persecution and also to facilitate their search for
new converts, they practiced taqiyya, assuming
Sunni, Twelve-Imam Shii, Sufi, and even Hindu
guise, depending on the context. Mongol inva-
sions in the 13th century contributed to a wide
dispersion of the Ismailis, with sizeable com-
munities in India and Pakistan. These are known
as the Khojas, who belong to the Nizari sect,
and the Bohras, who belong to the Mustali sect.
Indian Ismailis migrated to East Africa in the 19th
century, as well as to England and North America
in the 20th century. Although precise figures are
lacking, recent estimates have placed the size of
the Ismaili population today at around 15 million,
or about one-tenth the size of the Twelve-Imam
Shii population.
The third major Shii sect is known as zaydi shi-
ism. The Zaydis believe that Zayd ibn Ali, who was
killed in a revolt against the Umayyad caliphate
in 740, was the fifth Imam instead of Muhammad
al-Baqir (d. 731), whom the Twelve-Imam Shia
recognized as the fifth. After Zayd’s death, Zaydi
missionaries established a following in the Cas-
pian region and later Yemen. The Zaydis favored
outward opposition to corrupt rulers, and they did
not practice taqiyya to the same degree as the other
Shii sects. They also rejected the idea of a messianic
Mahdi. Holding concepts of leadership similar to
those of the Sunnis, they accepted the legitimacy
of the first caliphs and adhered closely to the shaFii
legal school, one of the four major Sunni schools.
Their theology, on the other hand, was strongly
influenced by the mUtazili school, which was
rejected by most Sunnis. Zaidi communities in the
Caspian region converted to Twelve-Imam Shiism
by the 16th century, but the Yemeni Zaidis still
exist, to about 36 percent of that country’s popula-
tion, or about 8 million (2007 estimate).
Other forms of Shiism existed in the past and
to the present day. The ghulat (extremists) were
heterodox sectarian movements that emerged in
Islam’s first centuries. The earliest of these was
associated with a semi-historical Jewish convert,
Abd Allah ibn Saba al-Himyari of seventh-cen-
tury Iraq, who asserted that Ali had never died
and would return as a messiah. Other beliefs that
were associated with the ghulat include anthropo-
morphism, transmigration, and belief in prophets
after Muhammad. Some ghulat beliefs, however,
were accepted as orthodox Shii doctrine, such
as the belief in the concealment and messianic
return of the last Imam. The Alawis (or Alevis)
are members of a Shii sect that believes that Ali is
divine. They are found in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey,
and southeastern Europe. In addition, there are
religious communities that have roots in Shiism,
but evolved into separate religious traditions,
such as the drUze religion, which developed from
Ismaili missionary activities in the 11th century.
Moreover, the bahai Faith, now regarded as a
universal religion, appeared first as a Shii sect in
19th-century Iran.
Although Shii communities have accepted
political quietism, legitimated by the doctrine
of taqiyya, in the face of persecution by other
Muslims through much of their history, there
have been significant moments when they have
engaged in overt political activity and militancy.
In addition to early anti-Umayyad movements
and involvement in the Abbasid revolution in
the eighth century, Shii activism is also evident
in the Ismaili Qarmatian and Fatimid movements
of the 10th century, and the saFavid dynasty,
which made Twelve-Imam Shiism the state reli-
gion of Iran in the 16th century. A Shii dynasty
known as the Bahmanids ruled the Deccan region
of India between 1347 and 1526, and the Luc-
know region of northern India was ruled by Shii
Nawabs between 1732 and 1856. Such govern-
ments encouraged the celebration of Shii devo-
tional activities and gave strong support to Shii
Ulama. Shii authorities began to support anticolo-
nial movements in late 19th-century Iran, which
spawned more radical Shii activism in the 20th
century, not only in Iran, but also in Lebanon,
Iraq, and the wider Persian Gulf region. This is
evident in the rise of the daaWa party in Iraq, the
establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in
1979 under the leadership of Ayatollah rUhollah
khomeini (d. 1989), and the formation of hizbUl-
lah in southern Lebanon in response to the Israeli
invasion of 1982. Moreover, sUicide bombingsK 626 Shiism