhammad took care of him. After Muhammad's invitation of his close relatives, Ali became one of the first believers in Islam at the age of about 9 to 11. He then publicly accepted his invitation on Yawm al-Inzar and Muhammad called him his brother, guardian and successor. He helped Muhammad emigrate on the night of Laylat al-Mabit, by sleeping in his place. After migrating to Medina and establishing a brotherhood pact between the Muslims, Muhammad chose him as his brother. In Medina, he was the flag bearer in most of the wars and became famous for his bravery. (Full article...)

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Image 1

Calligraphic representation of the Twelve Imams along with the name of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

The Twelve Imams (Arabic: ٱلَأَئِمَّة ٱلْٱثْنَا عَشَر, al-ʾAʾimmah al-ʾIthnā ʿAšar; Persian: دوازده امام, Davâzdah Emâm) are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Shia Islam, including that of the Alawite and Alevi.

According to Twelver theology, the Twelve Imams are exemplary human individuals who not only rule over the community with justice, but also are able to keep and interpret sharia and the esoteric meaning of the Quran. The words and deeds of Muhammad and the imams are a guide and model for the community to follow; as a result, they must be free from error and sin (known as ismah, or infallibility) and must be chosen by divine decree through the Prophet. (Full article...)
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Sahifah of al-Ridha (Arabic: صَّحِيفَة ٱلرِّضَا, Ṣaḥīfah ar-Riḍā, lit. "Pages of al-Ridha"), also known as Sahifat of al-Reza and Sahifat al-Imam al-Ridha ("Book of Imam al-Ridha"), is a collection of 240 hadiths attributed to Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha, the eighth Shia Imam.

The Sahifah is one of the major sources of Shia belief and has attracted the attention of Shia scholars such as Ibn Babawayh and Sheikh Tabarsi. It contains hadiths on various topics including the invocation of Allah; the importance of praying five times a day and of saying the prayer for the dead; the excellence of the household of Muhammad, of the believer, of good manners, of the names Muhammad and Ahmad, of various foods, fruits, and ointments, of obeying parents, of strengthening the bonds of kinship, and of jihad; a warning against cheating, backbiting, or tattling; and other miscellaneous traditions. The section on Muhammad's household discusses each of its fourteen members separately. (Full article...)
Image 3

Painting by Yousef Abdinejad depicting the assassination of Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Rashidun Caliph and first shia Imam, was assassinated on 26 January 661 by a Kharijite named Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Amr ibn Muljam al-Muradi at the Great Mosque of Kufa, located in present-day Iraq. Ali died from his wounds two days after Abd al-Rahman struck him over his head with a poison-coated sword. He was 62 or 63 years of age at the time of his death on 21 (or 19) Ramadan 40 AH, equivalent to 28 January 661 CE.

Ali was elected as the caliph after the assassination of Uthman in 656 but faced opposition from some factions including Mu'awiya, the incumbent governor of present-day Syria. As a result, the first Muslim civil war, known as the First Fitna, followed the assassination of Uthman, continued throughout the four-year reign of Ali, and ended with the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty by Mu'awiya. Notably, when Ali agreed to arbitration with Mu'awiya after the Battle of Siffin in 657, a faction of his army revolted against him. These later became known as the Kharijites (Khawarij, lit. 'those who secede'). They soon began to terrorize the civilian population and were crushed by Ali's forces in the Battle of Nahrawan in July 658. (Full article...)
Image 4

Arabic calligraphy of names of 14 infallibles.

The Fourteen Infallibles (Arabic: ٱلْمَعْصُومُون ٱلْأَرْبَعَة عَشَر, al-Maʿṣūmūn al-ʾArbaʿah ʿAšar; Persian: چهارده معصومین, Čahârdah Ma'sūmīn) in Twelver Shia Islam are the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatima Zahra, and the Twelve Imams. All are considered to be infallible under the theological concept of Ismah. Accordingly, they have the power to commit sin but by their nature are able to avoid doing so, which is regarded as a miraculous gift from God. The Infallibles are believed to follow only God's desire in their actions because of their supreme righteousness, consciousness, and love for God. They are also regarded as being immune to error in practical matters, in calling people to religion, and in the perception of divine knowledge. Some Twelver Shia believe the Fourteen Infallibles are superior to the rest of creation and to the other major prophets. (Full article...)
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Hezbollah (/ˌhɛzbəˈlɑː/; Arabic: حزب الله Ḥizbu 'llāh, lit. "Party of Allah" or "Party of God", also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament.

After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the idea of Hezbollah arose among Lebanese clerics who had studied in Najaf, and who adopted the model set out by Ayatollah Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. After failing to agree on a name for the new organisation, the party's founders adopted the name chosen by Ayatollah Khomeini, Hezbollah. The organization was established as part of an Iranian effort, through funding and the dispatch of a core group of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (pasdaran) instructors, to aggregate a variety of Lebanese Shia groups into a unified organization to resist the Israeli occupation and improve the standing and status of the long marginalised and underrepresented Shia community in that country. A contingent of 1,500 pasdaran instructors arrived after the Syrian government, which occupied Lebanon's eastern highlands, permitted their transit to a base in the Bekaa valley. (Full article...)
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Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah (Arabic: ٱلرِّسَالَة ٱلذَّهَبِيَّة, Arabic pronunciation: ['rɪsælætæ 'ðæhæ'biæ]; "The Golden Treatise") is a medical dissertation on health and remedies attributed to Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha (765–818), the eighth Imam of Shia. He wrote this dissertation in accordance with the demand of Ma'mun, the caliph of the time. It is revered as the most precious Islamic literature in the science of medicine, and was entitled "the golden treatise" as Ma'mun had ordered it written in gold ink. The chain of narrators is said to reach Muhammad ibn Jumhoor or al-Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Nawfali who is described as "highly esteemed and trustworthy" by al-Najjashi.

The treatise of Ali al-Ridha includes scientific branches such as Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry and Pathology when medical science was still primitive. According to the treatise, one's health is determined by four humors of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm, the suitable proportion of which maintains the health. The liver plays an important role in producing and maintaining the required proportions in the body. Ali al-Ridha describes the body as a kingdom whose king is the heart while the (blood) vessels, the limbs, and the brain are the laborers. (Full article...)

Selected biographies

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Ayatullah Sheikh Muhammad Kazim Khurasani (Persian: محمد کاظم خراسانی; 1839 – 12 December 1911), commonly known as Akhund Khurasani (Persian: آخوند خراسانی) was a Shia jurist and political activist. He is known for using his position as a Marja as legitimizing force behind the first democratic revolution of Asia that happened in Iran (1905–1911), where he was the main clerical supporter of the revolution. He believed that the democratic form of government would be the best possible choice in the absence of Imam and regarded the democratic constitutional revolution a Jihad (holy war) in which all Muslims had to participate. Along with Mirza Husayn Tehrani and Shaikh Abdallah Mazandarani, he led people against what they called a “state tyranny” and issued fatwas and “sent telegrams to tribal chiefs, prominent national and political leaders, and heads of state in England, France, Germany, and Turkey”. When Mohammad Ali Shah became king of Iran, Mohammad Kazim Khorasani sent him a “ten-point” instruction including points on protecting Islam, promoting domestic industries and modern science, stopping colonial intervention in Iran “while retaining diplomatic relations”, and establishing “justice and equality”.

He is regarded as one of the most important Shia Mujtahids of all times, and the title Akhund (the scholar) is almost exclusively used for him. He started to deliver his lectures at Najaf seminary in 1874 CE, when his mentor Syed Mirza Muhammad Hasan Shirazi left for Samarra and appointed him as his successor. He became a source of emulation in 1895 and he taught for years in Najaf till his death in 1911 CE and trained a significant number of students from different regions of the Shi'ite world. All major Shia jurists in the twentieth century were in some way related to his circle. He was known for his credibility, independent thinking and intellectual rigor. His most famous work Kifayat al-Usul (Sufficiency of Principles (Arabic: کفایة الاصول)),
published in 1903 established him as the supreme authority on Shia theology, where he presented the Shi'ite jurisprudential principles in a more rigorous fashion as a unified theory of jurisprudence. It was recently published for 453rd time. This book is considered the pinnacle of advanced theology and foundation of Usul al-Fiqh in Shia seminaries of Najaf and Qom. All major Shia jurists following Akhund Khurasani have written commentaries on it, the best known is written by Ayatullah al-Khoei. (Full article...)
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Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu'man al-'Ukbari al-Baghdadi, known as al-Shaykh al-Mufid (Arabic: الشیخ المفید) and Ibn al-Mu'allim (c. 948–1022 CE), was a prominent Twelver Shia theologian. His father was a teacher (mu'allim), hence the name Ibn al-Mu'allim. The title "al-Mufid" was given to him either by Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Shia Imam, or by al-Rummani, a Sunni scholar, after a conversation with him. The leader of the Shia community, he was a mutakallim, theologian, and Shia jurist.

He was taught by Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, Ibn Qulawayh, Abu Abdallah al-Basri and al-Rummani, and Sharif al-Murtaza and Shaykh Tusi were among his students. Only 10 of his 200 works have survived, among which are Amali, Al-Irshad, Al-Muqni'ah, and Tashih al-Itiqadat. (Full article...)
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Khamenei in 2022

Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei (Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, pronounced [ʔæˈliː hosejˈniː xɒːmeneˈʔiː] (listen); born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia Marja' and the second and current supreme leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei is the longest serving head of state in the Middle East, as well as the second-longest serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

According to his official website, Khamenei was arrested six times before being sent into exile for three years during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's reign. After the Iranian revolution overthrowing the shah, he was the target of an attempted assassination in June 1981 that paralysed his right arm. Khamenei was one of Iran's leaders during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, and developed close ties with the now powerful Revolutionary Guards which he controls, and whose commanders are elected and dismissed by him. The Revolutionary Guards have been deployed to suppress opposition to him. Khamenei served as the third President of Iran from 1981 to 1989, while becoming a close ally of the first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini. Shortly before his death, Khomeini had a disagreement with the heir he had chosen — Hussein Ali Montazeri — so there was no agreed on successor when Khomeini died. The Assembly of Experts elected Khamenei as the next Supreme Leader on 4 June 1989, at age 50. According to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khamenei was the man Khomeini had chosen as his successor before dying. Khamenei has been head of the servants of Astan Quds Razavi since 14 April 1979. (Full article...)
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Musa Sadr al-Din al-Sadr (Arabic: موسى الصدر‎‎; 4 June 1928 – disappeared 31 August 1978) was an Iranian-born Lebanese scholar and political leader who founded the Amal Movement.

Born in the Chaharmardan neighborhood of Qom, Iran, he underwent both seminary and secular studies in Iran. He belongs to the Sadr family from Jabal Amel in Lebanon, a branch of the Musawi family tracing to Musa Ibn Jaafar, the seventh Shia Imam and ultimately to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima. Therefore, Musa al-Sadr is often styled with the honorific title Sayyid. He left Qom for Najaf to study theology and returned to Iran after the 1958 Iraqi coup d'état. (Full article...)
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Nasrallah in 2019

Hassan Nasrallah (Arabic: حسن نصر الله [ħasan nasˤrɑɫɫɑh]; born 31 August 1960) is a Lebanese cleric and political leader who serves as the 3rd secretary-general of Hezbollah since his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was assassinated by the Israel Defense Forces in February 1992.

Narallah is described as a "national hero" and "icon" in Lebanon and throughout the Arab and Muslim world, and has been praised for his credibility and efficiency in the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, he has received criticism over the last years for supporting Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war. (Full article...)
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Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr (Arabic: نمر باقر النمر, romanized: Nimr Bāqir an-Nimr, Bakir al-Nimr, al-Nemr, al-Namr, al-Nimer, al-Nemer, al-Namer; 21 June 1959 – 2 January 2016), commonly referred to as Sheikh Nimr, was a Shia sheikh in al-Awamiyah in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province whose arrest and execution was widely condemned, including by governments and human rights organizations.

He was popular among youth and critical of the Saudi Arabian government, calling for free elections in Saudi Arabia. He was arrested by Saudi authorities in 2006, at which time al-Nimr said he was beaten by the Mabahith. In 2009, he criticised Saudi authorities and suggested that if Saudi Shia rights were not respected, the Eastern Province should secede. Saudi authorities responded by arresting al-Nimr and 35 others. During the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests, al-Nimr called for protestors to resist police bullets using "the roar of the word" rather than violence. The Guardian described al-Nimr as having "taken the lead in [the] uprising." (Full article...)

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Did you know...

... that the popular Shia Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr called for Saudi protesters to use "the roar of the word" in response to police bullets?
... that during the Iran–Iraq War, an Iraqi major told his prisoner Aboutorabi, "if Khomeini is like you, I will follow him"?
...that the Iranian missile architect Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam was known as the father of Iran's missile program?

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"First thy neighbour, and there after your own house."

— Fatimah

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In the news

28 April 2022 – Afghanistan conflict

Nine people are killed and 13 others are injured after two bombs explode on a pair of Shia-majority buses in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province. (Reuters)

21 April 2022 – Afghanistan conflict

Thirty-one people are killed and 87 others are injured in a bombing at a Shia mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the bombing. (Yahoo! News) (Reuters)

20 April 2022 –