Rafida

Rafida (Arabic: رافضة, romanized: Rāfiḍa, lit. 'rejectors') is a term used to refer to Shia Muslims who are said to reject (rafḍ) a number of Prophetic companions, including the first three caliphs: Abu Bakr (r. 632–634), Umar (r. 634–644), and Uthman (r. 644–656). The term is sometimes lessened for only the ghulat Shia, who advocate for Ali's infallibility.

Profound discourse exists among Sunni scholars in regard to how liberally the term Rāfiḍah can be applied to the Shīʿites in general. Influential Sunni scholar Ibn Taymiyyah was known to condemn Rāfiḍa as generally diabolical — "the worst of those who follow desires, ignorance and oppression". He is widely known to dehumanize Shia in his writings, forbidding that they even be greeted with respect. Extremists have used his teachings as a primary source to recruit for al-Qaeda and ISIS, performing massacres against Shia in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Some Shia scholars have owned the term to resist the dehumanizing language and the dangerous narrative it presents as per Taymiyyah's teachings.