Rāfiḍites

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Rāfiḍites (Arab., al-Rāfiḍah or al-Rawāfiḍ, ‘the repudiators’). A name given by Sunni Muslims to the Shīʿa in general, as a term of disapproval or abuse. They are called ‘repudiators’ because they reject the first three of the four al-Rāshidūn, the first four caliphs (Khalīfa) after Muḥammad, holding that the fourth of them, ʿAlī, should (as Muḥammad's son-in-law) have succeeded in the first place.