When did Shi'ites become Shia?

[Pryderi]

Is it a way to make us forget we used to hate Shi'ites?

[Kagemusha]

1. Who's this 'we'?

nt

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Here's information that is easy to find to answer your original question

http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm

The Origins of the Sunni/Shia split in Islam


<snip>
The term Shia or Shi'ite derives from a shortening of Shiat Ali or partisans of Ali.

[LiberalVoice]

3. Shia is actually the correct arabic pernunciation. nt

[jobycom]

4. Shi'ite is a bastardization of Shi'a

Shi'a was always a better word. It's a direct transliteration, whereas "Shi'ite" is an English bastardization of "Shi'a"

From Wikipedia.

"The term Shi'a comes from the Arabic word شيعة Shī`ah. The singular/adjective form of this name is Arabic Shī`ī شيعي.

"Shi'a" is the short form of the historic phrase Shi`at `Ali شيعة علي, meaning "the followers of Ali". Sunni and Shi`ah sources trace the term to the years preceding the death of Muhammad."

[Swamp Rat]

5. Thank you!

Knowing IPA can help one pronounce the words correctly too. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet

[VolcanoJen]

7. I always learn so much at DU.

Thanks, Swamp! :-)

[Pryderi]

6. Wasn't Ayatollah Khomeni a Shia? Is Osama a wahhabist?

I remember in the late 70's and early 80s seeing things like "I stepped in some Shiite"

Weren't most of the Saudi Arabian 9-11 hijackers, wahhabists? Don't they still have madrassas in Saudi Arabia that are breeding more hatred of Americans? Or, is Saudi Arabia mostly a Sunni nation?


Isn't an Islamic Caliphate the goal of Osama?

Which brand of Islam do the Palestininians practice?

I thought Sunnis were more secularist than Shia.

Are Syria and Lebanon mostly Shia? I'm confused. Can someone overstuff a nutshell for me?

[evox]

8. You have the wrong equation son...

1- Don't ever mistake Osama and his whacked up Taleban tribe for ordinary Muslims. Osama is a Wahabbist. A renewed type of sect which is basically a very extreme view of Sunni Islam but not quite. Even some sunni muslims denounce wahhabis as non-sunnis since they give them a very bad image. Wahhabis believe that anyone that is not a sunni is an infidel and they view shia as enemies, traitors, and non-muslim. Wahabbis are pretty much an extremly psyched up cult, I'd stay away from them.

2- Most palestinians are Sunnis but not Wahabbis.

3- Sunnis are more or less equivelant to Shia except with minor differences.

4- Syria and Lebanon have a large population of Shia muslims, but I doubt they're the majority over there.


There might a slight error in whatever I stated since I just typed the material based on what I learned myself and not copied from any sources.

[poverlay]

9. Could you imagine if the Catholics and the Mormons, or the Presbyterians

and the Baptists decided to go to war with each other? It would be nuts! Maybe have the Amish running around blowing things and people up, screaming "Jesus is great" over and over as they slit throats and throw rocks.

For some reason your post evoked that imagining in me when I considered the minor differences between the sects.

[wellst0nev0ter]

10. Hmm, You've Obviously Missed Much Of The 13th-19th Centuries

Look up the Albigensians, the Catholic persecution of Protestants, Bloody Mary, and all the other religious warfare we would rather forget.

[poverlay]

13. Of course you're right. I just had a "what if" moment.

[evox]

12. Forgot to mention that

when I stated that Sunni and Shia muslims were almost the same except with minor differences I sort of meant there is no real struggle between them. They do have a wide difference of opinions on some issues, yet those issues don't cause them to hate or fight each other. The real problem is when you have people like the Wahabbis adding fuel to both sides, killing people from both sides so that they can fight each other.

[Bridget Burke]

14. Colonial powers love to use religious differences....

To keep the "natives" disunited. In 1791, the United Irishmen was created in Belfast--to fight for the rights of Protestants (Church of Ireland), Dissenters & Catholics. The resulting rebellion failed, the Irish Parliament was dissolved & Union between Great Britain & Ireland began.

Of course, there were still conflicts among the religious factions. Some English fanned those flames; when Home Rule was imminent, Lord Randolph Churchill said "Ulster will fight & Ulster will be right." He didn't care about the Ulster Protestants--but his party needed their representatives in Parliament.

Catholics & Protestants live together quite happily in many countries. They're making some progress at last--up in Northeast Ulster.

Many Iraqi neighborhoods had been "mixed" for a long time. But that's changing. The extremists are doing valuable work for the Occupying Power.

[wellst0nev0ter]

11. Abu Bakr vs. Ali

give the caliphate to a competant older man, or to the teenaged cousin of Muhammad because of bloodrights? Centuries of bloody conflict rests on that stupid goddamn question :eyes: