Is there a difference between the Shi'ah and the Rafidah?

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is there a difference between the Shi'ah and the Rafidah? And is it better for a person to say that they are Rafidah, not Shi'ah?

Answer:
The Rafidah are a group of the Shi'ah, a sect of the Shi'ah. They are called the Rafidah, and they are called the Imamiyyah, who believe in the imamate of the twelve and the Twelver doctrine. They are also called the Ja'fariyyah because they claim descent from Ja'far al-Sadiq (may Allah have mercy on him), and he is innocent of them. These are their names, and they are a sect of the Shi'ah, a sect of the Shi'ah. Among them are the Fatimiyyun, who are the most extreme of the sects, and among them are the Isma'iliyyun, and among them are the 'Alawiyyun, and among them are the Druze. They are all sects of the Shi'ah, and they vary in degree. Among them are the Zaydiyyah. They are all varying sects. Yes.