Religious Differences And Religious Beliefs Of Shia And Sunnis

These disagreements led to the development of three rival sects in the Muslim community. The Shi’ites supported Ali’s claim to the caliphate and believed that the position of caliph rightly belonged to the descendants of Ali. Those known as the Sunnis believed that the first three caliphs had been correctly chosen and supported the Umayyad Caliphate. The most militant followers of Ali formed the Kharijite (rebel) sects. Most of the 800 million Muslims of today are either Sunnis or Shi’ites.

One of the most famous religious splits in human history is the well known Sunni-Shia split. The Sunni-Shia split is highly divisive throughout the world, and predominantly in the Middle East. These sects share similarities, such as they all believe that Allah is the one true god, and Muhammad is his messenger. They also believe in the same five religious pillars that Muslims follow. Although these sects are very similar, there is one big schismatic difference that separates the two. This difference lies with the question of: “Who is the rightful successor of the Prophet Muhammad?” Through this 1,400 year conflict Most sunnis believe that Abu Bakr the Prophet 's closest companion is the true successor. In contrast most Shias believe that Ali, who was the prophet 's cousin and son in law is the true successor. Abu bakr was the rightful heir to lead Muslims after the Prophet’s death. Abu Bakr was arguably his closest confidant throughout their lives, and Abu Bakr understood the Messenger teachings the best. It can also be argued that that Ali would be the fourth caliph instead of the first because choosing a successor to the Prophet based on bloodline could be seen as committing idolatry according to Islamic teaching.

The Shia Muslims believe that following the Prophet Muhammad's death, leadership should have passed directly to his cousin/son-in-law, Ali. Throughout history, Shia Muslims have not recognized the authority of elected Muslim leaders, choosing instead to follow a line of Imams which they believe have been appointed by the Prophet Muhammad or God Himself. The word "Shia" in Arabic means a group or supportive party of people. The commonly-known term is shortened from the historical "Shia-t-Ali," or "the Party of Ali." They are also known as followers of "Ahl-al-Bayt" or "People of the Household". The historical background of the differences of the two different Muslim faiths is important to recognize due to the significance of its effect on Afghan culture and lifestyle.

To start off, even though Sunni and Shia Muslims share the same religion, they disagree who should lead after Muhammad death. Sunni Muslims take up 85 to 90 percent of Muslims. Sunni Muslims believe Muhammad did not clearly

division between Shia (followers of Ali) and Sunni (followers of the custom of the caliphate)

Ali shared the same blood as Muhammad. In their opinion, this made Ali holy. Shi’ites saw caliphs more as spiritual and temporal leaders rather than rulers. Each side had its rational notions, but since more people followed Bakr, he was appointed the next caliph. Shi’ite remained under his guidance, but felt it was an abomination.

Coming from the same roots, Sunni and Shia Muslims are very similar people. Both groups of people are Monotheistic, belief in only God, and are followers of the Prophet Muhammed. Also the style of prayer is the same between both Sunnis and Shias praying five times a day, in Arabic, and done traditionally in a Mosque. The core beliefs of both Sunni and Shia Muslims are extremely similar; having all beliefs pulled and interpreted from the Quran. Additionally, both groups share the same opinion on Islam’s connection to Christianity and Judaism; being Abraham is the first messenger of God preaching his word, and Jesus is the Messiah, but is not a son of God.

Iran is a country with majority of its population being Shia Muslims, it is a splinter branch of Islam where it is believed that only Muhammad’s descendants can lead the faithful. Muslim clergy plays political roles in Shia countries, even though Shia Muslims are a small segment (about 15%) of the entire Muslim population, since 1501 most Iranians identify as Shia Muslims. This is one way they differentiate themselves from the

Christianity has numerous sects; in comparison, Islam has only two major branches. The main sects of Islam are Sunni and Shi'a. The partition between these two sects is the disagreement over authority. For example Sunni believes authority is political. On the other hand, Shi'a believes authority is political and religion.

The differences between the Sunnis and Shi'ites are founded on their disagreement over who was to be their Prophet Mohammad’s successor. On one side, there were those who believed that the next leader should come from Mohammed’s bloodline; on the other side, there were those who subscribed to their next leader being a highly qualified leader who would follow the teachings of Mohammed (Blanchard, 1). At first, the leaders of the community agreed to elect Abu Bakr to be the first successor or caliph of Mohammed. Most Muslims at that time seemed to be supportive of such decision. However, others supported another successor – Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed (Blanchard, 1). Ali was not considered in the election by the Muslim leaders because he did not have seniority in the Muslim community. The Muslims who adhered to Ali’s right (and those who followed his line)

From this initial split other divisions and changes occurred within the religious practices and laws of Islam. While both share a belief in the Qur’an and the sunna (sayings or actions) of the Prophet Muhammad there are religious and legal differences. Imams are by the Shia definition the divinely guided ones but the Sunni defines Imaans as saints (Diffen n.d.). The Shia declared Ali and his descendants Imams with a special connection to the will of God with religious and legal authorities. The number of Imams and who were truly the divinely guided Imams would split Shias. There arose many branches but it came down to three main ones the Twelvers, the Seveners, and Zayids (Goldschmidt Jr. 2013). The Imams were mystical beings and the Twelvers believe that the 12th Imam disappeared and will one day return to set thing right for Muslims. Within the Sunni sect there are four branches of Islamic Law:

After reading this excerpt, I discovered that there was also theological debates within the Muslim community (Hillenbrand, 171). While in class, we had learned about a divide in the Muslim community; this divide is between two different groups, the Shi‘ites and the Sunnis. Although there is a divide between these two groups, the Shi‘ites and the Sunnis both agree on the fact that Allah is the one true God in the Islamic faith. Furthermore, these two groups also believe that Muhammad was the messenger of God. Unfortunately, these two groups have opposing theories on the rightful successor to the prophet Muhammad. The Shi‘ites feel that Muhammad’s successor should be someone from his bloodline; therefore, the Shi‘ites sought leadership from Muhammad's closest male relative, his cousin Ali ibn Abu Talib. Conversely, the Sunnis felt that a caliphate or religious leader should be elected by the Islamic community as his successor and sought leadership from the rightly guided caliphate, Abu

A.Attention grab : Iran, also known as Persia, has one of the oldest cultures in the world with its history going back to 4,000 BC, it is home to more than 75 million Persians who practice the same culture and speak the same language Persian, or also known as Farsi.

The differences between Shia and Sunni’s took place after the death of Prophet Muhammad. “There are 1.6 billion Muslims across the world. Roughly 85%-90% of them are Sunnis”. (Ward) Sunni’s decided that the person/leader to guide the Islamic

A religion that will employ great influence in a civilization of more than one and a half billion people. The Prophets death also had the opportunity to split the religion into two main branches the Sunni and Shi’a. The Sunni who are 80 percent of Muslims, and they believed that, Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s father-in-law, to the successor. As for the Shi’a who only make up 15 percent of the Muslims in the world, believed an imam, in their case Ali, cousin, and son-in-law, should be the successor; due to their blood relations. However, with their differences aside, they shared the common belief that Prophet Muhammad was a messenger of Allah. Both the Sunni and Shi’a also share the belief that there are five pillars of Islam: (1) the harmony of Allah and the prophethood of Muhammad, (2) the five obligatory prayers, (3) fasting, (4) charity, and (5) the pilgrimage to Mecca. Both branches oppose several kinds social change that is done by western ideas, and instead have the primary objective of the establishment of Islamic law as the sole basis of their government. The question still is who should have been the rightful successor of the Prophet Muhammad. Someone who is in blood relations or someone who was a close