Sunni Vs Shiites Essay

Muhammad’s father-in-law Abu Bakr took over leadership of the umma as the successor (caliph) of Muhammad. Abu Bakr faced two main tasks: standardization of the Islamic religion and consolidation of the Islamic state. Abu Bakr successfully re-established Muslim authority over the Arabs and oversaw the compilation and organization of the Quran in book form.

Islam is an empire that expanded greatly, but they didn’t expand by people just joining them they did it by battles and other ways. Muhammad guided a small group of people who followed him in 622 CE. Then died in 632 CE, because there was no one who took charge some Arab tribes started leaving Islam. But Abu Bakr used military force to get back some Muslims. People who were Jew or Christian liked how Islam thought of how people can be equal. But in 656 the third caliph was killed and 661 the fourth was killed and they Umayyad dynasty started to take place. They did what Abu Bakr did and used military forces to expand; they expanded it to Persia, Central Asia, and Spain. By 732 a battle started and Christians stopped Muslim armies. The Umayyad’s

Lastly, Islam spread quickly through military campaigns which is depicted in “The Spread of Islam (map)” (Doc. C) This map shows how the people that were conquered by the Muslims chose to convert to Islam

The spread of Islam throughout the world was among the most significant worldwide movements in history. Beginning as the faith of a small community of believers in Arabia in the seventh century, Islam rapidly became one of the major world religions. The core beliefs and culture of this faith is the belief that Muhammad (570-632), a respected businessman in Mecca, a commercial and religious center in western Arabia, received revelations from God that have been preserved in the Qur'an. The core of Islam remains the same today after 1396 years. Islam still translates to “submission” and Muslims still live by the Qur’an and follow the 5 Pillars of Islam. However, throughout the Pre-Islamic, Umayyad, and Abbasid

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

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.

The Umayyads started out as one of the elite clans of Mecca who at first rejected Muhammad’s divine revelations (Kishlansky, Geary and O'Brien). However, Muhammad utilized his resources and quickly grew a strong following, organizing them into the Umma, an Islamic family “that transcended the old bonds of tribe and clan” (Kishlansky, Geary and O'Brien). As his support proliferated, his opposition dwindled and increasingly converted to Islam. In 629, with 10,000 warriors at his command, Muhammad marched onto Mecca and quickly conquered it with few casualties. The elite Meccan clans—the Umayya among them—were swiftly rehabilitated into the Umma, much to the chagrin of Muhammad’s earliest followers.

I have always assumed that the Sunni and Shia conflict is similar to the war between the Catholic and Protestant, however it is much more complex and different. These two branches of Islam share the same Holy Book and all agree that Allah is there God. Sunni and Shia both believe that the last prophet was Muhammad. However, when Muhammad died, there was a disagreement of who would be Muhammad’s successor. There were two candidates to be the successor of Muhammad, Abu Bakr and Ali bin Abi Talib. Ali bin Abi Talib was Muhammad’s cousin and son-in law. Abu Bakr was Muhammad’s friend and senior companion. The Sunni Muslims believed that the leadership should be granted to the person with most experience. On the other hand, the Shi’a believed the decision should be based purely through Muhammad’s bloodline. The majority of Muslim ended up choosing Abu Bakr to be the Caliph (successor). However, Abu Bakr’s rule was shortlived when he died in 634 CE.

One being who would succeed the Prophet Muhammad after his death; Shias holding the belief that Muhammad had elected someone to be his successor; this being Ali, the closest relative to Muhammad. On the other hand, Sunni Muslims believe Muhammad did not choose a specific person to follow this death, but instead the best community would vote the most qualified candidate to take over the role as Caliph. This one controversy has spawn fights, debates, and even wars over who is correct, and is the primary cause in the split between the Sunnis and

The development of Islam – 7th century C.E. – This religion began when the angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad and told him to spread the word of God. At this time, many people worshipped many gods/idols. Muhammad was thought of as the “one true prophet” by his followers. There are five pillars of Islam: the shahada – profession of faith, salat – ritual prayer, sawm – fasting, zakat – giving alms, and hajj – pilgrimage to mecca. Muhammad’s preaching about there only being one god got him kicked out of Mecca in 622 C.E. where he and his followers ended up in Medina. In Medina, the Islamic community grew into a small emoire-like group. In 630, the Muslims took back Mecca. After Muhammad’s death, the religion continued to grow with many disputes

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

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 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

Muhammad is the most important figure in Islam. Muhammad was a great man whose public life lasted only twenty years. He lived a life near perfection, and Muslims attempt to live according to his example, but do not emulate him as Christians do Christ. He preached the value of religious unity, and established principals to which Muslims still adhere, and are still central to Islam today. Muhammad preached that "Islam was the source of temporal as well as

There are two main denominations or Schools of Islam: the first being the minority sect of the Shia’ School and the second being the majority sect called the Sunni School. Essentially, after the death of Muhammad (peace be upon him), there had been no appointed heir or successor to lead the Islamic people. The man Abu-Bakr was a close companion of Muhammad and had been praised as being