The Ismailis were the leading Shia branch for centuries

Evidence

The Isma ilis, of whom there are several subsects, are a branch of the Shi a. For some centuries in the Middle Ages, they were its most active and important branch, inspiring on the one hand the Fatimid caliphate which ruled in Egypt, on the other the dreaded Assassins of Iran and Syria, as well as a series of Muslim philosophers, theologians, and poets. But with the loss of their bases of power, they rapidly declined into one of the minor sects within the Shi ite fold. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1442

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Useful for understanding historical Shia diversity beyond the Iran/Iraq axis commonly assumed.

Related

• The Shia are a scattered global minority concentrated around Iran. (similarity 0.81)
• Iraq’s Shia majority endured Sunni ascendancy across a millennium of regimes (similarity 0.81)
• Iraq’s Shia majority remained subordinate to Sunni rulers for centuries (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval scholars identified the Saracens as Ishmael’s literal descendants (similarity 0.79)
• Muslims remember an era when Islam ruled as the Earth’s greatest civilization. (similarity 0.79)
• Islamic intellectual history already contains every claim native informers recycle as new (similarity 0.79)
• Scattered evidence indicates the Fatimid Mission ran a central grand strategy. (similarity 0.79)
• The Fatimid schism was untenable amid Islam’s unified front against Christendom (similarity 0.78)
• The Fatimid caliphate contested Abbasid legitimacy itself, not just their rule. (similarity 0.78)
• The Fatimid revolution succeeded only partially where the Abbasid one had triumphed fully. (similarity 0.78)