Who are the Shiites

Approximately 167 practice the Shiite branch of Islam. Shiites believe that the prophet Ali, Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law was his successor (Shiat Ali = The party of Ali).

According to Shiites upon Ali's death, his eldest son Hassan and the Hossein succeeded him. Hossein met a particularly severe end during a prolonged battle in the dessert outside Karbala where, cut off from water and food, he chose "martyrdom over defeat". The legend of martyrdom was re-fold from generation to generation and the down-trodden in the region, ruled over by a succession of cruel or ineffective rulers, looked back at Hossein's martyrdom as an inspiration for their resistance movements..
Shiite Moslems themselves are divided into different groups, which include the Twelvers (Asna Ashari), The Seveners Israelis and The Fivers, Zaydis. The predominant group are the Twelvers which the region of Iranian and Iraqi suits.
The teachers believe that the12th Iman, Mahdi disappeared for view, only to return if and when necessary. Mahdi is perceived as the only just ruler and all the Shiite clerics derive their roles as his deputies.

Shiite became an official religion more as a political solution than a spiritual one. Iranians, who had been ruled by or at the pleasure of various Arab Khalifs, found a new threat in the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire.

The Safavids Dynasty in Iran, lead by Shah Abbas, recognized Shiism as the official religion of Iran and fanned the flames of religious fanaticism as a means of defending its culture against the Sunni Ottomons.
It is said that in the Safavi Palace, the first ten days of the month of Muharram were marked as days of mourning and commemorate Hussein's martyrdom; and "Ashura" was a special day during this period when the Shah himself would wear black and lead the procession of mourners in the streets.
It is said that the tradition of striking the shoulders with chains has originated with certain old Christian sects. If the photograph below is to be held as evidence of this, one must at the very least ponder this possibility.
The self-flagellation and blood-letting traditions of Shiism began to decrease specially when an edict by the leading scholar Hassan Al Ameli of Syria forbid them. However with the Iranian revolution and birth of the concept of a religious state run by a Faghih or Supreme religious bodies in Iran, the traditions were revived.

Now with the demise of the Baathist regime in Iraq, Shiites find themselves at the zenith of power. Wanting to appear aside and under the banner of pilgrimage, Iraqi Shiites are gathering in hundreds of thousands to pay homage to Hussein and call for the departure of the U.S. from their country