Shi'a

See also: Shia

English

Alternative forms

• Shia, Shiah, Shi'ah
• Schiah (obsolete)

Etymology

From Arabic شِيعَة (šīʕa, “sect, faction, party; [collectively] followers, partisans”), as the word has been used in شِيعَة عَلِيّ (šīʕat ʕalī, “the faction of Ali; [collectively] the followers of Ali”) or الشِّيعَة (aš-šīʕa, “the Faction; the Followers”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃiːə/
• Rhymes: -iːə

Proper noun

Shi'a

1. (usually with article) 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^[1], page 205:

     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, […]

   • a. 2013, 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.

   • 2016, Abdul Ganiy Oloruntele, The Sunni and the Shi’A: History, Doctrines and Discrepancies:

     But the Shī'a was not yet a sect; there can as yet be no division of Islam between Shi'ite and Sunni.

   Synonyms: Shi'i Islam, Shi'ism

2. (with article, collective) The followers of this branch of Islam; the Shiites.
   • 2013, Robert Brenton Betts, The Sunni-Shi'a Divide, page 17:

     Throughout the Umayyad period, the Shi'a were confined to southern 'Iraq [...]

Derived terms

• Shi'a Islam
• Shi'a Muslim
• Shi'ism
• Shi'ite

Related terms

• Shi'i

Translations

branch of Islam

• Arabic: شِيعَة عَلِيّ f (šīʕat ʕalī), الشِّيعَة (ar) f (aš-šīʕa)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܫܝܥܗ f, ܫܝܥܐ f

• Armenian: շիա (hy) (šia)
• Azerbaijani: şiə, şiəlik, şiə məzhəbi, şiə təriqəti
• Bengali: শিয়া (bn) (śiẏa)
• Catalan: xiisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 什葉派／什叶派 (zh) (Shíyèpài)

• Dutch: sjia (nl)
• Esperanto: ŝijaismo
• Finnish: šiialaisuus (fi), shiialaisuus
• French: chiisme (fr) m
• German: Schia (de) f
• Hindi: शिया (hi) m (śiyā)
• Italian: sciismo (it) m
• Japanese: シーア派 (shīa-ha)
• Kazakh: шиитшілдік (şiitşıldık)
• Persian:

  Classical: شِیعَه (fa) (šī'a), شِیعَةْ (šī'at)

  Dari: شِیعَه (fa) (šī'a)

  Iranian Persian: شیعه (fa) (ši'e)

• Polish: szyizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: xiismo (pt) m
• Russian: шии́зм (ru) (šiízm)
• Spanish: chiismo m, chía (es) m
• Turkish: Şia (tr), Şiilik (tr)
• Uyghur: شىئە (shi'e)
• Volapük: jiit

Noun

Shi'a (plural Shi'as or Shi'a)

1. Synonym of Shiite.

Derived terms

• anti-Shia, anti-Shiism, anti-Shiite
• inter-Shia, inter-Shiite
• non-Shia
• non-Shia, non-Shiite
• pan-Shia, pan-Shiism
• Shiadom
• Shiaphilia
• Shiaphobe, Shiaphobia
• Shiastan
• Shi'iness
• Shiist
• Shiiteness
• Shi'itic
• Shi'ize, Shi'ify, Shiitize; Shi'ization, Shiification

 

Translations

Shiite — see Shiite

Anagrams

• HIAs, Hsia, Siha, ahis, isha