Modern spelling of Shiite. Literally "the followers" or "the partisans". Short for shi'at Ali or "the partisans of Ali". The Shi'i are the subgrouping of Muslims who believe that the only proper leaders of the faith, or Imams, are direct blood-line descendants of Muhammad, through his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abu Talib. The Shi'i are historically a minority in the Islamic world, constituting perhaps 15 percent of all Muslims, and rarely coming to political power. There are only a few notable Shi'i states, most prominently medieval Fatimid Egypt and modern Revolutionary Iran.

While the popular Western image of the Shi'i are of unpleasant, violent, ultra-orthodox fanatics with poor senses of humor, the Shi'i are actually considered on the verge of heresy by many mainline sunni Muslims, and whatever reputation for violence they have comes from the Iranian state, rather than the faith itself. While they are not technically heretics because they observe the Five Pillars of Islam, relations with Sunnis, especially the ultra-conservative Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan (who are actually a great deal more unpleasant, violent, ultra-conservative and humorless) are frosty at best, and at times degenerate into outright war.

There are several sub-groupings of Shi'i, depending on who are recognized as legitimate lines of Imams. The two most important are the Seveners (who recognized seven legitimate Imams) who were in power in Fatimid Cairo, and the Twelvers (twelve Imams) who rule Iran presently. The Tweflth Imam of the Twelver line disappeared, creating quite a theological conundrum. The solution most Twelvers adopt is the belief that the Twelfth, or Hidden Imam is waiting, in an ageless state, to re-enter the world and set all injustices to right, a bit like the British King Arthur myth. Many Iranians believed that the Ayatollah Khomeini was the Hidden Imam returned.

Contrary to popular Sunni belief, dogma, assertions and advertisments, the difference between Shia and Sunni IS religous AND political.

It is disingenuous on part of my Sunni brethren to say that the difference is only political. It ignores the beliefs of Shias around the world who ascribe more religous and spiritual meaning to the notion of Imams as their leaders.

What separates Shia from Sunni is the notion of religous leadership and interpretation. Shia's assert that Prophet Mohd.(PBUH) appointed Ali ibn Abu Talib his cousin, son-in-law and the second convert to Islam, as the rightfull religous and political leader of the Muslim ummah after his passing. (Recall that Islam does not make a distinction between din - belief and duniya - world.) This declaration of Imam Ali's role in the Muslim community was made by the Prophet after the first Hajj at Ghadir-Khum. The hadith tradition of the Prophet also gives instances of this declaration:

1."Whoever's maula (lord) I am, so is Ali his maula."

2."I am the house of knowledge and Ali is the doorway."

The religous difference cannot be ignored or swept away. Fundamentally Shias give primary authority for interpretation of the Qur'an and spiritual guidance to the Imam-of-the-time. Thus most shias would have difficulty accepting the fatwas that come out of "religous scholars" from the Sunni tradition. Only the Imam has the authority to provide religous ruling and interpretation.

The Shia's themselves are not homogenous. The two major factions are the the "Seveners" and the "Twelvers," depending on the total number of Imáms they believe were in the true line of succession after Muhammad. The branch which accepts twelve Imáms is currently dominant in Iran. The Twelvers believe that their last Imam has gone into occultation and will come back on the day of judgement. The Seveners consists of two branches, the Ismaili and the Bohra. The Ismaili claim the Aga Khan as the direct decendant of the Prophet and Ali and the 49th Imam after the Prophet.