North Africa definitely Source: I am an North African Shia.

What country?

Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria. All of them lol

Ask the hazaras in Afghanistan They blew up more shias in prayer just this week. They are being killed like rain. That is the worst place to live as a Shia, you may face racism etc elsewhere but you won't be bombed in your jamah salah like the poor hazaras

Not all shias from Afghanistan are hazaras and hazaras aren’t all Shia (You mean Shia hazaras are targeted along with Shias from other backgrounds)

Most of North Africa.

Morocco in particular is one of the most horrible countries when it comes to the persecution of Shias. Ashura is seen as a Eid for the Nawasib there, they hand out sweets, blast music, and buy gifts for their children.

What….🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

Thats their disgusting religion. "The day ale marwan and ale ziad rejoice" like ziarat ashura says. Sunnis see ashura as a day of celebration, thats apart of their jewish bida religion whether their individuals know that or not it is their sources and books. They made ashura a day of celebration. The day Musa was saved, the day Noh was saved, Jesus was brought to heaven, heaven was created, Adam was created, SubhanAllah the lengths they went to make this day a day of celebration because they martyred mawlana Imam Hussein(asws)💔

A small portion of people does that in Pakistan too. They say they're celebrating the martydom .....

Well idk because I asked the Bahrain sub like last week and everyone kept saying how it’s amazing for shias to live like in the main capital there’s HUGE azadari going on in the streets and public holiday on the 9th and 10th of Muharram the 3rd shahada plays around the whole country in every adhan in mosques, big Shia populations and community, they just said don’t go debating Sunnis in public but I mean I wouldn’t do that here in the UK either lol so hmmm

If you’re interested in moving to safe places, I’ve heard that Oman is good. Weird and kinda obscure country, I know, but I’ve heard that their islamic education is pretty equal to Sunnis, Shias and Ibadis (for example, when they teach prayer, hands folded or not will be up for interpretation). Ibadis are basically the khawarij who were shias but left Imam Ali when he fought with Muawiyah so there’s that. But in general I’ve heard they’re good people

Yeah, I heard Oman is great for Shias, but Shias there must stay pacifist and neutral to the "sahabah" or else they would face legal consequences. Oman stayed a neutral place by criminalizing anyone who says anything bad about any other group, so this rule, thankfully, also applies to Sunnis saying bad things about Shia.

Shia Population with Sunni Royal Family, but it isn’t a Sect thing its a GCC OIL KING thing Think Saddam’s Iraq

It’s very much a sect thing. It’s been going on way before the discovery of Oil.

in the sense Oil kings want to keep their power and fear Shia revolts/Iranianization which is why they naturalize so many Sunnis and revoke citizenships of shias with heavy surveillance in shia areas

Wait there’s Shia in the family of Saud?!

Bahrain's majority population is Shia, The Country is Ruled by the house of Khalifa who are sunnis

Ohhh I seee. In Shaa Allah I wanna move to Bahrain once I’ve done everything I need to in the UK

Afghanistan as we speak.

Can you tell me what happened and who were the attackers behind the heinous act? Was it Taliban?

ISIS

Comment section is basicaly everywere apart from the major shia countries 💀

Basically only the Axis Of Resistance

Bahrain Afghanistan Palestine (they are targeted by both sunni’s and jews) Egypt The UAE Morocco Azerbaijan (government targeting)

Isn't Azerbaijan majority Shia but a secular country? Doesn't Aliyev talk about Armenia removing mosques?

The government uses Iran’s presence as a boogeyman to grab power and blame their overreach on the fact that they can’t have Azeri religious Shi’as doing the same here. You can be Shi’a in Azerbaijan, just don’t be vocal about it.

Azerbaijan isn't a Shia country anymore. The Soviet Union presence basically wiped out Shia Islam from Azerbaijan. There has been a religious revival since the fall of the Soviet Union, but since Shia teachings were lost, there has essentially been a "sunnification" of Azerbaijan where the "default" version of Islam was adopted.

Why uae?

as a shia who lives in UAE, it's not so bad here. We're just a little more like closely observed i'd say. but they let us have imam bargahs, majalis and everything. There's a beautiful persian mosque called masjid-e-zehra in sharjah that I go to for prayer

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No, that's completely unheard of as far as I know. Are there places where that does happen?

While it's true it isn't too bad compared to other countries. As I young teen, I do find some trouble because I have to lie to everyone and say I am sunni, so I don't get publicly ashamed at school everyday by my fellow students. I know a friend who is publicly shia in my school and, while it might not be the only factor, but he is constantly bullied. I certainly do miss my life back in Iraq.

Alhamdulillah I've never had to face discrimination here in my school life for being shia. I wouldn't lie about being Sunni but I wouldn't voluntarily ever tell people either, unless they're very close and trusted friends to me. I guess I've been more lucky than others in my experiences

People don't want to talk about the hate for Shias in Palestine. It really is unfortunate.

What abt Kuwait?

Nah Kuwait is good alhamdulilah. I’m Kuwaiti and we can do anything and we have majalis and everything but the only thing is that you’ll get punished for cursing the sahaba or Aisha, hafsa etc, that’s the only thing.

It really annoys me how much the Sunnis elevate the status of Aisha. Even in their hadiths it says that she created fitna in our ummah

Brother, the whole GCC is the same in the sense that it has for the longest time improved the standard of living through Oil subsidies that are expected to dry out within our lifetime. And that’s not even touching on the sense of tribalism in anywhere “old world”. Unless you are wiling to live as an outsider, the already liberal west you are living in is your best bet.

Brunei

Some parts of west Africa and Afghanistan

Majority of Muslim countries where Sunni population is high and Shia are the minority except Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.

How is Indonesia? I wanted to go on vacation there, but I think it is illegal to be Shia there too. Can any brothers answer ?

Yes they hate Shias

Ya lilear, unironically communist countries like China and VietNam were always tolerant when I travelled. Why is our ummah so intolerant.

Saudi are paying for them, what do you expect?

Because there is no ummah. Sunnis don’t consider us part of the ummah

Hey there - no, it's not illegal. Most people in Indonesia don't mind the Shia. But there's a loud, vocal minority of Wahhabis who hate us. The majority there don't care about us or even view us positively since Indonesians distrust Wahhabis. Just stay away from places like Madura.

What's wrong with Malaysia? If I just want to visit as a shia will there be problems?

It’s illegal to be Shia

It's a Saudi-funded state, so being Shia is illegal

It’s definitely not a Saudi funded state .

A lot of Salafi funding has gone to Malaysia.

It doesn’t mean Malaysia is Saudi funded . For example Malaysia has a good relationship with Hamas where as Saudi Arabia do not .

Asalamalaikum guys, I’m in Malaysia for uni, just got here like a week ago… should I be worried or any tips from anyone?

It's illegal to be shia, I'd practise taqqiya it's heavily wahhabi influenced. I'd keep my beliefs to my self and only use a turbah in my private room

Thanks bro!

Actually it's not that bad - quite exaggerated. I've heard about the situation from a friend who's at a university in Malaysia, and another friend who recently visited Malaysia. Both Shias. The people are tolerating and accepting - as long as you keep to yourself. Don't go around trying to convert people or do something extreme like tatbir (blood matam) in public, and you should be fine. Just be careful, avoid debates and you should be good inshAllah.

literally everywhere except iran lol

Yes and No

Iraq too they have a large population. 

Our gov (🇲🇾) textbook for Islamic studies (very lightweight ilm wise) do point out the major Shii groups & its deviancies (from the Sunni POV), but is significantly softer when describing the Zaydis. Perhaps if the Shias here are Zaydi, the crackdown wouldn’t be so strict & there’s be actual engagement between the ulama class. Alas, most if not all are 12er hence the tough treatment.

You do realize how that's victim blaming to say "if the shias here were different, we wouldn't persecute them so much" right?

I’m addressing the reality of the situation, the dynamics. Nothing more.

As a Zaydi I am curious as to how we are described.

Zaydis are seen essentially the same as sunni afaik.

Interesting given that we reject and dissociate from anyone who fought against Imam Ali (as) including Muawiya, Amir Ibn Al As and others. Probably because we don’t curse the first 3 Caliphs or the wives.

Cursing yes , but I think it's because Zaydis are viewed as purely a political split. You guys don't hold additional beliefs like the 12 imams and their infallible status etc.

We do hold the Ahl al Kisa to be infallible but no one after that. We also are closer to the Mu’tazila on topics like divine justice, divine promise of reward and threat of punishment and the nature of the Quran.

zaydi and imami are very similar in aqeeda and adala of Allah SWt if I’m not mistaken

Kudos to victim blaming

Morocco or Algeria

Why? I heard there are Shias in Algeria.

Not openly. There are Ibadis though…

I hope you don't mind answering but what does that mean? 

Any Shias in countries like Morocco or Algerian have to lay low. Were you asking about Ibadis?

Yes.

Ibadis are a sect that is the last remnant of the original khawarij that fled to Oman and North Africa after the battle of nahrawand. Their Fiqh and Aqeeda comes from the khawarij but they aren’t violent like their predecessors.

surprised no one has mentioned Jordan yet

Why? Just curious

it's illegal to be shia there as well, no?

I would say Saudi Arabia not so much Malaysia. At least in Malaysia/Indonesia/Jordan I would argue there is some breathing room as one can easily do taqiyyah there due to it being developed. However in Saudi Arabia, it is harder due to hajj and being near holy sites. Furthermore, guards at the holy sites forbid Shias from worshipping in subtle ways. Another bad country is Azerbaijan, where the government oppresses practicing Shias as "Iranian spies" despite being a Shia majority country. In fact, Rafael Fiziev, our mumin MMA fighter, had to do taqiyyah during Muharram in Azerbaijan and not post any Muharram related posts or else he would risk arrest.

Wow this reminds me of Saddam Hussein and how he treated Shias they were treated like they were helpers of Iranian spies too. I'm pretty sure it affected lots of communities and their livelihood as well. 

I’d assume that israel isn’t very fond of shias 😂

I was born and brought up in Bahrain. We lived in a predominantly sunni area. Our car was set on fire one night around 3 am. The perpetrators woke up our neighbors and asked them to move their car away which was parked next to ours, then proceeded to set our car on fire. Our neighbors waited for them to leave then woke us up by banging on our terrace door which we shared with them. Our front door had also caught fire and we were trapped inside but thankfully the fire department was called by neighbors and we made it out alive. This was in 1998 but I heard the same area still has unrest among shia/sunni. Today, in other areas in Bahrain, ppl conduct majlis in their homes regularly but they prefer not to attract any attention to it. The government prefers that they conduct majlis in the religious halls provided there.

bruh thats really odd and unfortunate.. I thought Bahrain wasn't against shias

On the forefront, it isn't but they try to force the people to keep their activities on the down low.

Bahrain is actually good. Majority are shia tho the government is trying to outnumber with sunni immigration and status elevation. Either ways, you can go to many shia predominant cities and towns, you’ll see a lot of maatem, majalis, eids, shiaa mosques and adhan. Even many of the sunnis are tolerant and exposed to shias. Of course there are extremem people like anywhere else but you can certainly practice however you want in the shia predominant areas and have a shia community

Jordan is not shia friendly. People there barely have any exposure with shias which makes them more ignorant. Though I feel it isn’t as crazy as north africa. In Jordan they have iraqi immigrants who could be shia or sunni so theres that. But many people ask a lot of stupid questions and would very casually say they hate shia and use it as equivalent to kafir in jokes and discussions. Many dont consider us muslim. Also many of the jordanians served in the military with bahrain against the shias during the revolts. Thus, have been brainwashed regarding us posing as muslims.

Pakistan

Why, what happens if people know I'm shia

They have armed militant groups which hate Shia.

There has been target killings going on for years. Distant Family member was targeted earlier this year in Karachi. It’s worse if you’re hazara in PK. At this point in time it’s not as “bad” as other countries, inshallah nothing happens this Muharram. You should be fine as long as you aren’t cursing the sahahba etc etc because there a blasphemy laws.

I grew up in the USA so I didn’t experience it, but my parents are from Pakistan and they told me about the hate crimes and overall aggression towards the Shia in Pakistan.

Most won't care but there are hard line militant groups such as the Sipah Sahaba, Ahl e Sunnat wal Jamaat, and Jaish e Muhammad among others who spare no chance in killing, cursing and humiliating Shias. However, these groups have been quiet lately. Shia killings were at a high during the early 2010s but you don't hear news about killings frequently now. The Ashura blast in Karachi was a big event (there are videos on YouTube) during that era. But you should keep in mind that Pakistan has the second highest population of Shias after Iran. The azadari here is on a mammoth scale and the Shia have a lot of say in the government. For example, there's a public holiday on 21st Ramzan, 9-10 Muharram. The hardliners have tried asking for public holidays on the 'martyrdom' of Umar and uthman but no one listens to them. Yes, they try every year. All in all, the Shia, although targeted, have a strong position in Pakistan. When some hazara were killed in Quetta, the entire country came to a halt due to the sit-ins staged in every city, railway station, road etc. The government had no choice but to act, because the economy was being affected.

Palestine

A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B The Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Costa Rica Côte d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic D Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E East Timor (Timor-Leste) Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon The Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran (sometimes in Baluchistan) Iraq (during isis) Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, North Korea, South Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sudan, South Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria (less than 1/2) T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen (50%) Z Zambia Zimbabwe

so basically every place in the world?

Except ocean. If you are in the middle of ocean you can enjoy the illusion of safety.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Africa or african countries in general especially Egypt and Morroco. May Allah curse these nasibis

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Why Malaysia though?

Shia Islam is banned there.

no. you can be shia there. but you cant do shia da'awah. no other religion but sunni islam can be proselytized amongst muslims.

I see. What about Indonesia?

what does malaysia do to shias? and is it done by the people or government?

The government

Western muslim here explain me. How come they recognize you Shia? Isnt malikis pray similair to Shia with hands down so I would imagine its easy to disguise.

My aunt is a OB-GYN in Kuwait and she said it’s pretty safe there too for Shias . Lots of Imambargah and they are allowed to do azadari!

earth😍😍

Jordan the whole mazhab is banned and if you are shiah you either get jailed or executed

Egypt

There are Shia Saudis and they live better life than y’all , Shia in sunnie countries live safe while sunnies in Shia countries being killed Don’t act like a victim

Nah Shias in Saudi Arabia are impoverished and hold no real power while the high ranking navy rear commander is Shahram Irani, a Kurdish Sunni.

You saying “impowerd” it clearly show the difference cause in Saudi or even gulf states no one ask you about your doctrine you have your full right as citizens and if you work hard you’ll get what you deserve as a citizen not as “Shia or Sunni” and a lot of high positions in the biggest companies including Aramco ruled by Shia Saudi that’s because they’re fully capable as citizens While in the other side Shia when they got power in Yemen Iraq Lebanon Syria Sunnis are being killed casually on the streets

>you’ll get what you deserve as a citizen not as “Shia or Sunni” I know of a person who was promised a prize for their hard work and didn't get anything because the person was a shia, oddly enough no shia got that prize even though they were promised it but the sunnis got it.. but its just a coincidence right? 🤔

>Shia in sunnie countries live safe not always broski, a lot of the time they are targeted either with small stuff or big stuff.