Out of curiosity, you have any links on Shia Muslims I can read up on? What they are, what are their beliefs, what laws do they follow, etc. Please no wikilinks since it's not a valid source per maninthemirror.
I can help you a bit.
Wikipedia for the basic basic rundown, but I'll try to give as much as I can in regards to twelver shias (the main branch), and might be able to give you more regarding the shia muslim theology after the 12 imams
-Before the Prophet died, Shias believe an event known as Ghadeer occurred right after Hajj where the Prophet appointed his cousin Ali ibn Abu Talib as his successor. Imam Ali is the first of the Shia Imams
Note: Do think Imams=Prophets. Two different matters
Following the prophets death, Abu Bakr was declared 1st Caliph/ruler of the Muslims, the issue that split the two sides. Shia means follower, as in the followers of Ali.
Fast forward many years to the beginning of the Umayyad Empire after its founder died and had violated a treaty and precedent to not name his son the next ruler. The new ruler, Yazid, wanted allegiance from a specific number of influential muslims, including Imam Ali's 2nd son, the Prophet's grandson through his mother, Fatima, and the 3rd Imam for Shias (all the same person) Imam Hussain. He fought against the Umayyad Empire in what is called the tragedy of Karbala where he and 72 of his closest companions were killed in modern day Karbala, Iraq. The prophet's family was taken in chains to Damscus and after a long period of time were finally released.
Many historians essentially consider this the main breaking point where Shias began to form their own sect. The importance here was the idea that the prophet's grandson (1 of 2, the other being the 2nd Imam) had been killed by the Umayyads only ~ half a century after his death.
A major aspect for shias is this persecution. The 1st Imam was assassinated while praying. The 3rd died fighting in the tragedy of Karbala. All the others, save the 12th, were poisoned. The 7th, 9th, 10th, and 11th spent large portions of their life in prison.
Shias believe the 12th Imam, Imam Mehdi, shortly after his father's death, went into occultation, first a minor occultation, where overall 4 people stayed in direct contact with him, and then a major occultation, where shias believe he is still alive on the Earth and is the Mahdi/Messiah.
A very important person to the development of the Shia thought and theologt was the 6th Imam, Imam Jafar as Sadiq. He essentially, due to instability in the region thanks to the weakening Umayyad Empire, was able to speak more freely and codified many major aspects of Shia Islam, making the largest Shia school of thought in the Ja'fari School of Thought, which the vast majority of Shias follow today.
This school of thought is split into two main branches, which are what is still relevant for shia beliefs today.
-The first of these are the Akhbari Shias, who don't believe in modern ijtihad, or independent reasoning. Ijtihad basically is when religious scholars will look at the traditions of the Prophet and imams, along with Qu'ran itself (primarily actually) to derive laws and regulations for modern developments. As such, they don't agree with the concept of a marja, which I'll explain next. Akhbaris are mostly a minor group today
Wikipedia said:
Today it is found primarily in the Basra area of southern Iraq (where they form the majority in many districts) although no longer in the city. They are also found in the island nation of Bahrain, Hyderabad, India and different cities of Pakistan[5] Karachi, Sehwan, Hyderabad, Lahore, Faisalabad(Lylpur), Chakwaal, Gojar Khan [6] with reportedly "only a handful of Shi'i ulema" remaining Akhbari "to the present day.".
-The major group here, and the part of this post that if anywhere else, you should pay attention to are the Usuli Shias. They believe that in the absence of the direct presence of the Imam, scholars must use ijtihad to derive solutions for problems regarding Muslims today. These problems can range from how to pray on a plane to how how to pay one's khums, a mandatory tax on 20% of your savings.
However, not any scholar can make a ruling on this.
There are two main shia religious schools: 1 in Qom, Iran, and 1 in Najaf, Iraq. There are other, smaller ones, in cities such as Mashad, Iran, Karbala Iraq, and Damascus, Syria. Students go there to train, and there are a number of positions. From a simple student it takes ~7-10 years to just be allowed to wear the turban designating you as a scholar, and there is still far more studying. I don't remember the entire process, but the status of Ayatullah, which you may have heard of before, is when you are allowed to make ruling for
yourself and are what is called a mujtahid. I forget the process from there to becoming a marja, or grand ayatullah, where you are allowed to make rulings, fatwa, mandatory precautions, etc (there are major differences) for those who follow you. Nevertheless, the whole process is a very long one, not anybody can go and make a fatwa, especially for shia muslims, as this process is generally not challenged if you believe in marjas.
Usuli Shia Muslims believe that when someone becomes of age, they have to pick a marja that they follow based on who, by their research, is the most knowledgeable. The marja with the largest followers is Ayatullah Ali Sistani, who is Najaf, Iraq. When it comes to politics, I don't know his exact position, but he hasn't visibly interfered many times, the two ones coming to mind being when he strongly strongly encouraged all the shia muslims of Iraq to vote and last years when he issued a jihad against ISIS for shia muslim men (who followed him as their marja) in Iraq (only).
Another major theory that I should mention for its influence is Wilayat-al-Faqih, or Guardianship of the Jurists. It was formulated by Ayatullah Khomeini (the one who led the Iranian Revolution) and it states that in the absence of direct contact with the Imam, there must be a singular authority in regards to the political leadership of Islam. This faqih is supposed to come from a highly religious background. Most ayatullahs or marjas have some statement of this theory. The shias that accept it regard Ayatullah Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, as the current faqih. The faqih always holds that title. Note this does not mean they follow that person as their marja.
A major result that comes out of this all is that the Shia sect of Islam is more centralized and has more of a structure (as I understand). There is less of what some other Muslims in the thread were talking about in how people would state any random scholar could at times get away with forming a band of people who believe him, rather than regard the scholars at, say, Al-Azhar University. If I'm off anywhere please feel free to correct me, don;t have as much understanding on this subject. Not to say that there aren't designated Shia terrorist groups, not at all.
On Azih's specific case, I understand, coming from a Shia family too, as Shias are often the primary targets of ISIS. In fact, while all the shias I know consider sunnis muslims, and as far as I know the major marja have all highly highly discouraged/made haram spreading disunity between the two sects, many shias won't consider adherents of wahabbism, salafism, and people in groups such as ISIS muslim whatsoever.
Edit: I'm from a Shia Muslim family. My community is one of these ISIS type bastards favourite god damn targets to be killed. It's fucking frustrating to have outsiders chime in "Ayup, them people are serious about their faith, unlike you" and have to defend myself against that and have to establish my god damn credentials as a serious non cafeteria/cotton candy Muslim when what I should be doing is debunking these Al-Qaeda/Wahhabi inspired murderers.
Fuck it, I'll just go with what he said.
You want to know what ISIS wants? The recognition by other Muslims that they are Muslims and the legitimate caliphs
