Shia clergy

Part of a series on Shia Islam
Beliefs and practices Monotheism Holy Books Prophethood Succession to Muhammad Imamate Ismaili Twelver Zaydi Angels Judgment Day Mourning of Muharram Intercession Clergy The Four Companions Arbaʽeen Pilgrimage
Days of remembrance Ashura Arba'een Mawlid Eid al-Fitr Eid al-Adha Eid al-Ghadir Mourning of Muharram Omar Koshan
History Verse of purification Two things Mubahala Khumm Fatimah's house First Fitna Second Fitna Battle of Karbala Origin Persecution
Branches and sects Twelvers Ja'fari Akhbari Usuli Shaykhi Alawites Zaydi Shi'a Isma'ili Musta'li Tayyibi Alavi Dawoodi Sulaymani Hafizi Nizari Khoja Satpanth Batini Alevism Bektashi Bektashism and folk religion Qizilbash Alians Hurufism Extinct Shi'a sects
Ahl al-Kisa Muhammad Ali Fatima Hasan Husayn
Holy women Fatima Khadija bint Khuwaylid Umm Salama Zaynab bint Ali Umm Kulthum bint Ali Umm ul-Banin Fatimah bint Hasan Sukayna bint Husayn Rubab Shahrbanu Fatimah bint Musa Hakimah Khātūn Narjis Fatimah bint Asad Umm Farwah bint al-Qasim Sayyida Ruqayya bint Ali Sayyida Nafisa
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In Shi'a Islam the guidance of clergy (collectively called the ulema) and keeping such a structure holds great importance. There are several branches of Shi'ism, of which Twelver Shi'ism is by far the largest, and each of the branches has different clergy structures. Individual clerics are referred to as mullā or ākhūnd, but since those terms have developed "a somewhat pejorative connotation" since at least the 1980s, the term rūḥānī has been "promoted" as an alternative, "especially by the clerical class itself".^[1]