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Sunni and Shia Muslims conflict
The role of an imam in a mosque
Differences and similarities in Islam
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Who should Muhammad’s successor be? Different opinions on this answer have caused a massive dilemma between Muslims. The prophet Muhammad created the religion of Islam about fourteen hundred years ago, but it eventually split into two groups that share common qualities and disputes on beliefs. The struggle with the different beliefs is still occurring in the world today. Both groups of Muslims are unified by their similar beliefs, yet they are sundered by their disagreements.
To begin, Sunnis (followers of the Sunna) are the first group of Muslims. According to Muhammad’s teachings, all Muslims believe that they have a direct relationship with Allah, which allows them to pray directly to God. Additionally, Sunni Muslims believe that
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The Shiites believe that the caliphs of Islam should be a descendent of Muhammad, because Muhammad was the messenger of their god, Allah. When the first successor, Abu Bakr, was chosen to be the ruler, the Shiites became furious because he was not a blood relative of Muhammad. One of Muhammad’s daughters, Fatima, was arranged to marry Ali, Muhammad’s cousin. Naturally, because Ali was Muhammad’s cousin and the closest blood relative, many Muslims thought that he was compelled to be the next caliph of Islam. In addition, Shiites thought that Ali should have been caliph because he was spiritually closer to Allah than Abu Bakr and the other caliphs, due to his blood relation. To resolve this conflict, supporters of Ali rose up and terminated caliph Uthman, who ruled at that time. After his men succeeded in killing Uthman, Ali then became the Imam, the Shiites version of a caliph. This title of Imam means “divinely guided successor of Muhammad” in Arabic. As a matter of fact, the Shiites give the Imam the power to rule the Muslims politically and spiritually, unlike the Sunnis’ caliphs. The example of how the Shiites overthrew Uthaman shows an example of how the relations between the two groups were troubled. As you can see, these two different beliefs consequently have many conflicts, but surprisingly, they share some resemblances as
At that point Shia and Sunni Muslims were separated in different directions. Sunni believed that the legitimate leaders of Islam are the leaders who ruled after Mohammed’s death (Abu Bakr- Umar- Othman- Ali). On the other hand Shia believed that Ali should’ve been the first leader of Islam after Mohammed’s death and the first three leaders just illegitimately took over Ali’s leadership. Ali had his leadership of Islamic world after Othman’s murder. Umayyah family were against Ali’s leadership and involved Ali of murdering Othman. Therefore, Ali had to fight his enemies over the first five years of his leadership.
The Sunnites’ strongest belief has an emphasis on the views and customs of the majority of the community, as distinguished from the views of other groups. The Sunnites compromised by allowing the other groups to bring their beliefs and customs that had nothing to do with the Qur’an.
Islam was broken into two different sects immediately following Muhammad’s death; this was due to arguments surrounding whether or not he had named a successor. These two sects were the Shia and Sunni. The Shia believed that leadership of the Muslim community should stay with in the prophet’s family and therefore believed Ali, Muhammad’s son in law, to be the rightful leader of the Muslim world. The Sunni believed that this honor and responsibility should be given to someone deemed responsible to lead the community by the community. The Sunni’s large numbers won this debate and they chose the first caliph. This was the first and not the last time the Sunni would be in political power. Ali wo...
Muhammad is a novel written by Driss Chraibi a distinct modern North African novelist and journalist. The novel is simply not about the Prophet Muhammad, but a novel about a man from Mecca named Muhammad who later became the prophet of the great religion of Islam. In this novel the author did not tent to apply the deification of Muhammad, but rather explained the human part of him, which was indeed as great as a human being could ever be. Also, this novel is not intended to discuss the life of Muhammad from a historical point, but a novel further explains the characters of Mohammad. Yet, the author emphasized that this book is not biography of the Prophet on a traditional religious account. Thus, the book is not a historical work, but the author
The division between Shia and Sunni dates back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the question of who was to take over the leadership of the Muslim nation. Sunni Muslims agree with the position taken by many of the Prophet's companions, that the new leader should be elected from among those capable of the job. This is what was done, and the Prophet Muhammad's close friend and advisor, Abu Bakr, bec...
The split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims were caused due to their different opinions on Muslim leadership. The Sunnis thought the community leader should choose the caliph while the Shiites thought the descendants of Muhammad’s son and daughter in-law were the right choice. After the death of Ali. many Shiites died trying to install who they thought should be
There were many debates, disagreements and problems over and involving Shura and they began with who should succeed after the prophets Mohamed (pbuh) death in 632 CE. The situation began with a fraught meeting at Saqifah and as a result Abu Bakr was selected to succeed the prophet as leader of the Muslim world. But this selection threw up problems simply because the consultation meeting did not include some of the prophet’s companions ...
...Opposing Views And Continued Conflicts." Journal Of Religion & Health 51.1 (2012): 162-178. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
The Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam have been feuding for hundreds of years dating back to the beginning of the Islamic religion. The deity or god of the Sunnis is Allah. The Sunni branch of Islam is the larger of the two branches with over 80% of the Muslim population. The Sunni are the majority in most of the countries that have Islamic followers. There are a few different translations of what Sunna stands for, one of which is “Habitual Practice.” The differences between the two branches can be traced all the back to the 7th century CE when the disagreements as to who should succeed Muhammad. Sunnis believe that the Muslim community should maintain the right to select who the successor to Muhammad is going to be. The Shiite branch maintains the belief that Muhammad has selected his son-in-law to be the successor. Even though the two branches agree on most matters, the Sunni put more power behind god and his determination of fate, and are more inclusive about their definition of being Muslim. The Sunni place heavy belief in the role of religion in some aspects of life and a lot of weight is put on the Islamic law known as Shariah as the standard for a vast range of social issues including marriage and divorce. (Patheos.com)
Throughout his life, the Prophet Muhammad proved to be exceptionally adept at uniting diverse groups, negotiating a series of alliances and loyalty arrangements that spanned religious, tribal, ethnic, and familial lines (Berggren 2009). Among other things, this ability enabled Muhammad to forge a shared identity and found a nascent Islamic state from a diverse and even heterogeneous community (Rahman 1982; Ernst 2003, pp. 87-93). This diversity proved to be both a source of strength and conflict for Islam, and following the death of Muhammad early Islamic communities engaged in extensive debates not only about the nature of his teachings or how to carry his legacy forward, but also about the terms that should be used to define his authority. Although this debate produced a colorful array of movements within the tapestry of early Islamic civilization, this essay offers a critical examination of two particularly distinct perspectives on the nature of prophetic authority: namely, those articulated
Throughout history it is evident that many religions have been tried, tested, and, for some, radically changed. Many religions have gone through periods of time in which the way they were run or enforced underwent changes in practice and leadership. In many cases disagreements and differing outlooks among members of certain religions were to blame for these changes. Christianity and Islam are two examples of religions that have experienced changes over the course of their existence. While these religions seem to have little in common at first glance, both have strikingly similar pasts that consist of radical splits due to disagreements among members of the Christian and Islamic churches, resulting in new branches within each religion.
[iii] A member of the smaller of the two great divisions of Islam. The Shia originated in a dispute over who should be the legitimate successor to the Prophet; a majority of early Muslims accepted the tradition of community consensus to choose the leader, but a minority supported the claim of Ali, the Prophet's cousin, to inherit the mantle of leadership (A Country Study).
Judaism and Islam are known to be two of the main religions that are found throughout the world. They each have similar traits and many more differences. They both are monotheistic, which means they only believe in one god. Muslims worship the God called Allah, which means in Arabic “the God”. And Jews worship the god called Yahweh, which means the God of Israel. Their differences include their core beliefs, rituals, symbols, and history.
On the surface Muhammad is usually considered to be a prophet and messenger of God, but when looking closer we can see that He played many more roles in His life time including one of a Statesman.
Although Islam and Christianity differ in major ways, they also share some similarities in their belief in God. First of all, Christianity and Islam are both monotheistic religions; worshipping only one God. While both believe in the same God, he is called by two completely different names. He is referred to as "Allah" by Muslims and "God" by Christians. The basic creed of Islam is brief: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah”.