Branch of religion found in southern Haifa, oddly (4)
I believe the answer is:
shia
'branch of religion' is the definition.
'Shia' can be an answer for 'religion' (Shia is an example). I'm unsure of the 'branch of' bit.
'southern haifa oddly' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'oddly' means one should take alternating letters (letters in the odd-numbered positions are used).
The alternating letters of 'haifa' are 'hia'.
's'+'hia'='SHIA'
'found in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shia that I've seen before include "A_main branch of Islam" , "One of the two main branches of orthodox Islam" , "A main branch of Islam" , "A major denomination of Islam" .)