User:Annasaranszki/sandbox

History, Islamic Sects, Bábism, Ishikism, Druze, Mandaeism, Samaritanism, Shabakism, Countries

New: Samaritanism is a closely affiliated religion with Judaism, practiced by the ethnoreligious Samaritan community. Samaritans are neither Palestinian or Israeli, however their ethnic roots are connected to the latter, but lived amongs former. In the past, the group used to be present in Egypt and Syria as well, but their community had almost collapsed by the late 19th century. Their population mainly reside in the area of Mount Gerizim, near the city of Nablus. Today the Samaritan community has grown to about 850 persons from as few as 150 in the early 20th century.

Samaritanism has a shared history and many shared costums with Judaism, and the main difference is the position of Mount Gerizim in their belief system. In their views not Jerusalem, but Mount Gerizim is regarded as the utmost sacred place chosen by God, where Joshua's alter was and where stones of Law emerged. Additionally, because of the many similarities, debates emerged regarding the question of Samaritanism being a Jewish sect or an independent religion.

Samaritans are mainly Arabic-speakers, however they use a separate script deriving from Hebrew-Canaanite for ther biblical and historical scripts. Their holy script is called the Samaritan Pentateuch, that is believed to be the unaltered version of the Jewish script, the Torah. SHIA SECTION:

Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. '''Although there are many Shia subsects, modern Shia Islam has been divided into three main groupings: Twelvers, Ismailis and Zaidis, with Twelvers being the largest and most influential group, making up perhaps 88 percent of Shias. Twelver Shia have their largest populations in the Middle East in Iran (90–95%), Iraq (60%), Bahrain (55-60%), Azerbaijan (65%), Lebanon (30%), and Kuwait (30%).'''

The schism between Shi'as and Sunnis happened after the death of Muhammad. Members of the 'ummah' who later on became representatives of the Shi'ita branch preferred Abu Bakr over Ali ibn Abi Talib, as the sucessor of the Prophet and as the rightful rulers of the Muslim community. Abu Bak was appointed caliph by senior Muslims, while Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousine and son-in-law of Muhammad.

Shīʿa Islam is based on a ḥadīth report concerning Muhammad's pronouncement at Ghadir Khumm.