40 Fun Facts About Shia Islam

Iran marks the birth anniversary of Fatimah, on 20 Jumada II, as which national observance?

Mother's Day in Iran falls on 20 Jumada II, the birthday of Fatimah in Shia reckoning. The date was moved there after 1979; it had previously been 16 December.

Among Shia clerics, who otherwise wear white turbans, what does a black turban signal about its wearer?

Descent from Muhammad is what the black turban marks: its wearer is a sayyid, a descendant of the Prophet, while other Shia clerics wear white. Shia regard turban-wearing itself as a confirmed tradition.

Pew's 2009 Mapping the Global Muslim Population study put Shia Muslims at roughly what share of all Muslims?

10–13% of the world's Muslims are Shia by Pew's count, with Sunnis making up the remaining 87–90%. Earlier estimates had generally fallen in the range of 10–15%.

The hereditary Imam of the Nizari Ismailis, a community of some 12–15 million people, is known by which title?

Aga Khan, meaning 'Great Leader' or 'Grand Commander', was first conferred on the 46th Imam by the Iranian king Fath-Ali Shah Qajar. The title has passed down the same line for over 150 years.

Which mountain fortress, seized by Hassan-i Sabbah in 1090, was the Nizari Ismaili headquarters until 1256?

Alamut, 'Eagle's Nest', was surrendered to the Mongols in 1256, and they dismantled it and destroyed its famous library. Nizari forces briefly retook the fortress in 1275.

What term names the practice, associated mainly with the Shia tradition, of concealing one's faith to escape danger?

Taqiyya, from a root meaning 'prudence', rests on Quran 3:28 and is accepted under conditions by Sunni jurists too. Shia communities developed it as a means of self-preservation in hostile settings.

What do Twelver Shia call the small tablet of clay or soil on which many rest the forehead in prayer?

Turbah use is recommended in Twelver practice and unique to it, following the sixth Imam's ruling that prostration be on pure earth or what grows from it, never on anything eaten or worn.

Which Ismaili movement based in eastern Arabia carried the Black Stone away from Mecca in 930, returning it in 952?

Qarmatians held the Black Stone for ransom until the Abbasids paid a huge sum for its return in 952. Their state, with its capital at al-Hasa, set out to build a utopian society.

Twelver doctrine groups the Prophet, his daughter and the Imams together as how many Infallibles?

Fourteen Infallibles, Muhammad, Fatima al-Zahra and the Twelve Imams, are held in Twelver theology to possess exceptional knowledge and moral purity. They serve as authoritative guides in matters of religion.

Which sixth Imam, eponym of the Twelver law school, taught the Sunni jurists Abu Hanifa and Malik ibn Anas?

Ja'far al-Sadiq died in Medina in 765, and his following then fractured: the larger group followed his younger son and became the Twelvers, while partisans of his eldest son Isma'il became the Ismailis.

The title ayatollah, borne by senior Twelver jurists, is usually rendered into English as what?

Sign of God is the usual rendering of ayatollah, a title at first reserved for a marja' that only came into general use for qualified jurists in the 20th century. 'Divine Sign' is another translation.

The messianic title Mahdi, central to Shia expectations of the end of time, translates from Arabic as what?

The Guided is the literal sense of Mahdi, a figure expected to appear before the end of time to restore justice alongside Isa, or Jesus. The word can also be read actively, as 'the one who guides'.

Which shah, crowned at Tabriz in 1501, made Twelver Shia Islam the official religion of his new Iranian state?

Ismail I made the proclamation one of his first acts, founding the Safavid state and marking one of the great turning points in Islamic history. The Ottomans halted his conquests at Chaldiran in 1514.

Which Shia branch, concentrated in northwestern Yemen, is typically considered the closest to Sunni Islam?

Zaydi Shia, unlike Twelvers and Ismailis, do not hold their Imams to be infallible, and they accept as Imam any qualified descendant of Hasan or Husayn. Their name honours a grandson of Husayn who rose against the Umayyads.

Which group, founded in the ninth century by Ibn Nusayr and living mainly in Syria, is an offshoot of Shia Islam?

Alawites were long called Nusayris after their founder, a disciple of the tenth and eleventh Twelver Imams, and they form the dominant religious group along the Syrian coast. The older name is now often considered derogatory.

Which ethnic group of central Afghanistan, among the country's largest, is predominantly Shia Muslim?

Hazaras are reported to have embraced Shia Islam between the late 16th and early 17th centuries, during the Safavid period. Most live in the central highlands known as Hazarajat.

Pew's 2009 study found 68–80% of the world's Shia in four countries: Iran, Iraq, India and which other?

Pakistan, India and Iraq each hold at least 16 million Shia by Pew's estimate, while Iran alone accounts for 37–40% of the world total. Shia there are 90–95% of the Muslim population.

What term names a Shia seminary, the collective institution that trains clerics in cities such as Najaf?

Hawza is the collective term for the seminaries where Shia scholars are educated; Najaf's may date to the 11th century or even the 9th, while Iran's leading one was revitalised only in the 1920s.

Which Arabic term names the fixed-term marriage contract, duration set in advance, that Twelver law permits?

Mut'ah, literally 'pleasure' marriage, is a private verbal contract whose term can run from an hour to 99 years. Most Sunni scholars hold that the practice was later prohibited.

Khums, the religious levy Twelver Shia pay on yearly surplus income to a senior jurist, takes what fraction?

One-fifth, or 20%, is what khums means; with the Imam in occultation, Twelvers pay it to a mujtahid of their choice, who divides it between needy descendants of Muhammad and religious works.

What term, Arabic for 'visit', names a Shia pilgrimage to the shrine of an Imam, as distinct from the hajj?

Ziyarat sites range from mosques and tombs to battlefields, mountains and caves, and the visits are made to figures honoured by Sunnis as well as Shia. Many countries use their own words for the sites.

Which Iranian city holds the tomb of Fatima Masumeh, sister of the eighth Imam, and is a major seminary centre?

Qom became a holy city after Fatima Masumeh died there in 816 while travelling to join her brother in Khorasan. Millions visit her shrine each year to seek her intercession.

The Iranian shrine city of Mashhad takes its name from an Arabic word meaning what?

Place of martyrdom is the meaning of Mashhad, which was a small village on the Silk Road beside Tus before pilgrims settled around the Imam's burial place. It is now Iran's second-most-populous city.

Twelver Shia celebrate the birth of the hidden twelfth Imam on the fifteenth of which Islamic month?

Sha'ban is the month: most sources agree on 15 Sha'ban, and Mid-Sha'ban draws millions of celebrants every year, with the birthday marked annually across Iran. Accounts differ on the exact date.

Which seventh Imam, whose succession Ismailis dispute, died in a Baghdad prison in 799 after years of detention?

Musa al-Kazim attracted the largest following after his father's death, and that following developed into Twelver Shi'ism. His grandson, the ninth Imam, lies beside him in their Baghdad shrine.

Which eighth Imam did the caliph al-Ma'mun name his heir in 817, switching the Abbasid colour from black to green?

Ali al-Rida was summoned to Khorasan to legitimise al-Ma'mun's rule and reportedly refused the throne itself before accepting the succession. Coins were minted to mark the occasion.

Which ninth Imam succeeded his father at about seven, a succession many early Shia at first found controversial?

Muhammad al-Jawad was the only child of the eighth Imam; he was betrothed as a boy to the caliph al-Ma'mun's daughter Umm al-Fadl and died in Baghdad in 835. Many came to recognise his learning.

The fifth Imam's title al-Baqir, short for baqir al-'ilm, describes him as doing what with knowledge?

Splitting it open, or bringing it to light, is one reading of al-Baqir; the other is 'the one who possesses great knowledge', both nods to his fame as a scholar. His idea of imamate rested on knowledge rather than political power.

Which book of supplications attributed to the fourth Imam is honoured as the 'Psalms of Muhammad's Household'?

Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya ranks in Shia esteem behind only the Quran and Nahj al-Balagha; its core is 54 supplications, often printed with 14 more and 15 whispered prayers. Some Sufi orders revere it too.

The Fatimid Caliphate, founded in 909, first ruled from Ifriqiya, in which modern country, before conquering Egypt?

Tunisia's coast got the purpose-built Fatimid capital of al-Mahdiyya in 921, and the dynasty's first caliph was fetched to power from Sijilmasa in Morocco by the missionary Abu Abdallah's Berber army.

What is the Nizari Ismaili prayer hall called, a Persian-derived name that literally means 'congregational place'?

Jamatkhana joins the Arabic jama'a, 'gathering', to the Persian khana, 'house'; by the mid-19th century it had become a distinct building within Nizari enclaves around the Indian Ocean. Bohra communities use the term for social halls.

The Dawoodi Bohras, Tayyibi Ismailis based in Mumbai, take their name from a Gujarati word meaning what?

To trade is the sense of the Gujarati vohrvu, fitting a community known for affluent merchants and professionals. Its headquarters moved from Surat to Mumbai, then a booming centre of commerce.

Ismaili thought contrasts the zahir, the outward sense of scripture, with which term for its hidden, esoteric sense?

Batin gave Ismailism its historical name, Batiniyya, 'esotericism'; the distinction between outer and inner meaning is shared by all Shia but stressed most by Ismailis. Ta'wil is the method of drawing the inner sense out.

Which school of Twelver law, favouring jurists' ijtihad, overtook the rival Akhbaris in the late 18th century?

Usuli dominance came when Muhammad Baqir Behbahani led the school to rout the Akhbaris at Karbala and Najaf; Akhbaris held the Quran and the hadith to be the sole sources of law. Only a handful of Akhbari scholars remain.

What term, literally 'protection', names the doctrine that prophets and the Shia Imams are immune from sin and error?

Ismah is attributed in Shia theology to prophets, Imams and angels, and Ismailis extend it to their own Imams and to Fatimah. A person so protected is called ma'sum.

In Twelver and Ismaili doctrine, what term names the explicit designation of each Imam by the Imam before him?

Nass carries the wider senses of a clear legal injunction, a divine decree or a canonical text; for Shia it means specifically that an infallible Imam designates his infallible successor.

Du'a Kumayl, a supplication attributed to Ali and transmitted by Kumayl ibn Ziyad, is recited on which night weekly?

Thursday night is when Shia gather to recite Du'a Kumayl, named for a Kufan nobleman and close associate of Ali who died around 708. He had been exiled to Hims for speaking out against the caliph Uthman.

The Qizilbash, the Turkoman fighters who brought Iran's Safavid dynasty to power, bore a Turkish name meaning what?

Red head refers to their twelve-gored crimson cap, the 'Crown of Haydar', whose folds stood for the Twelve Imams and for their order's sheikh. Seven Turkic tribes originally made up the Qizilbash.

Iran's Shia rulers after 1501 drew Twelver scholars from Jabal Amil, a historic Shia region in which country's south?

Lebanon's Jabal Amil sent scholars to the Safavid court for about two centuries, invited to legitimise the new rulers over a largely Sunni Persia and to promote conversion. Local tradition traces its Shia roots to the 7th century.

The Minor Occultation, when Twelvers hold the twelfth Imam spoke through a line of agents, ended in which year?

941 saw the last agent die without naming a successor, opening the Major Occultation in which Twelvers hold the Imam lives on unseen until the end of time. The first period had lasted about seventy years.