What do Shia Muslims believe?

Shia Muslims are the smaller branch of Islam. They confess one God, Muhammad as his messenger, and the Qur’an as God’s word. They hold that leadership after Muhammad belonged to Ali and his descendants. Imami Shi‘a treat four books of traditions as their hadith canon, and a hadith for them may report an imam as well as the Prophet.

Key points

• Newman’s Britannica article says shi‘ah means party or faction, first used of those who followed Ali against the Umayyads.
• Pew (2009) puts Shia Muslims at 10–13 percent of the world’s Muslims, an approximate range, between 154 and 200 million in that report.
• The earliest sources, Newman writes, agree that Muhammad did not formally designate a successor on his deathbed. Shia Muslims hold that Ali should have led.
• Britannica on hadith names al-Kafi, Man la yahduruhu al-faqih, Tahdhib al-ahkam, and al-Istibsar as the four books Shi‘i Muslims consider most authoritative.
• Christians confess that Jesus is God. John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version The Trinity

God, Muhammad, and Ali

Qur’an 33:40Muḥammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allāh and seal [i.e., last] of the prophets. And ever is Allāh, of all things, Knowing.Qur’an 33:40 · Saheeh InternationalOpen on quran.com ↗ (Saheeh International), which Shia and Sunni Muslims share, says:

Muḥammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allāh and seal [i.e., last] of the prophets. And ever is Allāh, of all things, Knowing.

Qur’an 33:40 · Saheeh International

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

The split is the next office, not a second Qur’an. Newman’s article follows the community’s choice of Abu Bakr, then Umar, then Uthman, killed in 656, then Ali in Kufa, the Battle of the Camel in 656, Siffin in 657, and Ali’s death in 661. Husayn was killed by Umayyad forces at Karbala in October 680.

Britannica names Twelvers, Ismailis, and Zaydis as Shia communities. What is the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam?

A report both sides argue from

Sahih Muslim 2408aOne day Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood up to deliver sermon at a watering place known as Khumm situated between Mecca and Medina. He praised Allah, extolled Him and delivered the sermon and. exhorted (us) and said: Now to our purpose. O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah's call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family.Sahih Muslim 2408a · sunnah.com EnglishOpen on sunnah.com ↗ is a Sunni collection. It reports a sermon at Ghadir Khumm in which Muhammad says he is leaving the Book of God and the members of his household. Shia Muslims read that day as Ali’s claim. Sunni Muslims receive reports of the household and still count the first three caliphs before Ali. The words are quoted on the comparison page. Newman notes that a “mawla” wording from the same day is disputed. This page does not add a text it has not printed.

The label on that report is Sunni hadith, because the collection is Sunni. Which Muslims accept which hadith?

The Four Books

Britannica says Shi‘i hadith may be a report of the Prophet or of the imams. The four books it calls most authoritative begin with al-Kafi. Encyclopaedia Iranica calls al-Kafi the oldest of the four canonical books of the Imami Shi‘a and records that some Imami scholars said it included forged traditions. Nahj al-Balagha, Ali’s sermons and letters compiled by al-Sharif al-Radi, is widely read and is not one of the four.

The Christian claim

Christians grant that Shia Muslims confess one God and honor Jesus as Messiah. They do not grant that Jesus is only a prophet. John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version says the Word was God. The cross that Qur’an 4:157And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allāh." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.Qur’an 4:157 · Saheeh InternationalOpen on quran.com ↗ denies is the cross Christians preach. Did Jesus die on the cross? What do Christians believe about Muhammad?

Talking with a Sunni Muslim? Read what Sunni Muslims believe.

Frequently asked questions

Are Shia Muslims a sect of Sunni Islam?

No. This site treats them as a branch of Islam in the way Christian denominations are branches of one confession: the difference is fundamental, and the shelf is their own. Shia Islam Sunni Islam

Do Shia Muslims use a different Qur’an?

They recite the Qur’an. The separate canon in the sources above is the Four Books of hadith, not a second Qur’an.

Where is Muhammad’s life?

On the Islam shelf. Who was Muhammad? A page there that depends on Bukhari says what still stands from the Qur’an.