The Historical Context of Ridda, Shura, and Shi'a Essay

Notably, as Muhammed standardized the Five Pillars of Islam for the “umma,’’ or community of faithful, multiplying followers stayed true to his legal doctrines. Ever since early Islam, the ‘’Sharia’’ stabilized the cults law, even if it combated Greek, Persian, and Indian nations. Along with cultural topics, the Sharia gave

Historically, the Sunnis and the Shi'ites have been at opposite sides of the ethnic/cultural/religious and political fence. Such differences have led to numerous violent encounters between the two groups, with neither group appearing to be willing to make any concessions regarding their differences. This paper will discuss the differences between Shi'ites and Sunnis based on the thesis that these differences are based on conflicting beliefs related to the successor of their Prophet Mohammad.

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

Conflicts within religions cause a division in society over time. In the early Islamic era, various conflicts occurred between Muslims. Early Islamic conflicts resulted in an ideological diverge after the death of the prophet, Muhammad PBUH. The most significant conflict, which occurred 1400 years ago and still reflects on Islamic society until this day, is the cleavage of Sunni and Shi'a. It's important to study the early Islamic history to understand the early Muslim division. The questions that will be researched on this subject are how and why the early division between Muslims occurred, and what the results of the division of Sunni and Shi'a were in Islamic history.

As a political tactic, rulers often portray themselves in a certain way in order to stabilize their reign and rule more effectively. Some take the approach of uniqueness by setting themselves apart from their subject population while others take the approach of sameness by emphasizing the similarities in which they share with the people. Not exclusively limited to apartness or sameness, some rulers have shown to employ a mix of both ruling styles. It is these versatile rulers who have experienced more successes in their reign because they are not compelled to only one ruling style, allowing them to better adapt to the needs of their ruling population. The apartness ruling style is best seen in the Safavid Empire under the rule of Shah Ismail. Shah Ismail uses religion as a political tool to control his state and does so by declaring Shi’ism, a smaller branch of Islam, as the state religion (#). After separating himself & his people from those who are not willing to abide to his ideologies, Shah Ismail can now demand the absolute loyalties from his subjects and persecute those who are deviant. This radical act further creates a deep chasm between Shi’ite Muslims and nearby Sunni Muslims neighbors. As a result, cultural flow and the exchange of beliefs between Sunni & Shi’ite states are essentially hindered. Ismail’s apartness ruling approach is taken to the extreme with social, religious, and legal systems being strictly confined to Shi’ite doctrines (@). It is noted that

Influence, political power and envy triggered the tensions between two groups that we know as the Sunni and the Shiites during ancient Muslim history. This major problem began in the mid 1600s and caused Islam to divide into two immensely large groups. The Islamic community had two different opinions on who they thought should be the supreme leader, or caliph. This caused a major division among the empire which caused a downfall for the empire.

Division within the Muslim world did not begin until after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. It arose in the form of political uncertainty about who would be the next leader of the Muslim community after the death of the Prophet. One group of thinkers, who came to be known as Shiites (Shia meaning "faction" in Arabic), believed that authority in the Muslim world should stay within the family of the Prophet, and so pointed to Ali and his son Husayn, Muhammad's close relatives. Another group, known as Sunnis, believed that the person most worthy to lead should become the caliph, no matter his bloodline (Strayer 423).

The Shia-Sunni divide is the major challenge facing Islamic societies today. It has greatly surpassed the issue of conflict between Muslims and the West, which has been a popular topic for scholars for many years now. Sectarianism can be comprehended as an institutional set of arrangements determining familial, local, regional and even expansive kinds of loyalty and affiliation. Nowadays there is an increase in sectarian conflict and violence which can be attributed to the collapse of authoritarian rule and a struggle for political and economic power. It is also due to the dispute over which version of Islam will impact societies and their leaderships.

The division between Sunnis and Shiites is at the largest scale and oldest in the history of Islam. This article compares the differences between the two. There are number of reasons of conflict between them. We will discuss these conflicts in a general form. Initially the difference between Sunni and Shiites was merely a question of who should lead the Muslim community. Today there are significant differences in the structures and organisation of religious leadership in the Sunni and the Shiites communities. There is a hierarchy to the Shiites clergy and political and religious authority is vested in the most learned who emerge as spiritual leaders. These leaders are transnational and religious institutions are funded by religious taxes called Khums (20% of annual excess income) and Zakat (2.5%). Shiites institutions abroad are also funded this way.

The Koran is broken down into one hundred fourteen parts called suras. The first sura is a part of ritual prayer and the other suras serve as guides to all parts of human existence, both social and legal.

The debate of religious authority have also affected the Middle East. In the case of Shism, the right leader of the Islam world comes from the hereditary and bloodline of Muhammad. This has caused the division between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims. Imams play an important role for Shi’ites. An Imam is recognized to be infallible and sinless group of men that were chosen by Allah. They were gifted with wisdom and are instilled with knowledge to represent the spirit of Muhammad. For Shi’ite Muslims they are qualified to be leaders. This shows how they differ with Sunni Islam. Shi’ites are divided into three groups: Twelvers, Ismailis, and Zaides.

Islam as a whole revolves around the concept of submission and Muslims generally regard it as being the religion that teaches submission. The Muslim world has a complex understanding of the idea of submission and it is focused on influencing individuals to devote themselves body and soul to God. Muslims believe that people need to acknowledge God's role throughout history and that they have to submit to His power, as this is apparently the key to being a good Muslim. One does not simply need to express passivity in the face of God, as the respective person needs to understand that he or she submits to a higher power by expressing belief.

Saudi Arabian women have numerous restrictions that must be followed. For example, driving is believed to jeopardize social principles. Saudi Arabia’s conservative religious establishment are opposed to allowing women the right to drive, arguing that it would undermine social values ("Saudi Arabia: End Driving Ban for Women." Human Rights Watch. 24 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Aug. 2015)”. In addition, some Saudi women must dress with modesty,

Despite al-Dawānīqī’s threat, al-Ṣādiq designated his son, Ismaʿil, as his successor and imam. However, al-Dawānīqī’s persecution, threat, and frustration brought a new twist to the life and history of Shīʿa communities. The key twist in this part of the Shīʿa history is the issue of Ismāʿīl’s imamate and occultation. Historical accounts vary on Ismaʿil’s death and life during al-Ṣādiq’s lifetime. While it is beyond the scope and focus of this paper to enter into a debate on this matter, it suffices to state that the ʿAbbāsid threat and persecution caused the emergence of many splinter groups among al-Ṣādiq’s followers. Remaining with the Ismaili line of imamate, Ismaili communities firmly believe in Ismāʿīl’s imamate and the continuation of

"Islam" is derived from the Arabic root salaama meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam stands for making peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law. Jews and Christians view Islam as the latest of the world's great religions. However, worldwide Muslims (sometimes written "Moslems") understand their universal religion as the "final religion" and the "primal religion."