What % of people in the US know what a Shiite is?

[phk]

What % of people in the US know what a Shiite is?

[phk]

And well under one tenth of one percent would recall that the Shi'is can be "twelvers", "seveners" (Ismailis)or "fivers". When you talk about Iraqi or Iranian Shi'is, you are really talking about the "twelvers", not just any Shi'is. They all differ about who exactly were the legitimate Imams.

There are 4ers too.

[phk]

Hell, I was actually told in elementary school once something along the lines of "not all Muslims are terrorists, just the Shiites"

Things have changed quite a bit.

[phk]

Al, the groups of the Sunnis are as follows

Hanafi - practed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Egypt; is the most liberal Sunni sect.

Hanafi split into
-----Deobandi - the Conservative Wing (HQ based in India and a branch in Dewsbury, UK; for those in the know Dewsbury is where one of the London bombers lived, Muhammad Siddique Khan; but I'm not trying to make a connection or anything)
-----Bralevi - Normal Hanafi's I'd presume

Shafii - practed in Malaysia, Indonesia and a few Arab countries

Hanbali - practed in the Arab Penninsula, most conservative Sunni sect.

Maliki - practiced by North Africa and by African Muslims

There are the Wahhabis, a Saudi-based religion and has gained steam among discontented Sunnis following other sects.