History

Some sunni see shia islam as a diferent religion instead of a diferent branch of islam, they mostly say it as a way to deny them legitimacy as muslims like how some christian sect see themselfs as the real followers of christ and all others as paganisms

He's just the Muslim equivalent of some Evangelical insisting Catholics aren't Christians.

This is absolutely Sunni Shia sectarianism + a hatred of Persians. It gets dumber the more you research it.

twelvers are a Jewish conspiracy now, incredible stuff. I know a lot of non Muslim shah types are on the "Iranians are zoroastrians, Islam colonized us" type shit but never heard the twelvers are Jews one before.

it's the type of insular bullshit that like a mufti from bum'fuq egypt believes in but because of social media it gets spread between people and it just becomes fact at some point. it's the equivalent to all the deep state and Qanon nonsense evangelical christians in US believe in and how the pope is doing satanic child blood orgies in the basement of the vatican.

im biased because im Shia but generally Sunnis hate Shias more than Shias hate Sunnis. there has also been schools of revivalist thought since the decline of the gunpowder empires and rise of colonialism and imperialism in the 18th-19th century which in iran resulted in the clergy becoming revolutionary and in places like saudi arabia has resulted in new schools like wahhabism which insists on returning to the "True Islam" for islamic nations to return to their past glory.

Iranians aren't Arabs, but they can definitely be Muslim. This is because Persians traditionally speak Farsi, not Arabic. Really sounds like the person you were talking to was being an asshole lol.

Shia good

Sunni gulf Arabs bad

That’s what we think in Palestine (my dad thinks this the most tbh)

Yeah that just sounds like bog standard anti Shia prejudice

As your friend explained the birth of the Shia (which means "the group") is when there was a disagreement regarding chosing who would be the head of the state; so at the start it had nothing to do with religion. Both candidates, Abu Bakr a companion of the prophet and Ali his cousin, were equally fit but the majority was for Abu Bakr. Then later, much later, some of the people ascribing to the Shia started considering themselves apart from the 80+% majority and they are not all the same. What makes them then not Muslims?

First, "Muslim" is someone who submits to God, and God tells the faithful in the Quran to call themselves "Muslims", not Shia nor Sunni or anything else.

So to fall outside of the fold of Islam one has to hold beliefs which oppose what God ordained. In this regards many Shia and Sunni might associate something with God, which is the biggest sin. Some Shia sects (yes not all Shia hold the same beliefs) give characteristics to Ali or the 12 imams which only God has, like being all-hearing, omniscient, having the power to change destiny etc.

It is not and should not be about race or being Arab (80% of Muslims are not Arab). In his famous last sermon the prophet, peace be upon him, said:

“O people, verily your Lord is One and your father is one. Verily there is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab or of a non-Arab over an Arab, or of a red man over a black man, or of a black man over a red man, except in terms of taqwa (mindfulness of God). Have I conveyed the message?” They said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) has conveyed the message.