Similarities And Differences Between The Sunni And Sunnis

After Muhammad’s death in 632, the question was who’d be the caliph? Muhammad’s successors,the four caliphs, were chosen by a group in the Muslim community, the elders, to carry out the leadership of Islam. This only lasted for the four caliphates though; after that, it was the Abbasid dynasty where the next ruler is related to the current.When Abu Bakr was chosen and made the first caliph, from 632 to 634 CE, some people didn’t agree. The choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who believed that Ali, his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated Muhammad’s successor, because Ali was Muhammad’s first follower. The first 4 caliphs were chosen by the elders, but after that were dynasties because the caliphate system brought disagreements about who was to inherit the position and brought about political battle for power. Some people disagreed with the caliph, others thought they were better and they should be the caliph, or it should be their son. With people

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

The Sunni and Shia conflict is currently the longest running feud in the world. Both groups possess an extreme hatred for one another. Over the years, these two groups have openly expressed their hatred with one another through violent killings. This split between the Shia and Sunni originates all the way back in the 7th century. Their difference was based on political differences. As a part of my essay I will explain the difference and origins of the split between the Shi’a and Sunni and also cover the current issues between them.

    Did you know two groups of the same religion have been fighting for over 1,400 years? The two groups are known as Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims. They are fighting over a dispute over succession to Muhammad as a caliph of the Islamic community which spread across various parts of the world. The groups have different the succession of power after Muhammad died, and disagreements about marriage briefs on leadership, but are they so different? The groups are very different, because of

Sunni & Shia The two major sects of Islam, the Sunni and Shia. The Sunni and Shia main practices called the pillars of Islam, or pillars of faith. One of the major differences of these two sects is the Sunnis have only five pillars of faith, whereas the Shiites add three more. The Shiites consider Jihad, which is a practice that all Muslims learn, the sixth pillar of faith, which to Sunnis Jihad is still important but not enough to be a pillar of faith.

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

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

While numerous countries remain established under the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism currently, the religious conflicts between differentiating Islamic sects has initiated massive political and religious warfare. The conflicts between Shia and Sunni Muslims have dates back to the 7th century, after the death of Prophet Muhammad. This great divide still exists today, according to a 2009 study by Pew Research Center, between 10-13% of the Muslims are Shia, while 87-90% are Sunni Muslims, comprising of over 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. While Islamic extremist may be viewed as separate from the mainstream Islamic groups, Muslim extremist groups have evolved alongside the Shia and Sunni sects. “Kharijites” were extreme doctrines which adopted

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

Both Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims fall under the religion of Islam. It includes the declaration of a monotheistic God, acknowledging that the Prophet Muhammad was Allah’s messenger, and practicing the Five Pillars of Islam: testimony of the faith (Witness), prayer (Salat), almsgiving (Zakat), Fasting (Ramadan), and participating in the pilgrimage (The Hajj). Though they both are under Islam, one must understand how the divide began.

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:

The Sunni Creed of Adud al-Din-Iji and the Zaydi creed of Imam al-Mutawakkil have some major fundamental differences, as you may expect since both come from opposite spectrums of Islam; but, after careful analysis, one may be surprised to find that both creeds hold a fair amount of similarities. In this essay, I plan to compare and contrast the Sunni creed and Zayid creed by showing you evidence of the significant similarities and differences in these two short texts. Even though one branch may have something that the other may not have, one can still see that both creeds of Islam provide the instructions and general beliefs of how a Muslim must act, how God is the most powerful. The biggest

Disagreement between Shias and Sunni have been the most important splits in Islamic religion, which are ongoing problems since the 7th century to present-day, conflict in Islamic history has initiated blood spills from generations to generations and is still taking life’s while differences in social and equal opportunities that have taken deep roots in the minds of future leaders.

By definition, Islam is a religion of those who obey the doctrines of the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad, who in the 7th century lived in Arabia, initiated a religious movement that throughout the Middle East was supported by the Arabs. Today, not only in Middle East origins, Islam has adherents, where it is the dominant religion in all countries (Non-Arab, and Arab), but also in other parts of Africa, Asia and, of course, as well as in the United States. Those who are loyal to Islam are called Muslims. The Sunni, Shiite conflict in Iraq started long before the ruling of Saddam Hussein, but when Hussein became Prime Minister of the country the conflict between the two religious sects was taken to a new level. Right when Hussein gained full power, under his control, began years of persecution of the Shiite Muslims in the country. But, before this happened, the conflict was based upon Muhammad and who was to rule after he had died. When Muhammad had died there were many disputes on who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad after his death in 632. Shiites believed that the prophet’s son-in-law, Ali, was to be the successor. Both consider the Koran the word of God. But, devoutness and religious practice distinguish between the two sects. However, Islam teaches that all Islam is equal so Sunni and Shiite sects fight with each other not only because of “hatred” but, also because of religious

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.