After the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, a rift occurred within the Islamic community. There was a vacancy for leadership and a question of who was qualified to fill it. At that time the companions of the Prophet were elected to be central leaders and were known as Caliphs. The way in which Caliphs were elected, and who succeeded them, is where the difference between Sunni and Shia begins.
After the Islamic leader, Muhammad, died, there formed a huge divide around who was to take his place. This divide ended up in the formation of two opposing groups within Islam – the Sunni and the Shi’ites. War broke out between the Sunni and Shi’ites after a Shi’ite leader claimed the title of Imam and began to establish Shia rule throughout the Middle East. Unfortunately, the conflict between the Sunni and the Shi’ite is one that still goes on today. When Europeans were brought into the Middle East as advisors and trade partners to the Ottomans, the culture in that region changed further.
Muhammad- In Islam too, there is division. 90% of the Muslim population is Sunnis, and the other 10% is Shiites. They both have dress codes, but the Shiites is much more strict than the Sunnis. For example, the Shiites believe that woman should always be completely covered in public.
The division between Sunni and Shia Muslims is rooted in a disagreement over who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad as the leader of the Muslim community(3). The Shia Muslims believe that leadership should remain within Muhammad’s family, specifically through his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, and his descendants, who are known as the Imams (2,3). Shia Muslims believe Muhammad designated Ali as his successor, and look towards the Imam more as a spiritual leader to guide the Muslim community on the interpretations of the Quran and Islamic law (3,5). On the other hand, Sunni Muslims believe that the leader (caliph) should be determined by the Muslim community based on merit and qualifications, regardless of their bloodline (1). The Sunni Muslims
“The Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam encompass a wide spectrum of doctrine, opinion and schools of thought. The branches are in agreement on many aspects of Islam, but there are considerable disagreements within each” (Harney). A disagreement is that the Shiites consider Ali and subsequent leaders as imams. Sunnis regard imams as prayer leaders without any spiritual or political authority, a stark difference from Shiites who believe imams are a direct descendant of Muhammad. They believe in 12 imams, the last of which has vanished in Iraq after the murder of his father.
Both Sunni and Shia Muslims allocate the most frank Islamic beliefs and articles of faith. The contrasts amid these two main sub-groups inside Islam primarily stemmed not from divine contrasts, but governmental ones. Over the centuries, though, these governmental contrasts have spawned a number of fluctuating habits and positions that have come to hold a divine significance. The difference in Religious wise is a little aspects of divine existence have been altered and nowadays differ amid the two clusters of Muslims. It is vital to recall that even though these contrasts in opinion and exercise, Shia and Sunni Muslims allocate the main articles of Islamic belief and are believed by most to be brethren in faith.
After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton is a narrative history that tells you about the cause of the split in between Muslims. The Sunnis and The Shias. Hazleton does this in three main chapters that circulate around the people that mainly cause the Sunni-Shia ordeal. Prophet Muhammad, Ali, and Hussein. When the Prophet Muhammad dies after an illness, his followers were at loss of an irreplaceable leader.
The Colors of Oz Countries play a major role in the in the novel, The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The colors symbolize the different countries of Oz & how they are related. The Blue of the East Munchkin Country, The Green of the Emerald City and the Yellow of the West Winkie Country. Silver plays a Major role to protect Dorothy on the journey to visit the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy 's journey begins in a Kansas cyclone and her house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East and kills her.
These two sects are divided mainly over a disagreement over who should succeed Muhammad following his death. The Shia support Ali as a direct descent to Muhammad to lead. The Sunni followers value exceptional teachers to lead them. They also have differences over a few doctrines and how the Islam beliefs should be practiced in the modern world.
Islam began in Arabia and one of the world’s major prophets emerged from this region, Muhammad. The universalizing faith he founded spread from Arabia through trade routes. “The Islamic state had a universalizing religious mission: to bring humankind under the authority of the religion
After the death of Prophet Muhammad, there were two distinct branches of Islam believers with differential views on who was the next true leader of Islam. These two branches evolved into the Sunnis and Shiites. The controversies of Muhammad’s successor between the two branches started to diverge over time from each other because of their pillars of faiths, practices and customs. The Diffen article declared many differences between the Sunni and Shiites, such as while the Shiites believed that the twelve Infallible Imams should lead, the Sunni believed the four rightly guided caliphs should(T., et.al). Both branches of Islamic followers believed that the other group did not practice the religion properly, and the leaders of each branch always fought against each other.
Tel. Kamali, M. (2010). Islam and Judaism: Judicial and theological perspectives. Retrieved on June, 2017, from http://www.cismor.jp/uploads-images/sites/3/2010/02/Islam-and-Judaism-Juridical-and-Theological-Perspectives.pdf Philips, Bilal. (2005).
In the early periods of the Empire, al-Mahdi’s, the founder of the Fatimid Empire, policy included complete tolerance towards non-Ismailis thus he “made no attempt to force Ismaili practices on an unwilling populace.” His stand against the forced conversion of his people is a clear sign of how he “developed an inclusive and tolerant policy which allowed other interpretations of Islam to be practiced alongside the official Shi’i Ismaili interpretation.” His regime provided security to those under his rule, and the fact that he was the first of the Fatimid Caliphs provided people with a positive outlook on the new Empire’s policies and
The ever-debated discussion of which forms of civic and loyal friendship with non-Muslims are permissible in Islam provides scope in inter-connected world. However, does this global theme also allow the concept of salvation broadened beyond the scholarly views within Islam? Introduction: This assignment will critically review and reflect Fadel’s argument of achieving Islamic pluralism through exploration of Islamic doctrine in order to achieve potential mutual aims and political tolerance between Muslims and non-Muslims.
A. PREAMBLE The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 has sparked intense curiosity and interest in the world especially the West to learn and investigate the religion of Islam. The Muslim people are portrayed as violent and barbaric, and Islam as oppressive and antithesis to human rights values. Thus, escalation of public opinion about Islam has encouraged debates and forums, and also stirred demonstrations and movements which have compelled the Muslims to speak out their minds and interpret and recast their texts viz. Quran and Sunnah of prophet Mohammad and even question and challenge the prevailing culture and practices, and domineering structures.
