Ithnā ʿAshariyyah summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Twelver Shiʿah.

Ithnā ʿAshariyyah , or Imāmīs English Twelvers, The largest school of Shīʿite Islam, believing in a succession of 12 imams beginning with ʿAlī ibn Abū Ṭālib, the fourth caliph and the son-in-law of Muhammad. The last of the 12 imams recognized by the school was Muḥammad al-Mahdī al-Ḥujjah, who disappeared in 873 ce and is thought by believers to be alive and in occultation, ready to return at the Last Judgment. The Ithnā ʿAshariyyah believe that imams are the preservers of the faith and the only interpreters of the esoteric meanings of law and theology. The imams are thought to influence the world’s future, and pilgrimages to the tombs of the imams secure special rewards. This school became the state religion of Iran under the Ṣafavid dynasty (1502–1736). The Ithnā ʿAshariyyah also constitute a majority in Iraq and Bahrain, with sizable minorities in other Muslim countries. Compare Ismāʿīliyyah.

Shiʿi Summary

Shiʿi, member of the smaller of the two major branches of Islam, the Shiʿah, distinguished from the majority Sunnis. The origins of the split between the Sunnis and the Shiʿah lie in the events which followed the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was understood to be the messenger of God who,

Islam Summary

Islam, major world religion promulgated by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century ce. The Arabic term islām, literally “surrender,” illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam—that the believer (called a Muslim, from the active particle of islām) accepts surrender to the will of