Leadership belongs to the Prophet's house.
The branch holding that Muhammad designated Ali as his successor, and that divinely guided Imams from the Prophet's family carry the community's true leadership. Karbala — the martyrdom of Husayn — is its defining wound and teacher.
DeitiesOne God
Founded632 CE · Arabia and Iraq
AfterlifeJudgment; garden or fire
TextsQuran · Nahj al-Balagha
The map
Shia Islam’s corner of it — solid lines are descent; dotted lines are resemblance only, ideas held in common across unrelated faiths. Click a node to recenter; ✕ returns here. All 171 faiths →
610 CE Islam 632 CE Shia Islam 1017 CE The Druze Faith 1863 CE The Bahá'í Faith
Leadership belongs to the Prophet's house.
Ali was designated at Ghadir Khumm; the Imams carry the trust.
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The Imam is a living proof of God.
Divinely guided, sinless, and — for the Twelvers — one day returning.
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Karbala is the wound that teaches.
Husayn against the empire: better to die standing. Mourned annually at Ashura.
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A
Ali — the appointed.
At Ghadir Khumm, Shia Islam holds, the Prophet raised Ali's hand and settled the succession — everything since follows from that afternoon.
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H
Husayn — the refusal at Karbala.
Offered allegiance to a corrupt throne, he refused, and died with seventy-two companions. The refusal, not the defeat, is the point.
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Ashura.
Karbala mourned in processions and passion plays — grief as an engine of justice.
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