Shia Islam In Saudi Arabia
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Shia Islam 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. The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed in 1932 by the House of Saud, who are followers of a movement within Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism. Followers of the Wahhabite mission—who dominate religious institutions, courts and education of the kingdom—believe that "Muslims should return to the interpretation of Islam found in the classical texts, the Quran and the Sunnah." They also believe that "Muslims who seek intercession from holy men, such as the imams revered by Shiites, are not 'true' Muslims." Saudi Arabia's Twelver Shia community, the Baharna, is primarily concentrated in the country's Eastern province, chiefly Qatif and Al-Ahsa. A Twelver Shia community also exists in Medina known as the Nakhawila. Similarly, a tribal Shia community also exists ...
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Saudi Government
The politics of Saudi Arabia takes place in the context of a unitary absolute monarchy along Islamic lines, where the King is both the head of state and government. Decisions are, to a large extent, made on the basis of consultation among the King, the Council of Ministers, and the country's traditional elites. Most critics regard the Saudi government as a totalitarian state. The Basic Law of Saudi Arabia contains many characteristics of what might be called a constitution in other countries. However, The Qur'an is declared to be the official constitution of the country which is governed on the basis of Islamic law (Shari'a). The Allegiance Council is responsible to determine the new King and the new Crown Prince. All citizens of full age have a right to attend, meet, and petition the king directly through the traditional tribal meeting known as the majlis. The government is dominated by the vast royal family, the Al Saud, which has often been divided by internal disputes and i ...
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Baharna
The Baharna ( ar, بحارنة) are the indigenous Shia Muslim inhabitants of Bahrain who inhabited the area before the arrival of Sunni Muslim Arab tribes from Najd, particularly by Banu Utbah in the 18th century which the Bahraini royal family is from. They are generally regarded by scholars and Bahraini people to be the original inhabitants of the Bahrain archipelago. Most Shi'i Bahraini citizens are Baharna. Regions with most of the population are in Eastern Arabia (Bahrain, Qatif, al-Hasa), with historical diaspora populations in Kuwait, (see Baharna in Kuwait), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Khuzestan Province in Iran, and United States. Some Bahrainis are from other parts of the world too. Some Baharna nowadays, have some sort of Ajami ancestry due to intermarriage between the Ajam and Baharna. Origin The origin of the Baharna is uncertain; there are different theories regarding their origins. Several Western scholars believe the Baharna originate from ...
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Banu Yam
Banu Yam ( ar, بنو يام, ') is an Arabian tribe that belongs to the Qahtanite branch of Arabian tribes, specifically the group known as Banu Hamdan, and are, therefore, native to southwestern Arabia. Their traditional way of life was well suited to life in the Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands they once lived in. Most have moved into small villages and given up their previous nomadic way of life. The tribe of Yam was also the progenitor of two other important tribes: the Al Murrah and the 'Ujman of eastern Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf coast. The Yam are notable among the tribes of Saudi Arabia for the majority of its members who follow the small Sulaymani Isma'ili branch of Shi'ite Islam. Religious leadership is currently in the hands of the al-Makrami clan, who joined Yam through alliance some time in the 17th century. Members of the tribe can be found throughout Saudi Arabia due to migration, particularly the areas around Jeddah and ...
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Najran Province
Najran ( ar, نجران ') is a region of Saudi Arabia, located in the south of the country along the border with Yemen. It has an area of 149,511 km². Its capital is Najran. Najran is inhabited by the powerful Yam tribe, Mishaal bin Abdullah was the governor from 2009 to 22 December 2013. Mishaal bin Saud also served as the governor of the province and was dismissed in 2008. This move was closely related to the region's unique characteristics since the majority of people in this region are Sunnis and Shia Ismaili. 400,000 Ismailis reside in the region. The current governor of the region is Prince Jiluwi bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Etymology The name was attributed to Najran Ibn Zaidan Ibn Saba' Ibn Yashgub Ibn Yarub Ibn Qahtan because he was the first person to come to Najran and inhabit it. Geography Najran contains three geographical areas. First, the flat area which lies in the middle of Najran. It has several valleys, the most famous of them being Najran’s valley. Sec ...
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Kaysanites
The Kaysanites () were a Shi'i sect of Islam that formed from the followers of Al-Mukhtar. They traced Imamate from Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and his descendants. The name Kaysaniyya was most likely derived from the name of Mukhtar's chief guard, Abu Amra Kaysan. Etymology The followers of Al-Mukhtar who emerged from his movement (including all subsequent sub-sects which evolved from his movement) who firstly upheld the Imamate of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah and his descendants or any other designated successors were initially named the "Mukhtariyya" (after Al-Mukhtar), but were soon more commonly referred to as the "Kaysānīyya" (i.e. Kaysanites). The name ''"Kaysānīyya"'' must have been based on the "kunya" ''(surname)'' Kaysān, allegedly given to al-Mukhtar by Ali, or the name of a freed mawlā of ʿAli who was killed at the Battle of Siffin called Kaysān, from whom it is claimed Al-Mukhtar acquired his ideas. Similarly, it may be named after Abu Amra Kaysan, a prominen ...
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Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and Arabian Desert but spread across the rest of the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa after the spread of Islam. The English word ''bedouin'' comes from the Arabic ''badawī'', which means "desert dweller", and is traditionally contrasted with ''ḥāḍir'', the term for sedentary people. Bedouin territory stretches from the vast deserts of North Africa to the rocky sands of the Middle East. They are traditionally divided into tribes, or clans (known in Arabic as ''ʿašāʾir''; or ''qabāʾil'' ), and historically share a common culture of herding camels and goats. The vast majority of Bedouins adhere to Islam, although there are some fewer numbers of Christian Bedouins present in the Fertile Crescent. Bedouins have been referred ...
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Juhaynah
The Juhaynah ( ar, جهينة, also transliterated as ''Djuhaynah'' and ''Johaynah'') are a nomad tribe of the Arabian Peninsula and the largest clan of Banu Quda'a. They are one of the most powerful Arabian tribes that rule important parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The clan remains prevalent in the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia mostly in the region of Madinah and the cities of Yanbu, Umluj, Alshabaha, Tabuk, and Jeddah. They are also present in Jordan, among other regions, and Egypt. Additionally, in Sudan they are present in scarce numbers in the eastern region due to the migrations of several Arab tribes into Sudan during the 11th century. As well as in the West of Sudan and Chad as Baggara & Abbala Arabs, who hail from Abdallah Al Juhani. Culture and spirituality of Juhaynah Juhaina was the first Arab tribe to entirely convert to Islam. They are known to be fond of education and writing and had many poets. They were well educated before being committed to Islamic teachi ...
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Harb Tribe
Harb ( ar, حرب) is a predominantly Arabian tribe in the Arabian peninsula. It is originally a Qahtanite tribe. Several authentic sources on Arab tribes genealogy state that the great-grandfather of Harb tribe is Harb ibn Saad ibn Saad ibn Khawlan ibn Amr ibn Qadha'ah ibn Himyar ibn Qahtan. Harb tribal lands extend from the Red Sea coast in Tihamah (Western Part of Saudi Arabia) to the heart of Najd in the central region of Saudi Arabia, and from North the Harbi lands extend from Madinah (a holy city for Muslims) to Al Qunfudhah in the south. The tribe's reach extends to other countries like Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain and UAE. The origins of Harb tribe came from the 2nd century of the Islamic calendar. When Qahtani tribes emigrated from the south of Arabian Peninsula to Hejaz around 131 AH for water and land space after some battles with their cousins Banu Ar-Rabi'ah bin Saad. As a result, this caused several tribal conflicts with the native and mostly Adnani Arab tribes of Hejaz and ...
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Ashraf
Sharīf ( ar, شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef or sherif, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, from the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad ( ). It may be used in three senses: #In the broadest sense, it refers to any descendant of Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim (the Banu Hashim or Hashimites, already in Muhammad's day an established clan within the Meccan tribe of the Quraysh), including all descendants of Muhammad's paternal uncles Abu Talib (the Talibids) and al-Abbas (the Abbasids).. #More often, it refers to a descendant of Ali, a son of Abu Talib and a paternal cousin of Muhammad (the Alids), especially but not exclusively through Ali's marriage with Muhammad's daughter Fatima (the Fatimids). In this sense, the most common one, the term effectively refers to all descendants of the prophet. #In its narrowest sense, it ...
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Hijaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Province" in Saudi Arabia.Mackey, p. 101. "The Western Province, or the Hejaz .. It is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the 'Asir Region. Its largest city is Jeddah (the second largest city in Saudi Arabia), with Mecca and Medina being the fourth and fifth largest cities respectively in the country. The Hejaz is the most cosmopolitan region in the Arabian Peninsula. The Hejaz is significant for being the location of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the first and second holiest sites in Islam, respectively. As the site of the two holiest sites in Islam, the Hejaz has significance in the Arab and Islamic historical and political landscape. The region of Hejaz is ...
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Nakhawila
The Nakhawila ( ar, النخاولة) are a community of indigenous Hijazi Twelver Shias, typically of low social class, who have traditionally resided in and around the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia, numbering around 32,000—although no official or certain figures are available. Etymology The origin of the name ''Nakhawila'' (singular: ''nakhwali'') is unclear; however, it is most likely derived from the Arabic word ''nakhl'', ''nakhla'' or ''nakhil'' (date palm) because the Nakhawila community is said to have worked in the palm groves around Medina. The word is believed to have been first used during the Ottoman rule of Hejaz and was first recorded by Abu Salim al-Ayyashi during his 1662-63 stay in Medina. In modern Saudi Arabia the Nakhawila are officially known as ''al-nakhliyūn'' or ''al-nakhliya'' (singular: ''nakhli). Origins The origin of the Nakhawila is unclear. Most members of the Nakhawila community claim descent from native Medinan Arab tribes such as the Khaz ...
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Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province of Saudi Arabia. , the estimated population of the city is 1,488,782, making it the List of cities and towns in Saudi Arabia, fourth-most populous city in the country. Located at the core of the Medina Province in the western reaches of the country, the city is distributed over , of which constitutes the city's urban area, while the rest is occupied by the Hijaz Mountains, Hejaz Mountains, empty valleys, Agriculture in Saudi Arabia, agricultural spaces and older dormant volcanoes. Medina is generally considered to be the "cradle of Islamic culture and civilization". The city is considered to be the second-holiest of three key cities in Islamic tradition, with Mecca and ...
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