Shi'a

• Shia, Shiah, Shi'ah

From Arabic شِيعَة‎ (šīʿa, “faction”).

Shi'a (plural Shi'as)

1. The branch of Islam that believes that Ali succeeded Muhammad as leader, and that places emphasis on the prophet's family.
   • 1998, Geert H. Hofstede, Masculinity and Femininity: The Taboo Dimension of National Cultures‎, page 181:

     In Islam, Sunni is a more triumphant version of the faith than Shia, which stresses the importance of suffering, following the founder Ali, who was persecuted.

   • 2008, J. Gordon Melton, The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena, Visible Ink Press, page 181:

     Shi’a is one of the two larger divisions of Islam, […]

   • Bruce Anthony Collet, Refugee Education as a Gauge of Liberal Multiculturalism: Iraqi Students in Jordan and the United States in 2013, Heidi Biseth, Halla B. Holmarsdottir, Human Rights in the Field of Comparative Education, Sense Publishers, page 158:

     Jordanians do not know what Shi’a is about, and it was very recently, [the] last few years, when we start[ed] being exposed to Shi’a.

2. One who follows Shi'a Islam; a Shiite.

• (follower of Shi'a Islam): Shia, Shiite, rafidah (offensive)

• (person): Sunni, Sufi, Ahle Quran, Ahmadi, 5 percenter, Ibadi, Mahdavi, Moorish Scientist

• HIAs, Hsia, Siha, ahis, isha