Shi’ah Islam

One of the two major branches of Islam (alongside Sunni Islam), representing the second-largest denomination. Shi’ah (Shi’a) Islam holds that the Prophet Muhammad’s legitimate successors were his family members, beginning with Ali, and in various historical periods became the state religion of regions such as Persia (Iran), as in the Safavid era.

Claims that use this term

• Seventeenth-century travellers newly acquainted Europeans with Shi’ah Islam as Persia’s state religion
• Christians learned about Shi’ah Islam only when a Shi’ah state existed