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Comparing the Shi'ite faction of Islam to the Sunni faction
Sunnis vs shiites comparison
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Introduction: (50 Words)
Sunni is the largest of the two Islamic branches and makes up 80% of the world’s Muslim population. Sunni is very different from the Shi'a sect due to religious belief differences and arguments. My thesis is “What is the main belief of the Sunni sect and how did this differ from the Shiites?”
Part I: (300 Words)
Part II: (300 Words)
The ongoing conflict between the Sunnis and Shi'a started from arguments originating from religious diffferences. These disagreements were focused on the Prophet Muhammad’s successor. After Muhammad’s death in 632 C.E., his close friend Abu Bakr was appointed caliph of the Islamic community. This is where the conflict began. Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr was elected by the community
The fights among Sunni and Shia or Shiite Muslims has been a historical mastery that covered by political authorities. These authorities want to keep up the huge split among Muslims for politician reasons and minor disagreements of Islamic understanding. Therefore, the whole world notes the conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslim which have caused the death of millions sine the begging of the conflict.
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.
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
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...
This conflict was something that had been brewing for centuries. Modern day Iraq and Iran have conflicting interests and disputes over borders and control dating back to the Ottoman Turkish Empire as well as the Persian empire under the Safavids (Hiro, 1991). The majority of this war was fought by Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran. Both political leaders fighting to protect what they thought was theirs and what they wanted to take from the other side.
It is true that the Western World owes its science to the Muslim World. Partly because of their strive to learn from others and opening their finding to everyone. If the Muslim World was not this open and inquisitiveness of others besides them self, we would all be in the Dark Ages and deprived of all history not recorded in our native tongue.
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
“Library." Sunni Islam Origins, Sunni Islam History, Sunni Islam Beliefs. Patheos, 26 Nov. 2013. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. .
Questions surrounding legitimacy and what authority the next caliphs would hold created the most tensions within each caliph’s successorship. However, Muhammad had a legion of followers who were well versed in his teachings and style of rule that “before the Prophet died, he had created the conditions for a universal brotherhood on the basis of faith, a principle which he vigorously substituted for the old blood-ties and tribal loyalties of the Arabs” (Rahman 25). Muhammed preached monotheism, which “demanded a radical break from the polytheism of pre-Islamic Arabia” (Berkey 72). This set up the concepts of authority that the caliphs that took over Muhammad’s rule after his death and unified the authority to conduct themselves to the laws and rules on the one God. Therefore, this united the tribes that became part of the Islamic Empire through the authority of a monotheistic state and religion. The Rashidun dynasty became the first to rule after the death of Muhammad. However, this decision created a divide amongst the two sects of Islam; the Sunnis and Shi`a. Their opposing views about legitimacy ignited the instability that would reign towards the end of the Rashidun rule and still marks for the tensions between the two groups in the Muslim community today. Yet, because of the expansion of Islam with the Near East, the caliphs had to draw in multiple
Because of the important role that political Islam plays in the world today, a careful examination into the roots of these ideologies, how they evolved into the current form, how they are similar or different from each other, in addition to their perspectives for today and the future will shed light on their actions and way of thinking.
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, as a religion, is divided into two different sects, Sunni and Shi'i. These divisions have their own separate values and rituals that create an unconquerable schism between them. The gap, however, is somewhat bridged by a twist on the Islamic faith known as Sufism. The mystic ways of the Sufi society make it very appealing to both Sunnis and Shiites, not to mention the newcomers to the Islamic faith. Sufism uses the quality of unification and the quality of appeal to make it one of the strongest aspects of Islam.
...overall creator. The group performs a series of washing rituals before engaging in prayers. The prayers are distributed throughout the day and there is prayer for every part of the day for instance dawn, noon and evening. The prayers are usually led by imams who engage in the process of directing the congregation in the prayer session. The Sunni Islam group is grounded on the Quran that is regarded as the Holy Book. Another distinguishing feature among the Sunnis is the use of hadith that involves the description of various literary works. The group prohibits the use of imagery representation of God and the prophets and engages in the use of mosaic artwork in their places of worship. The place of Sunni Islam worship is known as the mosque. The imams are considered as community pastors and involve in offering inspiration to individuals and solving of their issues.
The Shahadah, or testimony, is the first of the five pillars of Islam. In order to officially convert to Islam, it is required to recite the Shahadah three times, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” This has been a practice within the Islamic faith for hundreds of years. Yet, even within the Islamic faith there are differing versions. Those who practice Shia Islam add, “and Ali is the friend of God” to the end of the Shahadah. This, among many other practices, is an example of the religious plurality that exists within the Islamic world. The Islamic world is home to a large and diversified religious community that, on the surface, seems homogenous in its religious practices. But many religious schools of jurisprudence, schools of theology, and other religious movements exist under the umbrella of Islam, these schools bring religious diversity to Islam that seek to meet the diverse needs and wants of the religious marketplace of the Islamic world. Though the United States is often used as the example to describe religious pluralism, there are many instances in the Islamic world that can even rival the plurality of the American religious market. The Muslim Brotherhood is a prime example of an Islamic organization that has become deeply entrenched in society. Through the extensive use of social services and extreme religious power, the Muslim Brotherhood has been able to enjoy a large membership base, devoted to their cause, and dedicated to its principles. Every year, many Muslims will embrace Sufi Islamic practices into their lives. The Islamic world is not an exception to the religious economies model and is, in fact, a very religiously diverse region of the world.
Islam is a monotheistic religion and has been world’s fastest spreading religion. The religion Islam is originated in the seventeenth century by an Arabian prophet called Muhammad in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Seventeenth century was period of slavery and cold war. Islam is an Arabic word which means submission and it basically means submission to god and realizing his power. The followers of Islam is called Muslims. The meaning of Muslim is to surrender and it basically means surrender themselves to Prophet Muhammad and by obeying his instruction they can surrender to Allah. The scared text of Islam is Quran. Major Islamic branches include Shiite Islam (Shia) and Sunni Islam. They belief that to achieve heaven they need to fulfill five pillars of Islam which include creed (shahadha), prayer (salah), almsgiving (Zakat), fasting (sawm) and pilgrimage (hajj). The various aspects of Islam can be further discussed through Muhammad life, Quran, hijrah, core beliefs of Muslim, contributions of Islam, and by discussing how it is related to western civilization.