Total Pageviews

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Shia and Sunni - What differentiates each other

40 % of Muslims do not consider Shia to be Proper Muslims.


How it all started?
  • Prophet Muhammad dies.
  • Followers split over who should inherit him.
  • Some (Sunni now) wanted Abu Bakr (father of Prophet Muhammad’s wife) to inherit Muhammad.
  • Others (Shia now) wanted Muhammad’s kin to be the successor, and claimed Prophet had anointed Ali (Muhammad’s cousin).
  • Finally Abu Bakr wins.  (Ali became fourth caliph though: 1st Caliph-Abu bakr, 2nd-Umar ibn al-Khattab, 3rd-Uthman_ibn_Affa, 4th Ali_ibn_Abu_Talib.
  • Ali’s son Hussein dies, murdered by ruling Sunni caliph’s troop (please read on : Battle of Karbala)

 *Caliph-Civil and religious leader of a Muslim State.

Differences in Beliefs
  
Concept
Sunni
Shia
Hadit and Sunnah (Islamic Academic Science)
Consider all Hadith and Sunnah narrated by any of the 12,000companions to be equally valid
Consider Hadith and Sunnah narrated by Prophet’s family and close associates.
The Mahdi (Successor of Muhammad who is expected to arrive and rule the world and get rid of all evil)
Many Sunni Muslims community disputes over concept of Mahdi since there is no mention of it in Quran, but only in Hadith
Central concept

Prayer
5 times a day
Permits combining some prayers and making it to three daily prayer times.


Data Sources: www.economist.com
                      BBC.co.uk
                      Wikipedia
Image Source: http://cognitivelibertyuk.wordpress.com