Shia Islam

Shia (/ˈʃiːə/; Arabic: شيعة‎ Shīʿah), an abbreviation of Shīʻatu ʻAlī (شيعة علي, "followers of Ali"), is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad's proper successor as Caliph was his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib. Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad's father-in-law Abu Bakr was his proper successor.

Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias or the Shi'a as a collective or Shi'i individually. Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam: in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the world's Muslim population.Twelver Shia (Ithnā'ashariyyah) 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 the Islamic prophet Muhammad attested in hadith recorded by the Shia, and certain books deemed sacred to the Shia (Nahj al-Balagha). Shia consider Ali to have been divinely appointed as the successor to Muhammad, and as the first Imam. The Shia also extend this "Imami" doctrine to Muhammad's family, the Ahl al-Bayt ("the People of the House"), and certain individuals among his descendants, known as Imams, who they believe possess special spiritual and political authority over the community, infallibility, and other divinely-ordained traits. Although there are myriad Shia subsects, modern Shia Islam has been divided into three main groupings: Twelvers, Ismailis and Zaidis, with Twelver Shia being the largest and most influential group among Shia.

Pita-Ten

Pita-Ten (Japanese: ぴたテン, Hepburn: Pitaten) is a Japanese manga by Koge-Donbo. It was serialized in Dengeki Comic Gao! between the October 1999 and August 2003 issues and was later collected into eight volumes. The eight volumes were localized for North America by Tokyopop; Madman Entertainment used Tokyopop's translations for distribution in Australasia. The plot follows Kotarou Higuchi who becomes acquainted with the angel Misha and the demon Shia.

Pita-Ten has spun off an anthology manga, art books, a light novel series, and an anime; the anime resulted in a radio program and audio disc releases such as soundtracks and image songs. Tokyopop's volumes of Pita-Ten have appeared on ICv2's monthly top one-hundred selling graphic novels. English reviewers gave small praise for the plot and artwork and generally described the series as cute.

Plot

Kotarou Higuchi is befriended by his neighbor Misha, an angel-in-training.^[ch. 1] He is later acquainted with Shia, a demon, who is searching for something she had forgotten.^[ch. 7] Kotarou continues his daily life until Shia absorbs his life energy and leaves town.^[ch. 28] Kotarou investigates and discovers Shia is his great-grandmother who is searching for his dying great-grandfather, Taro Higuchi.^[ch. 35] After the revelation, Shia mourns Taro's death before she also dies.^[ch. 38] Afterwards, Kotarou learns that Misha's test involves helping Kotarou find happiness; regardless of the result, the two will separate when the test's deadline is reached.^[ch. 45] Realizing Heaven's true intent, Kotarou asks Misha to rid him of his ability to see angels as he has to search for happiness himself. His actions allow Misha to become an angel and the two return to their separate lives.^[ch. 47]

Shia (disambiguation)

Shia refers to the second largest denomination of Islam.

Shia or Shias may also refer to: