The Split of Islam More than thirteen centuries ago, an event forever influenced the modern world: the split of Islam. With repercussions that still impact the modern world, Islam split into two sects —Sunni and Shia. Islam, the world’s second largest religion, was founded in 622 CE by Muhammad on the Arabian Peninsula. After years and years of preaching, Muhammad gained numerous followers, known as Muslims, and made Islam a political force. Unfortunately, Muhammad died in 632 CE, leaving no successor. Eventually, people with different opinions clashed with one another. Different opinions toward leadership, opposite views on politics, and the interpretation of the Qur’an led to the split of Islam. Muhammad was born in 570 CE in Mecca (Prophet). …show more content…
Before the foundation of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula was ruled by multiple small tribes. When Muhammad returned to Mecca in 632 CE, he was even able to conquer Mecca and create new rules and laws that promoted Islamic ideals. Before Muhammad died in 632 CE, he united all the tribes in Arabia into one single group whose members are all Muslims (Early). Moreover, after his death, his followers eventually built an empire that stretched all the way from Central Asia to Spain in less than 100 years (Abdo). However, when Muhammad died, he didn’t leave a son to succeed his position, so the dispute over who should be his successor directly led to the Sunni-Shia split (Fetini). First of all, Sunnis and Shias had different opinions about who should be the caliph, or the successor of Muhammad. A group of his believers supported Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s close friend, to be the next caliph, and they were referred to as the Sunnis. On the contrary, another group supported Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and the husband of Muhammad’s daughter, and they were referred to as the Shias (Armanios). In brief, Shias believed caliphs must be related to Muhammad by blood while Sunnis believed blood relation has nothing to do with leadership, instead, leaders should be people who are qualified …show more content…
Shias think politics is unjust and that religion and politics should be separated. The root of this opinion traced back to the murder of Hussein, Muhammad’s grandson, in 680 CE. At that time, Yazid, a Sunni, was the new caliph. However, Hussein was unwilling to recognize his legitimacy. Therefore, Yazid called for the massacre of Muhammad’s male heirs to prevent a rebellion. Shia Muslims today honor the event on the Day of Ashura (What). Because of the murder of Hussein, Shias refuse to participate in politics. Instead, Shias look forward to the rewards in the afterlife and honored martyrdom, the death of a person who refuse to renounce his or her
Islam is a very large and influential religion, it all originated from one man named Muhammad spreading his beliefs to the people of Mecca, and now it has become the second largest religion in the world. How did this come to be? How did a religion that started with one man spread so quickly? methods , purposeful or not, were used. There are a few methods that appeared to be most effective, and those methods can be classified under two categories. Islam expanded from forceful ways such as government laws and military conquest, and from peaceful ways like the religion being a reasonable jump for other religions and Islam being an easily acceptable religion.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, no one imagined that the next great world power would emerge from Saudi Arabia. Especially, because ancient empires thought that the land was worthless, but they didn’t know that it had great trade routes. Trade brought them in connection with other civilizations and that’s how the city of Mecca, located in Saudi Arabia, became known. The city of Mecca was a mix of religious beliefs, they used to worship many gods and had their own rituals. The world of Islam took place in Mecca, where Muhammad was born in 570 CE.
Battle of Karbala was a major change because they were fought over different reasons and different geographies. The Battle of Karbala was a battle between Muhammad's followers vs the non believers known as the Umayyad caliph led by Yazid. The battle is marked as an event that seperated Sunni and Shi’a Islam. Ultimately Muhammad’s followers were outnumbered. They were eventually slaughtered by Yazid’s army for being outnumbered by 10,000 soldiers. The battle of karbala supported to secure the spot of the Umayyad dynasty but for the Muhammad's followers or known by the shiite muslims, When Yazid I succeeded his father, Mu’awiyah, to the caliphate in the spring of 680, the many partisans of Muhammad’s late cousin and son in law ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib- who collectively fet that leadership of the Muslim community rightly belonged to the descendents of ‘Ali rose in the city of Al-Kufah, in what is now Iraq, and invited al Husayn to take refuge with them, promising to have him proclaimed caliph there. (Britannica
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.
Have you ever wondered about other religions that are out there and why they are out there? I have and that is why I chose to write my paper on the Sunnis and Shiites. Read on to learn more about a brief history and then I will break each of them into separate religions.
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.
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...
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...
Islam is a monotheistic religion which is originated from the Middle East or more specifically in the Arabian Peninsula early in the 7th century. This religion was founded on the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed who named this religion after the Arabic word acceptance. Islam has 2 major sects the Sunni and Shi’a. This split occurred when Mohammed died. The Sunni believed that the new leader of Islam should be determined through election but the Shi’a thought that the new leader should be Imam Ali a cousin and son in law of Mohammed. Another branch of Islam is Druze but only a small minority of Muslims who live in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine are followers of this sect (3 Faiths with One God - Islam, Arab American National Museum).
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
Huda. "Shia and Sunni Muslims: What's the Difference?" Religion and Spirituality. Ask.com, n.d. Web. 01 May 2014. .
In the seventh century, a new faith arose in the Middle East known as the Islamic religion. Just like Christianity and Judaism, the Islamic religion believed in one God known as Allah. The founder of Islam was a very unique individual known as Mohammad. Mohammad had an amazing spiritual experience that transformed his life and made a great impact in history. He experienced visions and revelations from Allah which he accepted as messages. Mohammed
The Shia branch of the Muslim religion only accounts for about 15% of the total population of Muslims in the world. Shiism has the most influence in the contemporary world especially in Iran where the population is nearly 90% Muslim. The Shias revere a succession of Scholars known as Imams. The Imam has been regarded as both the political and spiritual leader. Although the two branches agree on many of the doctrinal and ritual matters, the Shia holds the Imams and saints in very high regard. The ones ...
Islam, on the other hand, started in Mecca, where Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) was born. He was believed to be that last nabi (messenger) that Allah will give to the world. The religion was not well accepted in its city of origin though, due to the opposition the Prophet faced as a nascent community . Later, he was invited to Medina and Islam expanded from there.
The approach to political legitimacy is one of the key differences between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and in fact, it is the initial source of division between these two groups in Islam. The problem emerged after the death of the Prophet Muhammad when there was a need to choose a new representative of God on earth. The differences between the Sunni and Shiite approaches to the Imamate are very clear in Abd al-Hasan Ali al-Mawardi’s “ On Choosing a Caliph” and Allama al-Hilli’s “On the Shiite Imamate.” While both authors have similar views regarding the primary role of the Imamate, they differ significantly in the way they describe the process of choosing an Imam and the personality of an ideal ruler.