Which countries are majority Shia?

Shias comprise a majority in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain, and a plurality in Lebanon, while Sunnis make up the majority of more than forty countries from Morocco to Indonesia.

Which country has the most Shia?

Shia Muslims are a numerical majority in Iraq and Bahrain. Approximately 35% of the population in Yemen and half of the Muslims in Lebanon are Shia Muslims. There is also a very large population of Shia Muslims living in the Persian Gulf countries especially in Saudi Arabia.

Which countries are majority Sunni?

Sunnis regard the first four caliphs as legitimate successors of Muhammad. The majority of the Muslims of Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia are Sunnis. They regard themselves as the traditional (original) followers of the Islamic faith.

Which countries are Shia vs Sunni?

While Shia represent the majority of the population in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain and Azerbaijan and a plurality in Lebanon, Sunnis are the majority in more than 40 other countries, from Morocco to Indonesia. Despite their differences, Sunni and Shia have lived alongside each other in relative peace for most of history.

Are Shias allowed in Saudi Arabia?

The Saudi government does not conduct a census on religion or ethnicity, but some sources estimate the Shiite population in Saudi Arabia to make up around 10-15% of the approximately 23 million natives of Saudi Arabia.

Top 10 Shia Muslim Countries of The World

Are Shia allowed in Dubai?

Shia Muslims are granted freedom to worship, and maintain their mosques. Shias may also pursue family law cases through a special Shia council. Most Shias are concentrated in the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

Is Turkey Sunni or Shia?

In a poll conducted by Sabancı University in 2006, 98.3% of Turks revealed they were Muslim. Most Muslims in Turkey are Sunni Muslims forming about 90%, and Shia-Aleviler (Alevis, Ja'faris and Alawites) denominations in total form up to 10% of the Muslim population.

Is Dubai Shia or Sunni?

Approximately 11 percent of the population are citizens, of whom more than 85 percent are Sunni Muslims, according to media reports. The vast majority of the remainder are Shia Muslims, who are concentrated in the Emirates of Dubai and Sharjah.

Is the Taliban Shia?

The Taliban are Sunni Muslim-the majority religious sect in Afghanistan. On the ethnic side, the Taliban movement is primarily Pashtun, the majority ethnic group that ruled Afghanistan for the past two and one-half centuries.

Is Egypt Sunni or Shia?

Islam is practiced by 90% of Egyptians. Most Egyptian Muslims are Sunni and follow the Maliki school of jurisprudence, though all legal schools are represented. Shi'a Muslims make up a small minority.

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.

Is Kashmir Sunni or Shia?

the majority of Kashmiri Muslims are Sunni Muslims and Shias account for between 20% to 25% of Muslim Population, which are majorly residing in North and central Kashmir.

Is Pakistan a Shia country?

Pakistan has the second largest number of Muslims in the world after Indonesia. The majority are Sunni (70% to 80%) while Shias make up between 10% and 20%.

Is Qatar a Shia or Sunni country?

Citizens make up approximately 12 percent of the population, while noncitizens account for approximately 88 percent. Most citizens are Sunni Muslims, and almost all others are Shia Muslims.

Is Israel a Shia country?

The State of Israel declares itself as a "Jewish and democratic state" and is the only country in the world with a Jewish-majority population (see Jewish state). Other faiths in the country include Islam (predominantly Sunni), Christianity (mostly Melkite and Orthodox) and the religion of the Druze people.

Why are most Persians 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. The conversion was accompanied by a massive crackdown on Sunnis, so that over time much of the population became Shia.

Can Afghans be Shia?

Shia Islam in Afghanistan is practiced by a significant minority of the population. According to a PEW 2021 survey, 7% of Afghans followed Shia Islam, but other estimates have put the number as high as 35%. Afghanistan's Shia are primarily the Twelvers, while a minority are Ismailis.

What religion was Afghanistan before Islam?

Before the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, there were a number of religions practiced in modern day Afghanistan, including Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. The Kafiristan (present-day Nuristan) region, in the Hindu Kush mountain range, was not converted to Islam until the 19th century.

Is Iraq Sunni or Shia?

Although Iraq is an overwhelmingly Muslim country, it is both religiously and ethnically diverse. More than 95 percent of the population is Muslim, but this total is divided between Shiites who constitute about 55-60 percent and Sunnis who represent 35-40 percent.

What religion is Yemen?

More than 99 percent of the population is Muslim (2010 estimate), associating their beliefs with either the Shafi'i order of Sunni Islam or Zaydi Islam, a distinct form of Shia Islam.

Is Bahrain Sunni or Shia?

Although more than half of Bahrain's population consists of Shia Muslims (estimated at over 75 percent), the Sunni royal family, Al Khalifa, governs the country.

Who brought Islam in China?

Origin of Islam in China

According to Chinese Muslims' traditional accounts, Muslim missionaries reached China through an embassy sent by ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (644–656 CE), the third rāshidūn caliph, in 651 CE, less than twenty years after the death of Muhammad (632 CE).

Is Syria Sunni or Shia?

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).

Is Azerbaijan a Shia religion?

Azerbaijan is an overwhelmingly Muslim country where Shia Muslims make up the majority. Less than 15 percent are Sunni. Members of both sects have lived together in harmony for centuries in Baku.