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The Saudi government does not conduct a census on religion or ethnicity,[1] but some sources estimate the Shia population in Saudi Arabia to make up around 20% of the approximately 34 million natives of Saudi Arabia.[2]
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 in the Hijaz region, manifesting itself in three tribes: the Banu Husayn (Al Hussaini), the sharifs of Mecca who ruled for more than five centuries, along with two traditionally nomadic Hijazi tribes of Harb (especially the Banu Ali branch)[3] and Juhaynah. A few historians believe that these Bedouin tribes belonged to a strain of Shia Islam that is neither Twelver nor Zaydi, with some believing that they profess neo-Kaysanite beliefs. Outside of the eastern province and Hejaz, Shia Islam exists in the southern region of the kingdom, with Najran and its Yam tribe being traditionally Sulaymani Ismaili. Zaydism also exists in the regions bordering northern Yemen. The U.S. Department of State estimated in 2016 that around 700,000 Ismailis inhabit the region of Najran, while around 20,000 Zaydis are also concentrated in the regions bordering Yemen.[4]
Shias in Saudi Arabia face numerous institutional challenges, 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.[5][self-published source] Followers of the Wahhabite mission—who dominate religious institutions, courts and education of the kingdom[6]—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."[7]
^Hollie, McKay (12 December 2016). "Number of Christians celebrating Christmas in Saudi Arabia growing, but religious liberty isn't". Fox News. Fox News. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^Die Welt des Islams: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Islamkunde, Volume 37, page 289
^"2016 Report on International Religious Freedom: Saudi Arabia". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
^Oliver, Haneef James. The 'Wahhabi Myth': Dispelling Prevalent Fallacies and the Fictitious link with Bin Laden.
^Commins, David (2009). The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia. I. B. Tauris. pp. 155–56. Within Saudi Arabia, official religious institutions under Wahhabi control multiplied at the same time that ulama maintained their hold on religious law courts, presided over the creation of Islamic universities and ensured that children in public schools received a heavy dose of religious instruction.
^Commins, David (2009). The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia. I. B. Tauris. pp. 155–56. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ... insisted that invoking and making vows to holy men indeed constituted major idolatry and that it was proper to deem as infidels anyone who failed to view such practices as idolatry. ... He then stated that if one admits that these practices are major idolatry, then fighting is a duty as part of the prophetic mission to destroy idols. Thus, the idolater who call upon a saint for help must repent, If he does so, his repentance is accepted. If not, he is to be killed.
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