No. Shiite and Shia are both names of one of the two main branches of Islam. Sunni or Ahl-Sunna is the other main branch. The reason that Shiite and Shia are both used is that Shiite is an English-language derivation of Shi3i (شيعي). Like many Biblical ethnicities that end in "i" in the Semitic languages, "ite" was added as an English suffix. (Some examples include: Israelite, Jebusite, Amorite, etc.) Shia comes directly from the Arabic Shi3a (شيعة).
Official religion of Iran is Shiite Islam, specifically Twelver Shiite Islam with the Jaafari School of Fiqh (jurisprudence).
shia Islam.
Answer 1When the Battle of Karbala happened cause most of Iranians to convert to Shia Islam. The shia people (even without shia state) and the shia state are two different matter. currently most of people in Bahrain and Azerbaijan are shia Muslims but they are oppressed by dictators supported by US and Saudi Arabia and can not have a democratic election. shia Muslims have their own model of state and government so the political laws of Shia Islam has been always a great danger for dictators and Kings and they had different strategies to prevent shia Muslims to get power in government. some times by war and terror and some times by apparently supporting shia Islam and in fact destroying shia Islam by supporting deviated scholars who distorted and corrupted shia Islam in the name of Islam. those corrupted scholars were like spies who teach deviated and fake hadith and beleifs in stead of real shia Islam. Shia Muslims were being arrested, jailed, executed and oppressed by by sunni dictator Kings during 1000 years and it was the first that a state (Safavids) officially accepted shia Islam as an allowed religion. so shia scholars considered it an opportunity for growing of shia Islam. so instead of fighting with the safavid Kings, shia scholars decided to use it for growth of shia. many great books was written by shia schoolars at safavids. but because shia Islam has laws for selecting the leader any King basically is not accepted by shia Islam. so the Kingdom of Safavid was not an state legitimate by shia Islam but shia scholars did not have enough power to fight it and establish a pure shia state. so Safavids was a mixture of shia Islam state and Kingdom (that basically has conflict with shia Islam). if a Kings want to practice shia Islam first should unsit himself to a qualified leader by shia Islam can lead the country.Answer 2While the Battle of Karbala had an important influence in developing the first strands of Shiite Islam, Iran did not become majority Shiite until the late 1500s. The first Shiite Islamic State was the Zaydi Shiite Idrissid Dynasty of Morocco and the most prominent Shiite Islamic State before 1200 CE was Ismaili Fatimid Egypt. However, the Shiites in these countries were forcibly evicted or converted to Sunni Muslims in successive Islamic Empires (Almohads and Ayyubids/Mamluks respectively). Shiite Islam was generally a repressed religion and Sunni Islam was ascendant.In the 1500s, the Safavid Empire made Twelver Shiite Islam the official religion of the Iranian empire and compelled Sunnis to convert to Shiite Islam within the empire. This led to Shiite Islam being the dominant religion of Iran.
No, it is one of the main branches of Islam
The people of Lebnon have different religions like CHristian, Islam,.. and Muslims there are both shia and sunni. but Hezbollah in Lebanon are shiite Muslims.
the Sunni and Shiite are two main sects in Islam religion first as majority and latter as minority.
the main country of shia is Iran and Iran has developed in many areas of technology.
3 branch. but today only one (twelver shia) is main and other have been nearly extincted.
There are several branches within Shia Islam, with the main ones being Twelver (Ithna Ashari), Ismaili, and Zaydi. Twelver Shia is the largest group, believing in a line of twelve imams. Ismailis split from the Twelvers over the succession of the seventh imam, while Zaydis differ in their beliefs about leadership and the imamate. Each branch has its own interpretations and practices, reflecting the diversity within Shia Islam.
& I have a firm belief that Shia Muslims are on the right Islam. Sincere Muslim I believe Sunni Muslims are on the right path of Islam. Sincere Muslim
They are the two main branches of Islam. The split between Sunni and shiite Islam occurred very early in Islam's history, in the 7th century AD. It had very little to do with any differences in Muslim belief (although there are a few, mostly minor differences), but everything with the question whether the rightful successor to the prophet Muhammed was his father-in-law Abu Bakr or his son-in-law Ali. Sunni Muslims think is was Abu Bakr, Shia Muslims are followers of Ali ('shia' even means "followers"). In the past, Sunni and Shiite Muslims mostly managed to co-exist peacefully and even intermarried. Today the differences between these two Muslim branches have become intermingled with the struggle for political supremacy in the Middle East between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran.
Iran and Iraq consist of Muslims belonging to the Shiite sect of Islam. In Iran, about 90% of the population is Shia Muslim, and in Iraq, about 95% of the population is Shia.