Shi'a Islam In Saudi Arabia
Approximately 15 percent of citizens in Saudi Arabia are Shia Muslims. The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formed in 1932, is based on a strict interpretation of Wahabi Salafist Islam founded by a scholar named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (Encyclopædia Britannica), but this sizable minority persists.
Most Shi'i Muslims are Twelver Bahrani people in the Eastern Province with the largest concentrations in Qatif, Al-Hasa, and Dammam. There is also a Twelver minority in Medina called the Nakhawila). Sizable Zaydi and Isma'ili communities also live in Najran along the border with Yemen.
Read more about Shi'a Islam In Saudi Arabia: Community Structure, Political Inspiration and Religious Authority, Restrictions and Persecutions, Medina, See Also
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