1.   A bad deal would deface his image as a defender of Arab rights, undermine his regime and compromise the nationalist and Islamic credentials of his minority Alawite sect.

2.   He belongs to a minority sect, resented by the majority.

3.   Iranians are Shiite Muslim, a minority sect within Islam.

4.   Pakistan put troops and paramilitary forces on alert Friday to prevent religiously motivated violence against a minority sect during the Shiite Muslim holy month.

5.   A mob of angry Muslims stoned to death a member of the minority Ahmedi sect and dragged his dead body through the village, news reports said Monday.

6.   Ahmadiyya Muslims, a minority sect, first saw the bomb when they went to the mosque to offer early-morning prayers.

7.   Also absent were representatives of the Shiite Muslims, a minority Islamic sect but the majority in Iran.

8.   And he has written against the promotion of members of the minority Ahmedi sect to senior government posts or the Supreme Court.

9.   Assad is a member of the minority Alawite sect, as is Aslan.

10.   Assad is a member of the minority Alawite sect.