Religious Differences Between Sunni And Shiite Muslims

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

How are Sunni Muslims different from other Muslims? The word Sunni means “one who follows the traditions of the Prophet." Sunni Muslims are one of the sects of Islam religion. The majority of Sunni Muslims are in Central Asia including South Asia. After the death of Prophet Mohammed, the Sunnis and the Shi’as, another sect of Islam, split. The reason for splitting was that the Sunnis believed that the next ruler should have been someone who was most knowledgeable and closest to the prophet. It was different for Shi’as’ because they believed that the next ruler should have been blood related to the Prophet Mohammed. Sunni Muslims get their knowledge from the Quran, a holly book from Allah, meaning God. There are

The Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam have been feuding for hundreds of years dating back to the beginning of the Islamic religion. The deity or god of the Sunnis is Allah. The Sunni branch of Islam is the larger of the two branches with over 80% of the Muslim population. The Sunni are the majority in most of the countries that have Islamic followers. There are a few different translations of what Sunna stands for, one of which is “Habitual Practice.” The differences between the two branches can be traced all the back to the 7th century CE when the disagreements as to who should succeed Muhammad. Sunnis believe that the Muslim community should maintain the right to select who the successor to Muhammad is going to be. The Shiite branch

The history of the split of Shiites and Sunnis Muslims dates back thousands of years. It is not a new event, however the conflicts between Shi'ites and Sunnis still exist to this day and they have been increasing. Muslims were one interconnected group without divisions or conflicts. However, in 632, after the death of prophet Muhammad Muslims needed to caliph or successor to mastermind their affairs. Therefore, they divided into two groups; Sunni and Shia. Sunni claimed that prophet Muhammad did not choose caliph to him before his death, so they chose Abu-Bakr, who prophet Muhammad’s friend and the father of his wife. Then Umar, Othman and finally, Ali. The second group was Shia who believed that prophet Muhammad before

The Sunni-Shia divide has its origin in disagreements regarding the succession to the Prophet Muhammad, who died in 632 CE. These disagreements, eventually, gave birth to these two dominant faiths of Islam. In the Muslim world today, Sunni Muslims are, without a doubt, the majority. Shi’a in the other hand, represent only 10-15% of Muslims, however, an overwhelming majority of Shi’a live between Lebanon and India, which represent an increasing loud voice who claims recognition in the region, with a majority Shi’a countries like Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Bahrain, and Lebanon (single largest community of Shi’a); along with 20% of Afghanistan, 20% of Pakistan, 10-15% Saudi Arabia, 30% in Kuwait and about 20% in the United Arab Emirates (Nasr, ).

Just as the course notes mention, Sunni and Shi’ite are two sects of Islam, that contrary to popular belief can and do live in harmony with one another. For example, the Muslim Student Association on UNC”s campus is an organization for Muslim Students and includes members from both the Sunni and Shi'ite groups. As a member of this organization, it is not obvious to me who are the Sunni’s and who are the Shi’ite’s because, to be honest, it is not that obvious by just glancing over a person. A Sunni Muslim does not look physically different than a Shi’a Muslim; we are all Muslim, however, there is a difference between the two sects and those differences lay in the technicalities of religious practice. A technicality difference that I am aware

Islam is one of the biggest religions known within the world today. It is considered to be a monotheistic religion, that has two main sections known as Shia Islam and Sunni Islam. Islam is believed to have started in Arabia where Abraham, a key prophet, built the Ka’ba in Mecca, which is religious place for pilgrimage and worship still to this day (Silverstein, 9). Sunni Islam makes up the religions majority and concentrates on the idea that preserves the structures of society within their community which will fulfill their God-given responsibilities (Dowley, pg. 397-400). The Sunni and Shia sections are divided due to arguments after Muhammad died. The Sunnis believed that Muhammad’s successor should be Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s father-in-law (Tasch, Business Insider). The Shia Muslims believed Muhammad’s successor should have been Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was Muhammad’s cousin (Tasch, Business Insider). This created an extreme divide within the religious movement but the Sunnis won over the majority, and still to this day hold the majority of followers within the religion.

These conflicts are mostly generated because of some differences within their religion. Though both are Monotheistic, Christians believe in the Trinity, where as Muslims believe God is indivisible. Christians believe that as a member of the Trinity, Jesus is the Son of God. Muslims believe that Jesus was conceived by an act of God and though not the Son of God, he is like Muhammad, a highly respected Prophet. Their difference can also be found within the origin of how life began, ultimately changing the end result of both religions. Christians believe Adam is guilty of disobeying God and that we all bear this Original Sin when we are born. We can be saved from this, and other sins, through accepting Jesus Christ's atonement. Christians believe that Jesus was crucified on a cross to atone for man's sins. Muslims on the other hand, believe Adam was faultless (some refer to him as a Prophet). They believe Jesus did not die on the cross and consequently there is no atonement. Muslims believe that each person is born sin-less and must take responsibility for maintaining this state throughout life. Even how the government is run, differences are found. Secular law and morality are separate in Christian countries and they have secular governments. Islam considers law and morality are synonymous; the law is based on their moral code and politics are governed by the religion. Their even have differences in what they eat. Christians have a more relaxed view about what

How does the presence of three different sectarian groups (Christian, Sunni, Shiite) affect the political, economic, and social stability of a nation is an interdisciplinary research question because it seeks to understand the relationship between the economics and its key insights while examining the political environment can led to conflict and how that conflict was exacerbated by the involvement of many different cultural sects. Analyzing the case of Lebanon requires an interdisciplinary approach for several reasons. First, the problem is complex, meaning that there are several components and each components has a different disciplinary character. Second, important insights into the problem have been produced by expects from multiple disciplines. Third, no single disciplinary approach has been able to address this problem comprehensively. Fourth, the case of Lebanon falls within the research domains of several disciplines. By establishing these links across disciplinary knowledge domains requires creating common ground and performing integration, which is a distinct feature of interdisciplinarity. The scope of this study will focus on the nation of Lebanon with the events unraveling sense the early 1970 's until today. The composition of the Lebanese society allows us to examine how the presence of Christian, Sunni, and Shiite camps can lead to social instability with war being the most extreme manifestation of civil strife. Instability in a nations political

All Muslims believe that there is one god, Allah, and the messenger of Allah is the prophet Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims come from who they each believe succeeded Muhammad; the Sunnis believe Abu Bakr was the successor, where Shia believe Ali, who was related to Muhammad, was the successor. Although the religion is the same, today both sides still disagree on teachings and practices. The Economist explains why there are tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and why religion plays a part in the

While researching the proportional decline of Protestant denominations in contemporary America, “Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study finds that 14.7% of U.S. adults are affiliated with the mainline Protestant tradition – a sharp decline from 18.1% when our last Religious Landscape Study was conducted in 2007. Mainline Protestants have declined at a faster rate than any other major Christian group, including Catholics and evangelical Protestants, and as a result also are shrinking as a share of all Protestants and Christians” (”Mainline Protestants Make Up Shrinking Number of U.S. Adults”, 2015).

Sunni and Shia are part of the 1.6 billion Muslims followers across the world. After all, Shia are a minority group that have been recently attacked by Sunnis. Shias are being targeted and killed for their beliefs. Yet, Sunni and Shia have many similar beliefs and customs, but their main difference is based on who should be the political figure. When the Sunni and Shia chose different political figures, they also came upon different ideology. Soon as the prophet Muhammad died in the seventh century, he did not designate a political ruler after his death. Thus, the country was left without an appointed figure leaving the Muslim community without a caliphate. Consequently, the people had to decide who was going to be appointed as the leader of the Muslim community. The Sunni believed that Abu Bakr should be the leader and was given the popularity of the vote, but Shia believed that the family of the prophet should be the leader. However, “Shia argued that only Ali was qualified to uphold the spiritual values that underpinned the whole future direction of Islam.” (Rogerson 5) The disagreement of who should be the leader grew to the establishment of Shia, who supported Ali. Shia believed that Ali should have been the first caliph instead of Abu Bakr being the first. Shia came to the conclusion that Sunni falsified hadith and Abu angered Fatima, in which Fatima was part of Muhammad causing Shia to believe that he does not have right to become first caliph. As a result, that left

Sunni and Shia are part of the 1.6 billion followers of Muslims across the world. After all, Shia are a minority group that have been recently attacked by Sunnis. Shias are being targeted and killed for their beliefs. Yet, Sunni and Shia have many similar beliefs and customs, but their main difference is based on who should be the political figure. When the Sunni and Shia chose different political figures, they also came upon different ideology. Soon as the prophet Muhammad died in the seventh century, he did not designate a political ruler after his death. Thus, the country was left without an appointed figure leaving the Muslim community without a caliphate. Consequently, the people had to decide who was going to be appointed as the leader of the Muslim community. The Sunni believed that Abu Bakr should be the leader and was given the popularity of the vote, but Shia believed that the family of the prophet should be the leader. “Shia argued that only Ali was qualified to uphold the spiritual values that underpinned the whole future direction of Islam.” (Rogerson 5) The disagreement of who should be leader grew to the establishment of Shia, who supported Ali. Shia believed that Ali should have been the first caliph instead of Abu Bakr being the first. Shia came to the conclusion that Sunni falsified hadith and Abu angered Fatima, in which Fatima was part of Muhammad causing Shia to believe that he does not have right to become first caliph. As a result, that left Sunni

Islam is divided into two branches: Sunni and Shi’a. A large majority of the Iranians, approximately 90%, practice Shi’a Islam. The division emerged when early Muslims were conflicted about who their rightful religious leader (caliph) should be. Moreover, they were torn between Muhammad’s son in law, Ali, and a leader elected by the community’s elders. Shi’a Muslims are those who chose Ali because they believed that the leadership should be maintained within Muhammad’s lineage. This caused tensions between the two factions for centuries that have been carried forward to date between Iran and other Muslim countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States. However, the rifts seem to be subsiding in recent times due to economic benefits of trade between Iran and Sunni Muslim countries (Strausscenter, 2015). Improved trade relations between Iran and the Gulf States may encourage better political relations.

When a Christian tries to start a conversation with a Muslim, he or she needs to have in mind all of what implies. That includes, a cultural-historical context that has shaped the mindset and worldview of Muslim from the seventh century to the present day. It is necessary to carry on with a lot of sensitivity and compassion to the feelings and prejudices between Muslim and Christians and Christian towards Muslins. The historical relationship between Muslims and Christians through the centuries has not been the best, in certain ways shameful. Christians have not complied with the duty to love their neighbor as themselves, whatever their philosophy or faith. For their part, Muslims have not always had in mind the words of his prophet: