Definify.com

Definition 2024


Shi'a

Shi'a

See also: Shia

English

Alternative forms

Noun

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.

Synonyms

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams