Walaikum Salaam sister. No need to be sorry
u r not bothering anyone. The purpose of this forum is to help people with correct information. I think I can help u with this query, Insh'Allah.
Unfortunately there are madhabs in the Shiia sect too. I wouldn't know much about the ideologies of their different madhabs, just like I don't take much trouble to learn the ideologies of the various Sunni madhabs. But both Shiia and Sunni groups are sub-divided and the arguments that go on between them are the most ridiculous, each hurling insults on the other. How much they have come into the grasp of Shaitaan.
The Sunni madhabs, that are much talked about, are:
1) Maliki
2) Shafi
3) Hanibali
4) Hanafi
All the above madhabs are named after their Sunni imams.
The Shiia counterparts are:
1) Isn-e-Asheri (commonly known as "twelvers" meaning the 12 imams they follow. Also called Jaferia group but Shiias usually don't like using this expression).
2) Alawi (sometimes also called Nusairys)
3) Alevi
4) Zaidi
5) Ismailis
So, there are actually more madhabs within the Shiia sect than the Sunnis.
Isn-e-Asheri is the biggest Shiia madhab. It's said that 90% of shiias are of this madhab including Iranians, making all other Shiia madhbas a minority. They are called "twelvers" because they follow 12 imams who the Shiias believe are the real religious & political successors of the Prophet (SAAW). Imam Ali bin Abi Talib is considered as the first imam of this line, followed by the descendents of Ali and Fatimah Zahra, each imam being the son of the previous imam, with the exception of Imam Hussain bin Ali who was the brother of Imam Hassan bin Ali. Imam Zain-al-Abedin was the 4th imam. The final and 12th imam is believed by them to be Imam Mahdi, who was supposed to have disappeared in the year 874. The twelver Shiias believe he went into hiding and is still alive and will come eventually as a saviour to bring justice in the world. By the way, Sunnis also believe in this contrived story of return of Mahdi about which we have put a
post in our forum.
The Alawi Shiias are in Syria comprising of 20% of the country's population. However, the Syrian president is Alawi Shiia. Alawis take their name from Imam Ali. The Alawis claim to trace their origin from the 11th imam named Hassan Al-Askari and his student, Ibn Nusayr. That's why until recently Alawis were also known as Nusayris. But the Alawis consider it derogatory if called 'Nusayri.' They prefer to be called 'Alawi' because of its association with Imam Ali.
The Alevi are another Shiia group living in Turkey. They are quite different from both twelvers and Alawis. Instead of masjids, they worship in assembly houses where men and women pray side by side. This Shiia group or madhab is quite into sufiism and believes in communicating with the spiritual world. They follow some so-called saint of the 13th century named Haji Bektash Wali. Socially they are said to follow the Anatolian folk culture.
The Zaidi Shiia are also supposed to be very different from twelvers and Alewis in their own ways. This Shiia group is named after Zaid bin Ali, grandson of Imam Hussain. It was formed by the followers of Zaid, who had led an unsuccessful rebellion against one of the Ummayad rulers in the year 740. Thus, Zaidis see Zaid as the 5th imam. According to the Zaidi political theory, Ali, Hassan and Hussain are the first three rightful Imams; after them, the
imamat or leadership is open to whoever of their descendants establishes himself. I have also heard that Zaidis do not believe in the infallibility of the Imams. Zaidis also do not believe that the imamat must pass from father to son, but believe it can be held by any descendant of Ali. They also reject the Twelver notion of a hidden Imam. For these reasons they are supposed to get along better with Sunnis than the twelvers or Alawis of Syria. However, the Zaidi group is supposed to be divided. This means, all Zaidis don't follow Zaid bin Ali. There's another branch of Zaidis called 'Wastis' who are much the same as the twelvers or Isn-e-Asheri group.
Ismailis (presently also called Agha Khanis) are officially the a Shiia group but they are not really included in the mainstream Shiia sects of the twelvers or Alawis, not even with the Zaidis or Alevis. Because of their beliefs, Ismailis are completely out of the fold of Islam - heretics, to be precise. As we know, they don't believe in Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) as the final Messenger, and neither do they consider salaat, zakat, fasting and hajj as obligatory. They follow nothing of the Quran nor do they read it. They never visit the masjids. Instead, they have their own community centers which is more like a social community center where they gather, spend time, chat and pray in their own way.
Their history is the most complicated of all. I find it awfully confusing. For the sake of information, I'll mention a little .... whatever bit I know. Ismails had a fallout from mainstream Shiia after the death of the 6th imam, Jafer bin Muhammad (also called Imam Jafer al-Sadiq). Majority of the Shiias followed Imam Jafer's son, Musa bin Jafer al-Kazim. But a few of them followed Musa's brother, Ismail. These came to be known as "Ismails." To cut a very long story short, the Ismailis we see today sprung from a person by the name of Nizar who had with some connections with the Fatamid dynasty in the 11th century. They were known as Nizari Ismails (aka Assassins). They were a violent lot and ruled from 11th to 13th centuries, starting off from Perisa with small conquests in other nearby regions. They were regarded as a very troublesome sect and were finally crushed in the 12th or 13th century by the Mamelukes of Egypt. These Nizari Ismailis continued to survive in Persia (Iran) as a small heretical group. In 1818 one of them was granted the title Aga Khan by the shah of Persia. In 1840, after an unsuccessful revolt against the shah, this Aga Khan fled to India with a bunch of his family. There he and his descendants became leaders of a small Ismaili community. From India, they spread to Pakistan and to some Middle-Eastern and African countries. The present Aga Khan (aka playboy) born in 1946, is the fourth in the line.
Hope you find this total mess of the Ummah informative