After the death on the prophet Muhammad in 632 CE, a division occurred between Muslims as they argued who should rule the people. Muhammad did not have any direct descendants and therefore the people argued whether Abu Bakr or Ali should lead the people. The Sunni Islam believed that Abu Bakr was the right leader and the Shia believes that Ali should have succeeded Muhammad first.
The Sunni and Shia people believe in the same basic teachings of Islam. They both believe in the five pillars and the articles of faith. However, the fact that they have similar beginnings is irrelevant when looking at the differences between the two groups. The Shiites call of prayer is different and the way they praise is also different. The Shiites pray less often than the Sunni praying about three times a day compared to the five times that the Sunnis pray. Sunnis believe that the first four leaders are legitimately Muhammad's successors. The Shiites believe those after Ali are the true successors. Another difference between the Shiites and Sunnis is Mahdi. Shiites believe that he has already been here, and will return. The Sunnis believe he has yet to emerge into history.
The two groups have more rules that make these groups so different. To this day the two groups still fight over issues.
http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm
http://hnn.us/articles/934.html
I think its interesting that while under Muhammad's rule, everyone seemed to get along and just becuase he died it caused everything to go into chaos? I don't know, haha, good post.
ReplyDeleteGood post, I think its pretty interesting how the Sunni and the Shiites fight so much over religion with each other, kind of reminds me of the Protestants and the Catholics.
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