More appropriately, Shi'a or Shi'i. The second largest sect of Islam, founded by followers of Ali, the fourth Sunni caliph (successor to Prophet Muhammad) who married the Prophet's daughter Fatima. About ten percent of the world's Muslims are Shi'a, and prefer to call themselves Ahl ul-Bayt (the 'People of the House', i.e. family of Muhammad). The largest Shi'a denomination believe in twelve imams, Ali being the first, and the last, al-Mahdi, is in hiding and expected to return to prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ. The differences between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims have more to do with politics and culture than faith and religion.
Shi'ism is most prevalent on either side of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the modern nations of Iran and Iraq (more in the southern part of the latter). The Shi'as of Iraq suffered great persecution under the nominal Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. Currently, a young Shi'a cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, is leading a powerful resistance against the American and allied occupation forces from the holy city of Najaf.
by LudwigVan August 24, 2004
by LudwigVan December 06, 2003
The Florida of the 2004 Presidential Elections.
by LudwigVan November 03, 2004
One of the chief exports of the United States, examples being Pentecostalism, Southern Baptists, Pat Robertson, and key members of the Bush Administration.
The former USSR is learning fast that religious freedom can have a downside, thanks to the influx of various cults, most of which originate in the US.
by LudwigVan November 11, 2003
by LudwigVan December 06, 2003
A military tactic used by the Golden Horde (i.e. Genghis Khan and his descendents), in which an army invades an outnumbered force and overpowers them, but doesn't kill many of them; instead, the conquerors rape and otherwise humiliate the conquered, then leave.
I can't walk to school anymore without worrying about a bunch of punks giving me the ol' Mongolian clusterfuck.
by LudwigVan December 06, 2003
A word in the Fuegian language of Tierra del Fuego in extreme southern South America (in both Chile and Argentina). Holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for "most succinct word".
The word mamihlapinatapei means "a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that neither one wants to start"
by LudwigVan October 01, 2004