1.
Shia Islam
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Shia is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor. Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor, instead they consider Abu Bakr to be the correct Caliph. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias of Ali, Shias or the Shia as a collective or Shii individually, Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam, in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the worlds Muslim population. Twelver Shia is the largest branch of Shia Islam, in 2012 it was estimated that perhaps 85 percent of Shias were Twelvers. Shia Islam is based on the Quran and the message of Muhammad attested in hadith, Shia consider Ali to have been divinely appointed as the successor to Muhammad, and as the first Imam. The word Shia means follower and is the form of the historic phrase shīʻatu ʻAlī, meaning followers of Ali, faction of Ali. Shia and Shiism are forms used in English, while Shiite or Shiite, as well as Shia, the term for the first time was used at the time of Muhammad. At present, the word refers to the Muslims who believe that the leadership of the community after Muhammad belongs to Ali, nawbakhti states that the term Shia refers to a group of Muslims that at the time of Muhammad and after him regarded Ali as the Imam and Caliph. Al-Shahrastani expresses that the term Shia refers to those who believe that Ali is designated as the Heir, Imam and caliph by Muhammad, for the Shia, this conviction is implicit in the Quran and history of Islam. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing, Shia search for the true meaning of the revelation to get the purpose of the life blood and the human destiny. Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone and they believe God chose Ali to be Muhammads successor, infallible, the first caliph of Islam. The Shias believe that Muhammad designated Ali as his successor by Gods command, Ali was Muhammads first cousin and closest living male relative as well as his son-in-law, having married Muhammads daughter Fatimah. Ali would eventually become the fourth Muslim caliph, after the Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad ordered the gathering of Muslims at the pond of Khumm and it was there that Shia Muslims believe Muhammad nominated Ali to be his successor. The hadith of the pond of Khumm was narrated on 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah of 10 AH in the Islamic calendar at a place called Ghadir Khumm, located near the city of al-Juhfah, Saudi Arabia. Muhammad there stated, Shia Muslims believe this to be Muhammads appointment of Ali as his successor, when Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali and Muhammads closest relatives made the funeral arrangements. While they were preparing his body, Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali and his family accepted the appointment for the sake of unity in the early Muslim community. Alis rule over the early Muslim community was often contested, as a result, he had to struggle to maintain his power against the groups who betrayed him after giving allegiance to his succession, or those who wished to take his position. This dispute eventually led to the First Fitna, which was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate, the Fitna began as a series of revolts fought against Ali ibn Abi Talib, caused by the assassination of his political predecessor, Uthman ibn Affan
2.
Sunni Islam
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Sunni Islam is the largest group of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Sunni tradition, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and this contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts, as of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted between 87–90% of the worlds Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the worlds largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites, Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as orthodox Islam. The Quran, together with hadith and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, sunnī, also commonly referred to as Sunnīism, is a term derived from sunnah meaning habit, usual practice, custom, tradition. The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic, this branch of Islam is referred to as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, the people of the sunnah and the community, which is commonly shortened to ahl as-sunnah. One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammads death, and that Sufism and Shiism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines, the first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or Rightly-Guided Ones. Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar who established the Islamic calendar as the second, Uthman as the third, Sunnis believe that the companions of Muhammad were the best of Muslims. Support for this view is found in the Quran, according to Sunnis. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Quran, furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, Islam does not have a formal hierarchy or clergy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law, according to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a person to lead the service
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Demography
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Demography is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. As a very general science, it can analyse any kind of dynamic living population, Demography encompasses the study of the size, structure, and distribution of these populations, and spatial or temporal changes in them in response to birth, migration, ageing, and death. Based on the research of the earth, earths population up to the year 2050 and 2100 can be estimated by demographers. Demographics are quantifiable characteristics of a given population, demographic analysis can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as education, nationality, religion, and ethnicity. Educational institutions usually treat demography as a field of sociology, though there are a number of independent demography departments, demographic thoughts can be traced back to antiquity, and were present in many civilizations and cultures, like Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, India and China. In ancient Greece, this can be found in the writings of Herodotus, Thucidides, Hippocrates, Epicurus, Protagoras, Polus, Plato and Aristotle. In Rome, writers and philosophers like Cicero, Seneca, Pliny the elder, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Cato, in the Middle ages, Christian thinkers devoted much time in refuting the Classical ideas on demography. Important contributors to the field were William of Conches, Bartholomew of Lucca, William of Auvergne, William of Pagula, and Ibn Khaldun. One of the earliest demographic studies in the period was Natural and Political Observations Made upon the Bills of Mortality by John Graunt. Among the studys findings were that one third of the children in London died before their sixteenth birthday, mathematicians, such as Edmond Halley, developed the life table as the basis for life insurance mathematics. Richard Price was credited with the first textbook on life contingencies published in 1771, followed later by Augustus de Morgan, at the end of the 18th century, Thomas Robert Malthus concluded that, if unchecked, populations would be subject to exponential growth. He feared that population growth would tend to outstrip growth in production, leading to ever-increasing famine. He is seen as the father of ideas of overpopulation. Later, more sophisticated and realistic models were presented by Benjamin Gompertz, the period 1860-1910 can be characterized as a period of transition wherein demography emerged from statistics as a separate field of interest. There are two types of data collection—direct and indirect—with several different methods of each type, direct data comes from vital statistics registries that track all births and deaths as well as certain changes in legal status such as marriage, divorce, and migration. In developed countries with good registration systems, registry statistics are the best method for estimating the number of births and deaths, a census is the other common direct method of collecting demographic data. A census is conducted by a national government and attempts to enumerate every person in a country. Analyses are conducted after a census to estimate how much over or undercounting took place and these compare the sex ratios from the census data to those estimated from natural values and mortality data
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Population
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A population is the number of all the organisms of the same group or species, which live in a particular geographical area, and have the capability of interbreeding. In sociology, population refers to a collection of humans, Demography is a social science which entails the statistical study of human populations. This article refers mainly to human population, in population genetics a sexual population is a set of organisms in which any pair of members can breed together. This means that they can regularly exchange gametes to produce normally-fertile offspring and this also implies that all members belong to the same species. If the gamodeme is very large, and all gene alleles are uniformly distributed by the gametes within it, however, there may be low frequencies of exchange with these neighbours. This may be viewed as the breaking up of a sexual population into smaller overlapping sexual populations. The overall rise in homozygosity is quantified by the inbreeding coefficient, note that all homozygotes are increased in frequency – both the deleterious and the desirable. The mean phenotype of the collection is lower than that of the panmictic original – which is known as inbreeding depression. It is most important to note, however, that some lines will be superior to the panmictic original, while some will be about the same. The probabilities of each can be estimated from those binomial equations, in plant and animal breeding, procedures have been developed which deliberately utilise the effects of dispersion. It can be shown that dispersion-assisted selection leads to the greatest genetic advance and this is so for both allogamous and autogamous gamodemes. In ecology, the population of a species in a certain area can be estimated using the Lincoln Index. As of todays date, the population is estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 7.496 billion. The US Census Bureau estimates the 7 billion number was surpassed on 12 March 2012, according to papers published by the United States Census Bureau, the world population hit 6.5 billion on 24 February 2006. The United Nations Population Fund designated 12 October 1999 as the day on which world population reached 6 billion. This was about 12 years after world population reached 5 billion in 1987, the population of countries such as Nigeria, is not even known to the nearest million, so there is a considerable margin of error in such estimates. Researcher Carl Haub calculated that a total of over 100 billion people have probably been born in the last 2000 years, Population growth increased significantly as the Industrial Revolution gathered pace from 1700 onwards. In 2007 the United Nations Population Division projected that the population will likely surpass 10 billion in 2055
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Yemen
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Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen, is an Arab country in Western Asia, occupying South Arabia, the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is the second-largest country in the peninsula, occupying 527,970 km2, the coastline stretches for about 2,000 km. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the south, although Yemens constitutionally stated capital is the city of Sanaa, the city has been under rebel control since February 2015. Because of this, Yemens capital has been relocated to the port city of Aden. Yemens territory includes more than 200 islands, the largest of these is Socotra, Yemen was the home of the Sabaeans, a trading state that flourished for over a thousand years and probably also included parts of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 AD, the region came under the rule of the later Jewish-influenced Himyarite Kingdom, Christianity arrived in the fourth century, whereas Judaism and local paganism were already established. Islam spread quickly in the century and Yemenite troops were crucial in the expansion of the early Islamic conquests. Administration of Yemen has long been notoriously difficult, several dynasties emerged from the ninth to 16th centuries, the Rasulid dynasty being the strongest and most prosperous. The country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires in the twentieth century. The Zaydi Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established after World War I in North Yemen before the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962, South Yemen remained a British protectorate known as the Aden Protectorate until 1967 when it became an independent state and later, a Marxist state. The two Yemeni states united to form the modern republic of Yemen in 1990, Yemen is a developing country, and the poorest country in the Middle East. Under the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen was described as a kleptocracy, according to the 2009 international corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, Yemen ranked 164 out of 182 countries surveyed. President Saleh stepped down and the powers of the presidency were transferred to Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the transitional process was disrupted by conflicts between the Houthis and al-Islah, as well as the al-Qaeda insurgency. In September 2014, the Houthis took over Sanaa, later declaring themselves in control of the government in a coup détat, since then, a Saudi-led intervention has taken place, however, it could not stop the civil war. Instead, the Saudis and the others have destroyed some hospitals, schools and homes, Yemen was mentioned in Old South Arabian inscriptions as Yamnat. In Arabic literature, the term includes much greater territory than that of the republic of Yemen. It stretches from the northern Asir Region in southwestern Saudi Arabia to Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman, one etymology derives Yemen from yumn, meaning felicity, as much of the country is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix, as opposed to Arabia Deserta, al-Yaman significantly plays on the notion of the land to the right, when in Mecca facing the dawn, complementary to Al-Sham, the Land to the Left, referring to the Levant
6.
Population density
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Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume, it is a quantity of type number density. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and most of the time to humans and it is a key geographical term. Population density is population divided by land area or water volume. Low densities may cause a vortex and lead to further reduced fertility. This is called the Allee effect after the scientist who identified it, commonly this may be calculated for a county, city, country, another territory, or the entire world. The worlds population is around 7,000,000,000, therefore, the worldwide human population density is around 7,000,000,000 ÷510,000,000 =13.7 per km2. If only the Earths land area of 150,000,000 km2 is taken into account and this includes all continental and island land area, including Antarctica. If Antarctica is also excluded, then population density rises to over 50 people per km2, thus, this number by itself does not give any helpful measurement of human population density. Several of the most densely populated territories in the world are city-states, microstates, cities with high population densities are, by some, considered to be overpopulated, though this will depend on factors like quality of housing and infrastructure and access to resources. Most of the most densely populated cities are in Southeast Asia, though Cairo, for instance, Milwaukee has a greater population density when just the inner city is measured, and the surrounding suburbs excluded. Arithmetic density, The total number of people / area of land, physiological density, The total population / area of arable land. Agricultural density, The total rural population / area of arable land, residential density, The number of people living in an urban area / area of residential land. Urban density, The number of people inhabiting an urban area / total area of urban land, ecological optimum, The density of population that can be supported by the natural resources. S. States by population density Selected Current and Historic City, Ward & Neighborhood Density
7.
Ethnic group
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An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive
8.
Arabs
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Arabs are an ethnic group inhabiting the Arab world. They primarily live in the Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabs are first mentioned in the mid-ninth century BCE as a tribal people dwelling in the central Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, tradition holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The Arabian Desert is the birthplace of Arab, there are other Arab groups as well that spread in the land and existed for millennia. Before the expansion of the Caliphate, Arab referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic people from the northern to the central Arabian Peninsula and Syrian Desert. Presently, Arab refers to a number of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to spread of Arabs throughout the region during the early Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. The Arabs forged the Rashidun, Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and this was one of the largest land empires in history. The Great Arab Revolt has had as big an impact on the modern Middle East as the World War I, the war signaled the end of the Ottoman Empire. They are modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall and defeat, following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland whilst respecting the sovereignty of its member states. Beyond the boundaries of the League of Arab States, Arabs can also be found in the global diaspora, the ties that bind Arabs are ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical and political. The Arabs have their own customs, language, architecture, art, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports, the total number of Arabs are an estimated 450 million. This makes them the second largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese. Arabs are a group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. In the pre-Islamic era, most Arabs followed polytheistic religions, some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, apparently observed monotheism. Today, Arabs are mainly adherents of Islam, with sizable Christian minorities, Arab Muslims primarily belong to the Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Alawite, Druze and Ismaili denominations. Arab Christians generally follow one of the Eastern Christian Churches, such as the Maronite, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, or Chaldean churches. Listed among the booty captured by the army of king Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the Battle of Qarqar are 1000 camels of Gi-in-di-buu the ar-ba-a-a or Gindibu belonging to the Arab
9.
Tribe
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A tribe is viewed, developmentally or historically, as a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states. A tribe is a group of people, dependent on their land for their livelihood, who are largely self-sufficient. It is perhaps the term most readily understood and used by the general public, stephen Corry defines tribal people as those who. have followed ways of life for many generations that are largely self-sufficient, and are clearly different from the mainstream and dominant society. There are a one hundred and fifty million tribal individuals worldwide. Although nearly all people are indigenous, some are not indigenous to the areas where they now live. The distinction between tribal and indigenous is important because tribal peoples have a special status acknowledged in international law and they often face particular issues in addition to those faced by the wider category of indigenous peoples. Many people used the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of social, especially familial, a customary tribe in these terms is a face-to-face community, relatively bound by kinship relations, reciprocal exchange, and strong ties to place. Tribe is a term due to its roots of being defined by outsiders during the period of colonialism. The word has no shared referent, whether in political form, some argue that it conveys a negative connotation of a timeless unchanging past. To avoid these implications, some have chosen to use the ethnic group. In some places, such as India and North America, tribes are polities that have granted legal recognition. The English word tribe occurs in 12th-century Middle English-literature as referring to one of the tribes of Israel. The Ramnes were named after Romulus, leader of the Latins, Tities after Titus Tatius, leader of the Sabines, according to Livy, the three tribes were squadrons of knights, rather than ethnic divisions. The terms ultimate etymology is uncertain, perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European roots tri-, in 242–240 BC, the Tribal Assembly in the Roman Republic included 35 tribes. The Latin word as used in the Bible translates as Greek phyle, race, tribe, clan, in the historical sense, tribe, race and clan can be used interchangeably. Considerable debate has accompanied efforts to define and characterize tribes, scholars perceive differences between pre-state tribes and contemporary tribes, there is also general controversy over cultural evolution and colonialism. In the popular imagination, tribes reflect a way of life that predates, tribes also privilege primordial social ties, are clearly bounded, homogeneous, parochial, and stable. Tribes are an organization among families, which generates a social and ideological basis for solidarity that is in some way more limited than that of a group or of a nation
10.
Zaidiyyah
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Zaidiyyah or Zaidism is a Muslim sect which emerged in the eighth century out of Shia Islam. Zaidis are named after Zayd ibn ʻAlī, the grandson of Husayn ibn ʻAlī who they recognize as the fifth Imam, followers of the Zaydi Islamic jurisprudence are called Zaydi Shia and make up about 35-40% of Muslims in Yemen. The Zaydi madhab emerged in reverence of Zayd’s failed uprising against the Ummayad Caliph, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, which set a precedent for revolution against corrupt rulers. It might be said that Zaydis find it difficult to remain passive in an unjust world, or in the words of a modern influential Zaydi leader, Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, Zaydis were the oldest branch of the Shia and are currently the second largest group after Twelvers. Zaidis do not believe in the infallibility of Imāms, but promote their leadership, Zaydis believe that Zayd ibn Ali in his last hour was betrayed by the people in Kufa. Zaydis as of 2014 constitute roughly 0. 5% of the worlds Muslim population, in matters of Islamic jurisprudence, the Zaydis follow Zayd ibn ’Alis teachings which are documented in his book Majmu’ al-Fiqh. Zaydi fiqh is similar to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, Abu Hanifa, a Sunni madhab shaykh, was favorable and even donated towards the Zaydi cause. In matters of theology, the Zaydis are close to the Mutazili school, There are a few issues between both schools, most notably the Zaydi doctrine of the Imamate, which is rejected by the Mutazilites. Of the Shia, Zaydis are most similar to Sunnis since Zaydism shares similar doctrines, like all Muslims, the Zaydi Shia affirm the fundamental tenet of Islam known as the Shahada or testament of faith – There is no god but Allah and Muhammed is his messenger. Traditionally, the Zaydi believe that Muslims who commit major sins without remorse should not be considered Muslims nor be considered kafirs and these Shia called themselves Zaydi so they could differentiate themselves from other Shiis who refused to take up arms with Zayd ibn Ali. Zaydis believe Zayd ibn Ali was the successor to the Imamate because he led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Muhammad al-Baqir did not engage in action and the followers of Zayd believed that a true Imām must fight against corrupt rulers. The renowned Muslim jurist Abu Hanifa who is credited for the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam and he also urged people in secret to join the uprising and delivered funds to Zayd. The earliest group, called Jarudiyya, was opposed to the approval of certain companions of Muhammad and they held that there was sufficient description given by the Prophet that all should have recognised Ali as the rightful Caliph. They therefore consider the Companions wrong in failing to recognise Ali as the legitimate Caliph and deny legitimacy to Abu Bakr, Umar and Usman, however and they further condemn two other companions of Muhammad, Talhah and Zubayr ibn al-Awam, for their initial uprising against Caliph Ali. The Jarudiyya were active during the late Umayyad Caliphate and early Abbasid Caliphate, the second group, the Sulaymaniyya, named for Sulayman ibn Jarir, held that the Imamate should be a matter to be decided by consultation. They felt that the companions, including Abu Bakr and Umar, had been in error in failing to follow Ali, the third group is known as the Tabiriyya, Butriyya or Salihiyya for Kathir an-Nawa al-Abtar and Hasan ibn Salih. Their beliefs are virtually identical to those of the Sulaymaniyya, except they see Uthman also as in error, Zayd bitterly scolds the rejectors who deserted him, an appellation used by Sunnis and Zaydis to refer to Twelver Shiites to this day
11.
Al-Akhdam
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Al-Akhdam, Akhdam or Achdam is a minority social group in Yemen. According to official estimates, the Akhdam numbered between 500,000 and 3,500,000 individuals, the exact origins of Al-Akhdam are uncertain. One popular belief holds that they are descendants of Nilotic Sudanese people who accompanied the Abyssinian army during the occupation of Yemen in the pre-Islamic period. Once the Abyssinian troops were expelled at the start of the Muslim era, some of the Sudanese migrants are said to have remained behind. This belief, however, was denied and described as a myth by Hamud al-Awdi, another theory maintains that they are of Veddoid origin. The Akhdam are generally shorter and darker than typical Yemenis, and can also be distinguished from the majority by its members Veddoid-like physical features, genetic studies by Lehmann and Tobias further noted the sickle cell trait at high frequencies amongst the Akhdam. According to Lehmann, this suggests a link with the Veddoids of South Asia. Anthropologists such as Vombruck postulate that Yemens history and social hierarchy that developed under various regimes, till today, the Al-Akhdam people exists at the very bottom of Yemeni social strata. The Al-Akhdam community suffers from extreme discrimination, persecution, and social exclusion from the mainstream Yemeni society, intermarriages between the conventional Yemeni society with the Akhdam community are taboo and virtually prohibited, as the Al-Akhdam are deemed as untouchables. Men who do marry into the community risk banishment by their families and those who are unemployed, most of whom are women, usually resort to begging. Even the Akhdam people who are employed are not spared from discrimination, Akhdam street sweepers are rarely granted contracts even after decades of work, despite the fact that all Yemeni civil servants are supposed to be granted contracts after six months. They receive no benefits, and almost no time off, the Akhdam reside in slum districts that are generally isolated from the rest of Yemeni society. It is next to impossible for the Akhdam people to shelter with even the most basic amenities such as electricity, running water. Accordingly, Akhdam generally live in small huts haphazardly built of wood, due to poverty and the unsanitary living conditions, the Akhdam people are vulnerable to preventable diseases. The death rates from preventable diseases are worse than the average in Yemen. Many Al-Akhdam children suffer from such as dyspnoea, malaria and polio. The reported infant mortality rate is described as appalling. Out of the deaths reported in an Akhdam shantytown over a year, about a half were children under the age of 5, studies by Al-Serouri et al. further report a poorer understanding of HIV risks amongst the Al-Akhdam community
12.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
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Somalia
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Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, Somalia has the longest coastline on Africas mainland, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Climatically, hot conditions prevail year-round, with monsoon winds. Somalia has an population of around 12.3 million. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis, who have inhabited the northern part of the country. Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated in the southern regions, the official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, both of which belong to the Afroasiatic family. Most people in the country are Muslim, with the majority being Sunni, in antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial centre. It is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt, during the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Empire, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, and the Geledi Sultanate. The toponym Somalia was coined by the Italian explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti, Italian occupation lasted until 1941, yielding to British military administration. British Somaliland would remain a protectorate, while Italian Somaliland in 1949 became a United Nations Trusteeship under Italian administration, in 1960, the two regions united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. The Supreme Revolutionary Council seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic, led by Mohamed Siad Barre, this government later collapsed in 1991 as the Somali Civil War broke out. Various armed factions began competing for influence in the power vacuum, during this period, due to the absence of a central government, Somalia was a failed state, and residents returned to customary and religious law in most regions. A few autonomous regions, including the Somaliland and Puntland administrations emerged in the north, the early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations. The Transitional National Government was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government in 2004, in 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nations southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union. The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups such as Al-Shabaab, by mid-2012, the insurgents had lost most of the territory that they had seized. In 2011–2012, a political process providing benchmarks for the establishment of permanent democratic institutions was launched, within this administrative framework a new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012, which reformed Somalia as a federation. Somalia has maintained an informal economy, mainly based on livestock, remittances from Somalis working abroad, Somalia has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic. During the Stone Age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here, the oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BCE
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Ethiopia
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Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With nearly 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and it occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres, and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa. Some of the oldest evidence for modern humans has been found in Ethiopia. It is widely considered as the region from modern humans first set out for the Middle East. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era, tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history. During the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, subsequently, many African nations adopted the colors of Ethiopias flag following their independence. It was the first independent African member of the 20th-century League of Nations, Ethiopias ancient Geez script, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar, which is seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar, co-exists alongside the Borana calendar. A slight majority of the population adheres to Christianity, while around a third follows Islam, the country is the site of the Migration to Abyssinia and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. A substantial population of Ethiopian Jews, known as Bete Israel, resided in Ethiopia until the 1980s, Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80 ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromiffa, Amhara, Somali, and Tigrayans. Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches, additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by the nations Nilotic ethnic minorities. Ethiopia is the place of origin for the coffee bean which originated from the place called Kefa and it is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast fertile West, jungles, and numerous rivers, and the worlds hottest settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian Highlands are Africas largest continuous mountain ranges, and Sof Omar Caves contain Africas largest cave, Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. Ethiopia is one of the members of the UN, the Group of 24, the Non-Aligned Movement, G-77. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ethiopia suffered from civil wars, the country has begun to recover recently however, and now has the largest economy in East Africa and Central Africa. According to Global Fire Power, Ethiopia has the 42nd most powerful military in the world, the origin of the word Ethiopia is uncertain
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Refugees of the Syrian Civil War
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In January 2017, UNHCR counted 4,863,684 registered refugees. Turkey is the largest host country of registered refugees with over 2.7 million Syrian refugees, assistance to internally displaced persons within Syria, and Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, is planning largely through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2016, pledges have been made to the UNHCR, by various nations, the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen inspired protests in Syria, followed by Syrian Army intervention. By May it was estimated that no more than 300 Syrian refugees had crossed into Turkey, Turkey set up a small camp for those refugees and reported it was preparing for a worst-case scenario should refugee numbers increase. By mid-May, about 700 refugees from Tel Kazakh had fled into Lebanon, with the siege of Jisr al-Shughour, the situation on the Turkish-Syrian border deteriorated and thousands fled in anticipation of a Syrian Army attack. Initially it was reported that about 2,500 Syrians crossed the border, the number of refugees housed in Turkish camps exceed 10,000 by mid June, and was estimated at 8,500 in Lebanon where the total refugee population was estimated at over 20,000. As Syrian troops amassed at the Turkish border, the flow increased to hundreds of refugees a day by 23 June, by early July over 15,000 Syrians had sought refuge in Turkey. More than 5,000 returned to Syria, leaving around 10,227 Syrian refugees in Turkey, registered refugees in Lebanon reached 2,600 by the end of August, with thousands more residing in Lebanon illegally. According to Al-Arabiya, some 2,500 Syrians resided in the Wadi Khaled area, most of Syrian refugees in the area were Arabs and Bedouins. A humanitarian aid campaign was launched by Baitulmaal, despite the repatriation of many Syrians between July and August, in early September Turkey began setting up six refugee camps – some 6,000 out of initial 15,000 refugees remained in Turkey. By November the number of refugees in Turkey stood at 7,600 and had reached almost 5,000 in Lebanon, by mid-December, the number of refugees in Jordan was around 1,500 registered and possibly thousands more unregistered. By the end of 2011, it was reported that thousands of refugees had found shelter in Libya, early in the year Lebanon reported 5,000 refugees and Turkey 9,700. Israel announced preparations to accommodate Alawite Syrian refugees in the Golan Heights, Jordan opened a camp for 3,000 refugees. By March, fighting in Homs, and along the Lebanese border, forced 2,000 Syrians to flee into Lebanon, UN registered refugees in Turkeys Hatay Province reach 13,500 with thousands more elsewhere. Turkish officials anticipated as many as 50,000 new arrivals and begin constructing camps in Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep, Jordan reported as many as 80,000 arrivals and had enrolled 5,000 Syrian students in state schools. Refugees in the Kurdish region of Iraq reached 1,000 and were offered shelter, ethnic Kurdish refugees were offered military training to protect Kurdish-majority territories in Syria. The April offensive by the Syrian Army, preceding the 10 April ceasefire under the Kofi Annan peace plan, over 5,000 arrive on 4–5 April. Bringing the total in Turkey to 25,000, Turkey demanded Syria abide by the ceasefire, and more support from the international community
16.
Mehri language
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Mehri or Mahri is a member of the Modern South Arabian languages, a subgroup of the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. It is spoken by the Mehri people, who inhabit isolated areas of the part of Yemen and western Oman. Mehri and its sister Modern South Arabian languages were spoken in the southern Arabian Peninsula before the spread of Arabic along with Islam in the 7th century CE. It is today spoken by Mehri residents in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Given the dominance of Arabic in the region over the past 1400 years and it is primarily a spoken language, with little existing vernacular literature and almost no literacy in the written form among native speakers. Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani noted that the Mahra speak a tongue like foreigners. Elsewhere, Hamdani showed extensive knowledge of Arabian dialects, each of which was rated in its distance from classical Arabic, today, Mehri exists in two main dialects, Yemeni Mehri and Omani Mehri. Omani Mehri is spoken by a population and shows no significant variation within itself. Unlike other Modern South Arabian languages, Mehri emphatic consonants are not simply ejectives, the consonant inventory is as follows, Voiced obstruents, or at least voiced stops, devoice in pausa. In this position, both the voiced and emphatic stops are ejective, losing the three-way contrast, elsewhere, the emphatic and the voiced stops are pharyngealized. Emphatic fricatives have a pattern, and in non-pre-pausal position they are partially voiced. The difference in place of the laterals is not clear and it may be that the approximant is denti-alveolar, like the alveolar occlusives, and the lateral fricatives apical, or it may be that the latter are palato-alveolar or alveolo-palatal. The fricatives are typically transcribed ś, etc, /dʒ/ is only in Arabic loans. It is not clear if the rhotic is a trill or a tap, the following are the personal pronouns of Mahri, The independent pronouns can also be placed after the genitive exponent to convert them into possessive pronouns. Soqotri language Shehri language Rubin, Aaron, examples of Mehri poetry from Hadramut forum ELAR archive of Mehri language documentation materials
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Religion in Yemen
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There are also approximately 3,000 Christians,50 Jews. Jews are the oldest Abrahamic religious minority, nearly all of the countrys once-sizable Jewish population has emigrated. As of 2008, fewer than 400 Jews remain in the part of the country. The community has abandoned its synagogues in Saada, as of 2008, there was at least one functioning synagogue in Amran Governorate. As of 2014, fewer than 200 Jews remain in Yemen, there are 3,000 Christians throughout the country, most of whom are refugees or temporary foreign residents. There are four churches in Aden, three Roman Catholic and one Anglican, ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church services also take place weekly in Sanaa, Aden, and other cities. Among religious minorities, approximately 1,000 Christians and most Jews actively participated in some form of religious service or ritual. Invited by the Government, the Sisters of Charity run homes for the poor and persons with disabilities in Sanaa, Taiz, Hodeida, a Swedish mission organization runs a technical school for the disabled and poor in Taiz. There was also a mission in Saada, but in January 2007. It is believed that they remained in the region to provide assistance to victims of the violence. Another mission operated two charitable clinics in Aden, in spite of the lack of freedom of religion in Yemen, a 2015 estimates some 400 Christians from a Muslim background, though not all of these individuals are necessarily Yemeni citizens. Neither the Constitution nor other laws protect freedom of religion, the Constitution declares that Islam is the state religion, and that Sharia is the source of all legislation. Muslims and followers of religious groups other than Islam are free to worship according to their beliefs, but the Government prohibits conversion from Islam, Jewish residents of Amran Governorate reportedly experienced increased harassment by a small group of their Muslim neighbors. Some prominent Zaydi Muslims reported they felt targeted by government entities for their religious affiliation, public schools provide instruction in Islam but not in other religions, although Muslim citizens are allowed to attend private schools that do not teach Islam. Islam in Yemen Christianity in Yemen Yemenite Jews
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Islam in Yemen
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Islam in Yemen dates back to about 630 when it was introduced into the region by Ali when Muhammad was still alive. It was during this period that the mosques in Janad and the Great Mosque of Sanaa were built, yemenis are divided into two principal Islamic religious groups, 50-55% Sunni and 42%-47% Shia. The denominations are as follows, 50-55% primarily of the Shafii, 20% of the Zaidi order of Shia Islam, 2-5% of the Jafari and Western Ismaili orders of Shia Islam. The Sunnis are predominantly in the south and southeast, the Zaidis are predominantly in the north and northwest whilst the Jafaris are in the main centres of the North such as Sanaa and Marib. There are mixed communities in the larger cities, nevertheless, Zaidis are still overrepresented in the government and, in particular, in the former North Yemeni units within the armed forces. Public schools provide instruction in Islam but not in other religions, freedom of religion in Yemen Islam by country Islamic history of Yemen Religion in Yemen Media related to Islam in Yemen at Wikimedia Commons
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Yemenite Jews
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Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen. The term may refer to the descendants of the Yemenite Jewish community. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the majority of Yemens Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet. After several waves of persecution throughout Yemen, most Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, while small communities are found in the United States, only a handful remain in Yemen. The few remaining Jews experience intense, and at times violent, Yemenite Jews have a unique religious tradition that marks them out as separate from Ashkenazi, Sephardi and other Jewish groups. Some Jewish families have preserved traditions relating to their tribal affiliation, in Yemen, for example, some Jews trace their lineage to Judah, others to Benjamin, while yet others to Levi and Reuben. Of particular interest is one distinguished Jewish family of Yemen who traced their lineage to Bani, one of the sons of Peretz, there are numerous accounts and traditions concerning the arrival of Jews in various regions in Southern Arabia. One tradition suggests that King Solomon sent Jewish merchant marines to Yemen to prospect for gold, another legend says that Yemeni tribes converted to Judaism after the Queen of Shebas visit to king Solomon. The Sanaite Jews have a tradition that their ancestors settled in Yemen forty-two years before the destruction of the First Temple and it is said that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Jews, including priests and Levites, traveled to Yemen. Another legend states that when Ezra commanded the Jews to return to Jerusalem they disobeyed, according to this legend, as a punishment for this hasty action Ezra was denied burial in Israel. As a result of local tradition, which can not be validated historically, it is said that no Jew of Yemen gives the name of Ezra to a child. The Yemenite Jews claim that Ezra cursed them to be a people for not heeding his call. This seems to have come true in the eyes of some Yemenites, however, some Yemenite sages in Israel today emphatically reject this story as myth, if not outright blasphemy. Archaeological records referring to Judaism in Yemen started to appear during the rule of the Himyarite Kingdom, various inscription in Musnad script in the second century CE refer to constructions of synagogues approved by Himyarite Kings. According to local legends, the kingdoms aristocracy converted to Judaism in the 6th century CE, the Christian missionary, Theophilos, who came to Yemen in the mid-fourth century, complained that he had found great numbers of Jews. By 380 A. D, Himyarites religious practices have undergone fundamental changes, the inscriptions were no longer addressed to El Maqah or Athtar, but to a single deity called Rahman. Debate among scholars continues as to whether the Himyarite monotheism was influenced by Judaism or Christianity. Jews became especially numerous and powerful in the part of Arabia, a rich and fertile land of incense and spices and a way station on the routes to Africa, India
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Hinduism in Yemen
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There are many Hindus in Arab states, many due to the migration of Indians and Nepalese workers to the oil-rich states around the Persian Gulf. Hindu temples have been built in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, millions of Indian diaspora, of different religions, reside and work in the Arab countries. It is not known whether any Hindu temples exist in these countries, Indian settlers came in Oman making settlements for practising Hinduism. Arab sailors were using the southwest monsoon winds to trade with western Indian ports before the first century CE, an Arab army conquered Sindh in 711 and Arab traders settled in Kerala in the 8th century. In the opposite direction, medieval Gujaratis and other Indians traded extensively with Arab and Somali ports, including Ormuz, Socotra, Mogadishu, Merca, Barawa, Hobyo and Aden. Arab merchants were the dominant carriers of Indian Ocean trade until the Portuguese forcibly supplanted them at the end of the 15th century, indo-Arabian links were renewed under the British Empire, when many Indians serving in the army or civil service were stationed in Arab lands such as Sudan. The current wave of Indian immigration to the Arab states of the Persian Gulf dates roughly to the 1960s, Hinduism is also one of the fastest growing religions in the Middle East. Mainly by immigration from the Indian Subcontinent, South Asians in the United Arab Emirates constitute the largest ethnic group in the country. Over 2 million Indian migrants are estimated to be living in the UAE, a majority of Indians live in the three largest cities of the UAE — Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. In the 2 million migrants,1 million are from Kerala and 450,000 from Tamil Nadu, by 1999, the population of Indian migrants in the UAE, which stood at 170,000 in 1975, was at 750,000. The estimated population of Indians in the UAE as of 2009 is near 2 million, Indians constitute 42% of the total UAE population. A majority of Indians in the UAE are from the South Indian state of Kerala, the majority of Indians are Muslim, followed by Christian and Hindu. Estimates suggest Hindu population in UAE to be anywhere from 6-10% There are three Hindu temples operating in rented buildings in Dubai, one of which is used by Sikhs as well. Sikhs and Hindus living in Abu Dhabi also practice their religion in private homes, There are two operating cremation facilities and associated cemeteries for the Hindu community, one in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai. Oman has an immigrant Hindu minority, the number of Hindus has declined in the 20th century although it is now stable. Hinduism first came to Muscat in 1507 from Sindh, the original Hindus spoke Kutchi language. By early 19th century there were at least 4,000 Hindus in Oman, by 1900, there numbers had plummeted to 300. In 1895 the Hindu colony in Muscat came under attack by the Ibadhis, by the time of independence, only a few dozen Hindus remained in Oman
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Christianity in Yemen
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Christianity is a minority religion in Yemen. The Yemeni constitution mentions religious liberty, there are 3 churches in Aden. According to different statistics the number of Christians in Yemen ranges between 25,000 to 41,000, there are about 4000 Catholics in Yemen, who belong to the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia. The World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, Volume 1, states the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, in Aden there are three Catholic churches and one Anglican church. In Sana there are weekly Protestant services, Christian missions from several countries are active in Yemen. There are hospitals that belong to foreign Christian institutions, protestants make up less than 1% of the population of Yemen. An American Baptist congregation is affiliated with a hospital in Jibla, the Anglican Church runs two charitable clinics in Aden. Some say that the relations between Christians and Muslims contribute to religious freedom, society would work on having them enter Islam. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is not legally recognized by the state, a 2015 study estimates that there are 400 Christians from a Muslim background in the country. Roman Catholicism in Yemen Protestantism in Yemen Missionaries of Charity attack in Aden
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Islam
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Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
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Shafi`i
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The Shafii madhhab is one of the four schools of Islamic law in Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi‘i, a pupil of Malik, the other three schools of Sunni jurisprudence are Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali. The Shafi school predominantly relies on the Quran and the Hadiths for Sharia, where passages of Quran and Hadiths are ambiguous, the school first seeks religious law guidance from Ijma – the consensus of Sahabah. If there was no consensus, the Shafii school relies on individual opinion of the companions of Muhammad, the Shafii school was, in the early history of Islam, the most followed ideology for Sharia. However, with the Ottoman Empires expansion and patronage, it was replaced with the Hanafi school in many parts of the Muslim world, the Shafii school of thought stipulates authority to five sources of jurisprudence. Although al-Shafiis legal methodology rejected custom or local practice as a source of law. The Shafii school also rejects two sources of Sharia that are accepted in other schools of Islam - Istihsan and Istislah. The Shafii school rejected these two principles stating that these methods rely on subjective human opinions, its potential for corruption and adjustment to political context, the foundational text for the Shafii school is Al-Risala by the founder of the school, Al-Shafii. It outlines the principles of Shafii fiqh as well as the derived jurisprudence, Al-Risala became an influential book to other Sunni Islam fiqhs as well, as the oldest surviving Arabic work on Islamic legal theory. The Shafii madhhab was spread by Al-Shafii students in Cairo, Mecca and it became widely accepted in early history of Islam. The chief representative of the Iraqi school was Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi, whilst in Khorasan and these two branches merged around Ibn al-Salah and his father, before being reviewed and refined by al-Rafii and al-Nawawi. The Shafii jurisprudence was adopted as the law during the Great Seljuq Empire, Zengid dynasty, Ayyubid dynasty and later the Mamluk Sultanate. It was also adopted by the Kathiri state in Hadhramawt and most of rule of the Sharif of Mecca. The Shafii school is presently predominant in the parts of the Muslim world, Africa, Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, eastern Egypt. Shafii school is the second largest school of Sunni madhhabs by number of adherents, however, a UNC publication considers the Maliki school as second largest, and the Hanafi madhhab the largest, with Shafii as third largest. The demographic data by each fiqh, for nation, are unavailable
. PMID 21260667. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the 
