SHIITES

(Arabic for ‘sect’), name of one of the two sects into which Mohammedans have split; the other, Kharigites, declared the caliphate to be elective. among all Arab Moslems, but the 8. defended. an absolute and hereditary caliphate in the descendants of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed. This caliphate aesc ended among the Hastern Moslems from father to son till LX. cent. Shi'ite theology somewhat modified the of Ali is added. Several sects have split off from them, and the modern Babaiism is a Shi‘ite movement. town, Sind, Brit. India. Pop. 51,000.