Publication

This paper presents an outline of some of the features of Twelver Shia Islam as it distinguishes itself today from majority Sunni Islam. It highlights the different approaches of Shia and Sunni Islam toward the issue of religious and political authority. Although the paper focuses on the Twelver Shia, numerically and politically the strongest Shia group, the author also refers to the rather apolitical Ismailis or Sevener Shia, as there are some pockets of these groups in Singapore among the Indian Muslim community. The paper also discusses the status of Shia clerics, the Ulama, vis-à-vis their Sunni colleagues.