Compare And Contrast Sunni And Shia

to be a good Muslim. It is also struggle against the oppression, as well as holy war against enemies to defend Islam, but fight only if needed.

Both Shia and Sunni are Muslims who practice five pillars of Islam and believe in the Quran. However, their main division is a political, and it began after the death of Prophet. Shia refused to accept the first three caliphs because they believe that Ali should have been recognized as the first legitimate caliph. Shia started to recognize and celebrate Ali as a Mohamed’s intended successor. They also believe prophet’s family members and their descendants should be caliphs. While Sunni is another branch of Islam who believe that Prophet did not appointed a successor who leads Muslim society after his death. In that case, Muslims elected Abu Bakr. Sunni members accepted all four caliphs as the rightful successors of Prophet Mohammed. Sunni Muslims believe that any Muslim man can be elected as long he is qualified for the job.

When Umayyad captured new place, they did not generally compel their conquered people to convert to Islam because they wanted them to pay a higher tax. Umayyad used Byzantine and Sasanian administrative and financial systems. Further, they adopted their construction methods and built many beautiful palaces, institutions, and mosques including The Dome of the Rock creating their unique style. They later replaced Persian and Greek with Arabic as the official language of the empire and established their own currency. Berkey said, “The social discrimination which these non-Arab Muslims experienced also testifies to the Arab character of the Umayyad polity.” Umayyad Arabs were racist who treated Non-Muslims and Malawi as second class