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  Image 1Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque (Persian:مسجد شیخ لطف الله) is one of the architectural masterpieces ofSafavidIranian architecture, standing on the eastern side ofNaghsh-i Jahan Square,Isfahan,Iran

  Photograph:مانفی

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  Image 2Ali ibn Abi Talib, firstShia Imam, wasassassinated by aKharijite calledIbn Muljam on 26 January 661 at theGreat Mosque of Kufa, in present-dayIraq

  Photograph: Yousef Abdinejad

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  Image 3TheNasir ol Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, is a traditionalmosque inShiraz,Iran. It is located at the district of Gowad-e-Arabān, nearShāh Chérāgh Mosque

  Photograph:Ayyoubsabawiki

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  Image 4A calligraphy of prophet Muhammad's hadith regardinghelping the poor

  Author: Ali Ra'if Efendi

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  Image 5Example of mirror writing inIslamic calligraphy. 18th-century Ottoman levha, or calligraphic panel, which depicts the Shi'i phrase 'Ali is the vicegerent of God' (Arabic:علي ولي الله) in obverse and reverse, creating an exact mirror image. The calligrapher has used the central vertical fold in the thick cream-colored paper to help trace the exact calligraphic duplication prior to mounting it onto a cardboard and pasting rectangular pink frames along its borders

  Author: Mahmoud Ibrahim

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  Image 6Imam Ali Mosque inMarneuli inGeorgia

  Photograph:Zviad Avaliani

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  Image 7ATazieh scene which is a kind ofPassion Play on the tragic fate ofHusayn ibn Ali inBattle of Karbala

  Photograph: Payam Moein

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  Image 8Imam Reza shrine inMashhad

  Photograph:Mohebin14

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  Image 9Therest place and mausoleum ofHusayn ibn Ali, the third Imam ofShia, in the city ofKarbala,Iraq.Imam Husayn, who was a grandson ofMuhammad, was buried near the place where he was martyred during theBattle of Karbala in 680C.E.

  Photograph: Amir Hesaminejad

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  Image 10Two leaves of anearly Quranic manuscript in theMingana Collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts of theUniversity of Birmingham'sCadbury Research Library were discovered in 2015 as being dated between 568 and 645, making it one of the oldestQuran manuscripts to have survived.

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  16th-century Ottoman depiction of Husayn bearing his typical iconographic traits: green clothes and theZulfiqar

  
  Husayn ibn Ali (Arabic:الحسين بن علي,romanized: al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medievalArabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophetMuhammad and anAlid (the son ofAli ibnAbi Talib and Muhammad's daughterFatima), as well as a younger brother ofHasan ibn Ali, Husayn is regarded as the thirdImam inShia Islam after his brother, Hasan, and before his son,Ali al-Sajjad. Husayn is a prominent member of theAhl al-Bayt and is also considered to be a member of theAhl al-Kisa and a participant in theevent of themubahala. Muhammad described him and his brother, Hasan, as the leaders of the youth ofparadise.
  
  During the caliphate of Ali, Husayn accompanied him in wars. After theassassination of Ali, he obeyed his brother in recognizing theHasan–Mu'awiya I treaty, despite it being suggested to do otherwise. In the nine-year period between Hasan's abdication in AH 41 (660) and his death in AH 49 or 50 (669 or 670), Hasan and Husayn retreated toMedina, trying to keep aloof from political involvement for or againstMu'awiya I. After the death of Hasan, when Iraqis turned to Husayn, concerning an uprising, Husayn instructed them to wait as long as Mu'awiya was alive due to Hasan's peace treaty with him. (Full article...)
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  "Muhammad, the Messenger of God" inscribed on the gates of theProphet's Mosque,Medina

  
  Muhammad (c. 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was anArab religious, military and political leader and the founder ofIslam.According to Islam, he was a prophet who wasdivinely inspired to preach and confirm themonotheistic teachings ofAdam,Noah,Abraham,Moses,Jesus, and otherprophets. He is believed byMuslims to be theSeal of the Prophets, and along with theQuran, his teachings andnormative examples form the basis for Islamic religious belief.
  
  According to thetraditional account, Muhammad was born inMecca to the aristocraticBanu Hashim clan of theQuraysh. He was the son ofAbdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib andAmina bint Wahb. His father, Abdullah, the son of tribal leaderAbd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, died around the time Muhammad was born. His mother Amina died when he was six, leaving Muhammad an orphan. He was raised under the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and paternal uncle,Abu Talib. In later years, he would periodically seclude himself in a mountain cave namedHira for several nights of prayer. When he was 40, inc. 610, Muhammad reported being visited byGabriel in the cave and receivinghis first revelation from God. In 613, Muhammad startedpreaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "submission" (Islām) toGod (Allāh) is the right way of life (dīn), and that he was a prophet and messenger of God, similar to otherprophets in Islam. (Full article...)
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  Artwork with Fatima's name, reconstruction from aSafavid piece

  
  Fatima bint Muhammad (Arabic:فَاطِمَة بِنْت مُحَمَّد,romanized: Fāṭima bint Muḥammad; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known asFatima al-Zahra' (Arabic:فَاطِمَة ٱلزَّهْرَاء,romanized: Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ), was the daughter of theIslamic prophetMuhammad and his wifeKhadija. Fatima's husband wasAli, the fourth of theRashidun caliphs and the firstShia imam. Fatima's sons wereHasan andHusayn, the second and third Shia imams, respectively. Fatima has been compared toMary, mother ofJesus, especially in Shia Islam. Muhammad is said to have regarded her as the best of women and the dearest person to him. She is often viewed as an ultimate archetype forMuslim women and an example of compassion, generosity, and enduring suffering. It is through Fatima that Muhammad's family line has survived to this date. Her name and her epithets remain popular choices for Muslim girls.
  
  When Muhammad died in 632, Fatima and her husband Ali refused to acknowledge the authority of the firstcaliph,Abu Bakr. The couple and their supporters held that Ali was the rightful successor of Muhammad, possibly referring to his announcement at theGhadir Khumm. Controversy surrounds Fatima's death within six months of Muhammad's.Sunni Islam holds that Fatima died from grief. InShia Islam, however, Fatima's miscarriage and death are said to have been the direct result of her injuries during a raid on her house to subdue Ali, ordered by Abu Bakr. It is believed that Fatima's dying wish was that the caliph should not attend her funeral. She was buried secretly at night and her exact burial place remains uncertain. (Full article...)
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  Calligraphic seal featuring Ali's name, on display in theHagia Sophia, Istanbul

  
  Ali ibn Abi Talib (Arabic:عَلِيُّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب,romanized: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib) (c. 600 – 661 CE) was the fourthRashidun caliph who ruled from 656 CE untilhis assassination in 661, as well as the firstShia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophetMuhammad. Born toAbu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib andFatima bint Asad, Ali was raised by his elder cousin Muhammad and wasamong the first to accept his teachings.
  
  Ali played a pivotal role in the early years ofIslam whenMuslims were severely persecuted inMecca. After the immigration (hijra) toMedina in 622, Muhammad gave his daughterFatima to Ali in marriage and swore a pact of brotherhood with him. Ali served as Muhammad's secretary and deputy in this period, and was the flag bearer of his army. Numerous sayings of Muhammad praise Ali, the most controversial of which was uttered in 632 at theGhadir Khumm, "Whoever I am hismawla, then Ali is hismawla." The interpretation of thepolysemousArabic wordmawla is disputed: ForShia Muslims, Muhammad thus invested Ali with his religious and political authority, whileSunni Muslims view this as a mere statement of friendship and rapport. When Muhammad died in the same year, a group of Muslims met in the absence of Ali and appointedAbu Bakr (r. 632–634) as their leader. Ali later relinquished his claims to leadership and resigned from public life during the reigns of Abu Bakr and his successor,Umar (r. 634–644). Even though his advice was occasionally sought, the conflicts between Ali and the first two caliphs are epitomized by his refusal to follow their practices. This refusal cost Ali the caliphate to the benefit ofUthman (r. 644–656), who was thus appointed to succeed Umar by the electoral council. Ali was also highly critical of Uthman, who was widely accused of nepotism and corruption. Yet Ali also repeatedly mediated between the caliph and the provincial dissidents angered by his policies. (Full article...)
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  16th-century Ottoman iconographic depiction of Hasan ibn Ali holding a book and bearing ayataghan on his lap

  
  Hasan ibn Ali (Arabic:الحسن ابن علي,romanized: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī;c. 625 – 2 April 670) was anAlid political and religious leader. The eldest son ofAli andFatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophetMuhammad, Hasan briefly ruled ascaliph from January 661 until August 661. He is considered as the secondImam inShia Islam, succeeding Ali and preceding his brotherHusayn. As a grandson of the prophet, he is part of theahl al-bayt and theahl al-kisa, and also participated in theevent of the mubahala.
  
  During thecaliphate of Ali (r. 656–661), Hasan accompanied him in the military campaigns of theFirst Fitna. FollowingAli's assassination in January 661, Hasan was acknowledged caliph inKufa. His sovereignty was not recognized byMu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan (r. 661–680), the governor ofSyria, who led an army into Kufa while pressing Hasan for abdication in letters. In response, Hasan sent a vanguard under Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas to block Mu'awiya's advance until he arrived with the main army. Meanwhile, Hasan was severely wounded in an abortive assassination attempt by theKharijites, a faction opposed to both Ali and Mu'awiya. This attack demoralised Hasan's army and led to widespread desertion. Ubayd Allah and most of his troops also defected after Mu'awiya bribed him. In August 661, Hasan signed a peace treaty with Mu'awiya on the condition that the latter should rule in compliance with theQuran and theSunnah, acouncil should appoint his successor, and Hasan's supporters would receive amnesty. Hasan retired from politics and abdicated inMedina where he died either from illness or poisoning, though the early sources are nearly unanimous that he was poisoned. Mu'awiya is commonly viewed as the instigator in the murder of Hasan, which removed an obstacle to the succession of his sonYazid I (r. 680–683). (Full article...)

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  The Fourteen Infallibles (Arabic:ٱلْمَعْصُومُون ٱلْأَرْبَعَة عَشَر,al-Maʿṣūmūn al-ʾArbaʿah ʿAšar;Persian:چهارده معصومین,Čahârdah Ma'sūmīn) inTwelver Shia Islam are the Islamic prophetMuhammad, his daughterFatima Zahra, and theTwelve Imams. All are considered to be infallible under the theological concept ofismah. Accordingly, they have the power to commit sin but by their nature are able to avoid doing so, which is regarded as a miraculous gift fromGod. The Infallibles are believed to follow only God's desire in their actions because of their supreme righteousness, consciousness, and love for God. They are also regarded as being immune to error in practical matters, in calling people to religion, and in the perception of divine knowledge. Some TwelverShia believe the Fourteen Infallibles are superior to the rest of creation and to the other majorprophets. (Full article...)
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  The assassination of Ali in a modern painting.

  
  Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourthRashidun caliph (r. 656–661) and the firstShia Imam, was assassinated during themorning prayer on 28 January 661CE, equivalent to 19 Ramadan 40AH. He died of his wounds about two days after theKharijite dissidentIbn Muljim struck him over his head with a poison-coated sword at theGreat Mosque of Kufa, located inKufa, in present-dayIraq. He was about sixty-two years of age at the time of his death.
  
  Ibn Muljim had entered Kufa with the intention of killing Ali, probably in revenge for the Kharijites' defeat in theBattle of Nahrawan in 658. He found two accomplices in Kufa, namely, Shabib ibn Bujra and Wardan ibn al-Mujalid. Unlike Ibn Muljim, the swords of these two missed Ali and they fled, but were later caught and killed. Before his death, Ali requested either a meticulous application oflex talionis to Ibn Muljim or his pardon, and he was later executed byHasan, the eldest son of Ali. By most accounts, also involved in the assassination wasal-Ash'ath ibn Qays, the influential Kufan tribal leader whose loyalty to Ali is often questioned in the early sources. The assassination of Ali paved the way for his rivalMu'awiya to found theUmayyad Caliphate. The shrine of Ali inNajaf, near Kufa, is a major destination for Shia pilgrims. (Full article...)
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  TheTwelve Imams (Arabic:ٱلْأَئِمَّة ٱلْٱثْنَا عَشَر,al-ʾAʾimmah al-ʾIthnā ʿAšar;Persian:دوازده امام,Davâzdah Emâm) are the spiritual and political successors to theIslamic prophetMuhammad in theTwelver branch ofShia Islam, including that of theAlawite andAlevi.
  
  According toTwelver theology, the Twelve Imams are exemplary human individuals who not only rule over the community with justice, but also are able to keep and interpretsharia and theesoteric meaning of the Quran. Thewords and deeds of Muhammad and the imams are a guide and model for the community to follow; as a result, they must be free from error and sin (known asismah, or infallibility) and must be chosen by divine decree through Muhammad. (Full article...)
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  Hezbollah is aLebaneseShia Islamist political party andparamilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is theJihad Council, and its political wing is theLoyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in theLebanese Parliament.Its armed strength was assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army in 2016.
  
  Hezbollah was founded in 1982 by Lebanese clerics in response to theIsraeli invasion of Lebanon. Inspired by theIranian Revolution of 1979 and AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini's model of Islamic governance, Hezbollah established strong ties withIran. The group was initially supported by 1,500Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) instructors, who helped unify various Lebanese Shia factions under Hezbollah's leadership. Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto outlinedits key objectives, which include expelling Western influence from the region,destroying Israel, pledging allegiance toIran's supreme leader, and establishing anIslamic government influenced byIran's political ideology. However, the manifesto also emphasized Lebanese self-determination. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Hezbollah fought against Israeli forces and theSouth Lebanon Army (SLA), eventually leading to Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah also played a prominent role in the2006 Lebanon War and later became involved in theSyrian civil war, where it fought alongside the Syrian government against rebel forces. (Full article...)
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  Al-Risala al-Dhahabiyya (Arabic:ٱلرِّسَالَة ٱلذَّهَبِيَّة,Arabic pronunciation:['rɪsælætæ'ðæhæ'biæ]; "The Golden Treatise") is a medicaldissertation on health and remedies attributed toAli ibn Musa al-Ridha (765–818), the eighthImam ofShia Islam. He wrote this dissertation in accordance with the demand ofMa'mun, thecaliph of the time. It is revered as the most precious Islamic literature in the science of medicine, and was entitled "the golden treatise" as Ma'mun had ordered it written in gold ink. The chain of narrators is said to reachMuhammad ibn Jumhoor oral-Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Nawfali who is described as "highly esteemed and trustworthy" by al-Najjashi.
  
  The treatise of Ali al-Ridha includes scientific branches such asAnatomy,Physiology,Chemistry andPathology when medical science was still primitive. According to the treatise, one's health is determined by four humors ofblood,yellow bile,black bile andphlegm, the suitable proportion of which maintains the health. The liver plays an important role in producing and maintaining the required proportions in the body. Ali al-Ridha describes the body as a kingdom whose king is the heart while the (blood) vessels, the limbs, and the brain are the laborers. The issue of the authorship and the transmission of the text has been critically analysed in the studies by Speziale (2004) and Speziale - Giurini (2009). (Full article...)
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  Sahifah of al-Ridha (Arabic:صَّحِيفَة ٱلرِّضَا,Ṣaḥīfah ar-Riḍā,lit. "Pages ofal-Ridha"), also known asSahifat of al-Reza andSahifatal-Imam al-Ridha ("Book of Imam al-Ridha"), is a collection of 240hadiths attributed toAli ibn Musa al-Ridha, the eighthShiaImam.
  
  TheSahifah is one of the major sources of Shia belief and has attracted the attention of Shia scholars such asIbn Babawayh andSheikh Tabarsi. It contains hadiths on various topics including the invocation ofAllah; the importance of praying five times a day and of saying the prayer for the dead; the excellence of thehousehold of Muhammad, of the believer, of good manners, of the namesMuhammad andAhmad, of various foods, fruits, and ointments, of obeying parents, of strengthening the bonds of kinship, and ofjihad; a warning against cheating, backbiting, or tattling; and other miscellaneous traditions. The section on Muhammad's household discusses each of its fourteen members separately. (Full article...)

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  Musa Sadr al-Din al-Sadr (Arabic:موسى صدر الدین الصدر;Persian:موسی صدرالدین صدر‎‎; 4 June 1928 – disappeared 31 August 1978) was a Lebanese-IranianShia Muslim cleric, politician and revolutionary In Lebanon. He founded and revived manyLebanese Shia organisations, including schools, charities, and theAmal Movement.
  
  Born in the Chaharmardan neighborhood inQom,Iran, to an Iranian-Lebanese father and aLebanese mother, he underwent both seminary and secular studies inIran. He belongs to theAl-Sadr family fromJabal Amel in Lebanon, a branch of theMusawi family which traces its roots toMusa Ibn Jaafar, the seventhShia Imam. Therefore, Musa al-Sadr is often styled with the honorific titleSayyid. He left Qom forNajaf to study theology and returned to Iran after the1958 Iraqi coup d'état. (Full article...)
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  Khamenei in 2025

  
  SeyyedAli Hosseini Khamenei (born 19 April 1939) is an Iraniancleric and politician who has served as the secondsupreme leader of Iran since 1989. His tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years, makes him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East and the longest-serving Iranian leader since ShahMohammad Reza Pahlavi.
  
  Born into theKhamenei family, he studied at ahawza in his hometownMashhad, later settling inQom in 1958 where he attended the classes ofRuhollah Khomeini. Khamenei became involved in opposition toMohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and was arrested six times before being exiled for three years by the Shah's regime. Khamenei was a mainstream figure in the1978–1979 Iranian Revolution, and upon its success, held many posts in the newly establishedIslamic Republic of Iran. In the aftermath of the revolution, he was the target of anattempted assassination that paralysed his right arm. There have been continued assassination threats against Ali Khamenei byIsrael. Khamenei served as the thirdpresident of Iran from 1981 to 1989 during theIran–Iraq War, when he also developed close ties to theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). After thedeath of Khomeini in 1989, Khamenei waselected supreme leader by theAssembly of Experts. (Full article...)
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  Sistani in 2009

  
  Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani (Arabic:علي الحسيني السيستاني; born 4 August 1930) is an Islamic scholar and the dean of theHawza inNajaf, Iraq. A Grand Ayatollah, Sistani is considered one of the leading religious leaders ofTwelver Shia Muslims. After the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent overthrow of the authoritarianBaathist regime, Sistani advocated fordemocratization instead of the system ofWilayat al-Faqih. He has likewise endorsed rule of law,Iraqi nationalism, non-sectarianism andpopular sovereignty. He has been a vocal critic of foreign interference in Iraqi affairs and has warned foreign actors against imposing their will on the Iraqi people.
  
  Born inMashhad, Iran to aSayyid family, Sistani studied inQom under Hossein Borujerdi and later in Najaf under Abu al-Qasim al-Khu'i. An Usuli, Sistani rose to the rank ofmujtahid in 1960 and succeeded Abd al-A'la al-Sabziwari as Grand Ayatollah. Sistani was included in top positions ofThe Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims from 2004 to 2024 and named one of the100 most influential people in the world byTime magazine in 2004 and 2005. (Full article...)
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  Fadlallah (left) at a press conference

  
  Grand AyatollahMuhammad Husayn Fadlallah (Arabic:محمد حسين فضل الله,romanized: Muḥammad Ḥusayn Fadl Allāh; 16 November 1935 – 4 July 2010) was a prominentLebanese-IraqiTwelverShia cleric. Born inNajaf,Iraq, Fadlallah studied Islam in Najaf before moving to Lebanon in 1952. In the following decades, he gave many lectures, engaged in intense scholarship, wrote dozens of books, founded severalIslamic religious schools, and established theMabarrat Association. Through the aforementioned association, he established apublic library, a women's cultural center, and a medical clinic.
  
  Fadlallah was sometimes called the "spiritual mentor" ofHezbollah in the media, although this was disputed by other sources. He was also the target of severalassassination attempts, including the1985 Beirut car bombing. (Full article...)
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  Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu'man ibn 'Abd al-Salam al-'Ukbari al-Baghdadi (Arabic: أَبُو عَبْدِ ٱللّٰهِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ بْنِ ٱلنُّعْمَانِ بْنِ عَبْدِ ٱلسَّلَامِ ٱلْحَارِثِيُّ ٱلْعُكْبَرِيُّ ٱلْبَغْدَادِيُّ), known asal-Shaykh al-Mufid (Arabic:الشیخ المفید) andIbn al-Mu'allim (c. 948–1022 CE), was a prominentTwelverShia Muslim scholar,jurist (faqīh) andtheologian ofIraqi descent. His father was a teacher (mu'allim), hence his nickname Ibn al-Mu'allim ("son of the teacher"). The title "al-Mufid" ("the beneficient [one]") was given to him either byMuhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Shia Imam, or by al-Rummani, aMu'tazilite scholar, after a discussion with him. The leader of the Shia community at his time, he was a staunchmutakallim, theologian, and jurist.
  
  He studied and was taught by the prominent Shia scholarsal-Shaykh al-Saduq amdIbn Qulawayh, as well as Mutazilite scholarsAbu al-Husayn al-Basri and al-Rummani. His students includedSharif al-Murtaza andShaykh Tusi, both of whom became important scholars in their own right. Only 10 of his 200 works have survived, among which areAmali,Al-Irshad,Al-Muqni'ah, andTashih al-Itiqadat. (Full article...)
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  AyatullahSheikhMuhammad Kazim Khurasani (Persian:محمدکاظم خراسانی; 1839 – 12 December 1911), commonly known asAkhund Khurasani (Persian:آخوند خراسانی) was aShia jurist and political activist.
  
  He is known for using his position as aMarja as legitimizing force behind thefirst democratic revolution of Asia that happened in Iran (1905–1911), where he was the main clerical supporter of the revolution. He believed that the democratic form of government would be the best possible choice in the absence ofImam and regarded the democratic constitutional revolution aJihad (holy war) in which all Muslims had to participate. (Full article...)
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  AyatollahSheikhNimr Baqir al-Nimr (21 June 1959 – 2 January 2016), commonly referred to asSheikh Nimr, was a SaudiShiasheikh fromAl-Awamiyah in Saudi Arabia'sEastern Province. His arrest andexecution were widely condemned by various governments and human rights organizations.
  
  He was popular among youth and critical of theSaudi Arabian government, advocating for freeelections in Saudi Arabia. In 2006, al-Nimr was arrested by Saudi authorities, during which he claimed to have been beaten by theMabahith, a Saudi secret police agency. In 2009, he criticized Saudi authorities and suggested that if the rights ofSaudi Shia were not respected, the Eastern Province shouldsecede. In response, Saudi authorities arrested al-Nimr along with 35 others. During the2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests, al-Nimr urged protestors to resist police bullets with "the roar of the word" rather than violence.The Guardian described al-Nimr as having "taken the lead in [the] uprising." (Full article...)

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