Is Syria a Shia?

The Sunni Muslims make up the vast majority in the country (74% of Syria's total population)). The Alawites

Alawites

The Alawis, Alawites (Arabic: علوية Alawīyah), or Nusayris (Arabic: نصيرية Nuṣayrīyah) are an ethnoreligious group primarily in the Levant which originated from Shia Islam. The Alawites revere Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib), considered the first Imam of the Twelver school.

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Alawites - Wikipedia

are the minority group (10% of the country's population), followed by Shia Ismailis (1%). Christians are the main non-Muslim group in the country, they comprise 10% of the population .

Is Syria mostly Sunni or Shiite?

Although Syria has no official religion, 85 percent of the population is Muslim, and of these, 85 percent are members of the Sunni sect (i.e. 72 percent of the total population).

What is Syria's main religion?

According to CIA World Factbook, 87% of Syrians are Muslim, the majority being Sunni Muslims (74%). A further 13% are Shi'a Muslims, following the Alawite (11%), Ismaili (1%) or Twelver Imami (0.5%) sects.

Are Syrian rebel groups Sunni or Shia?

Even though most of the opposition is composed of Arab Sunnis, they are well represented in government and pro-government forces as well. The areas that have fallen under rebel control are mostly Sunni.

Why do Shias go to Syria?

Some Iraqi Shia do travel to fight in support of the Assad regime—but they do so without the support of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who sees no reason to support it—and some pro-Iranian Shia groups in Iraq have been providing fighters for the same pragmatic political reasons Iran has.

Is Syria's war a religious battle?

Is Turkey Sunni or Shia?

Turkey is a secular state. Even though over 85 percent of its population is Sunni Muslim and its Religious Affairs Directorate represents Sunni Islam, Turkey's secular tradition and legal structure help it refrain from pursuing a sectarian policy.

Can Shia convert to Sunni?

Regardless of what the Iranian government does, though, Shia Muslims in Sunni countries have every right to practise their faith and, if they wish, to try to convert others. It may worry the Sunni regimes but it also worries the Wahhabi/Salafi elements whose ideology has often gone unchallenged in the public discourse.

Is Afghanistan Sunni or Shia?

Today's Afghanistan can be considered 99% Muslim. There is a rough 3/4 to 1/4 split in favor of Sunni Muslims to Shia. Though recent history has been defined by growing religious intolerance and sectarian conflict, Afghanistan does have marginal adherents of other religions.

Was Saddam Hussein Sunni or Shiite?

Though the Baath Party had originally numbered many Shiites among its leaders, by the time it began its 35-year rule with a coup in 1968, the leadership was solidly in the hands of a tight group of Sunni tribesmen, including a ruthless hit man named Saddam Hussein, from the region around Tikrit.

What religion is Assad?

Hafez al-Assad and his son, President Bashar al-Assad, belong to the Alawite sect. Alawites are divided into two main groups: traditional Alawites, who form the majority, and the minority Murshid Alawites (which rose from a modern schism in the Alawite sect at the beginning of the 20th century).

Is Lebanon Sunni or Shia?

Statistics Lebanon, an independent firm, estimates 67.6 percent of the citizen population is Muslim (31.9 percent Sunni, 31 percent Shia, and small percentages of Alawites and Ismailis). Statistics Lebanon estimates 32.4 percent of the population is Christian.

Is Kosovo Sunni or Shia?

Islam is the widespread and most practiced religion in Kosovo. The majority of people, around 95%, are Sunni Muslims.

Is Jordan Sunni or Shia?

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a majority Muslim country with 95% of the population following Sunni Islam while a small minority follow Shiite branches. There are also about 20,000 to 32,000 Druze living mostly in the north of Jordan, even though most Druze no longer consider themselves Muslim.

Which countries are majority Shia?

Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. Iran has 66 million to 70 million Shias, or 37-40% of the world's total Shia population. Iraq, India and Pakistan each are home to at least 16 million Shias.

Why did Sunni and Shia split?

Though the two main sects within Islam, Sunni and Shia, agree on most of the fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam, a bitter split between the two goes back some 14 centuries. The divide originated with a dispute over who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad as leader of the Islamic faith he introduced.

Is Syrian Arab army Sunni?

Demographics. Sunni Muslims make up the majority of the Syrian Arab Army and many hold high governmental positions.

When did Iran turn Shia?

First, a brief history lesson: How did Iran become Shia? Until the 16th century, Persia was mostly Sunni. At the turn of that century, the Safavid dynasty conquered much of what is now Iran and made Shiism the official religion.

How many Shia are in India?

Vali Nasr claims the Shia population to be as high as 30 million. Pew Research Center estimated the number of Shias in Pakistan and India to be 10 – 15 percent of the total Muslim population, while for Bangladesh it was estimated to be less than 1% to 2% of the total population.

Is Tajikistan Sunni or Shiite?

The five post-Soviet countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) are secular states with a majority Sunni Muslim population — and each has a Shiite minority population.

Can Shia go Hajj?

Shia Muslims number 200 million and are the second largest denomination in the faith. Many perform the hajj, and they also travel to Iran, Iraq and beyond to visit holy sites.

How many times Shia pray a day?

The Shia believe only a living scholar must be followed. Sunni Muslims pray five times a day, whereas Shia Muslims can combine prayers to pray three times a day. Shia prayers can often be identified by a small tablet of clay, from a holy place (often Karbala), on which they place their forehead while bowing in prayer.

What is Kalma of Shia?

A single honest recitation of the Shahadah in Arabic is all that is required for a person to become a Muslim. This declaration, or statement of faith, is called the Kalima, which literally means "word". Recitation of the Shahadah the "oath/testimony", is the most important of the Five Pillars of Islam for Muslims.

Is Malaysia Sunni or Shiite?

Islam is generally practised liberally, although in the last 20 years strict adherence to Islamic practice has increased. The official code of Islam in Malaysia is Sunni, and the practice of any other form of Islam is heavily restricted.

Is Azerbaijan Shia?

The Muslim population is approximately 85% Shi'a and 15% Sunni; differences traditionally have not been defined sharply. Azerbaijan has the second highest Shia population percentage in the world after Iran.

What percentage of Afghanistan is Shia?

Shia Islam in Afghanistan is practiced by a significant minority of the population; estimates put their number at 10%-20%. Afghanistan's Shia are primarily the Twelvers, while a minority are Ismailis.