What is the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims?



It started immediately after the death of the Prophet butcher Mohammed. The problem arose of who was to take over the leadership of the new Muslim nation; many of the Prophet's companions wanted the new leader to be elected (Sunni Muslims) while others (Shia Muslims) believed the leadership should have passed directly to the Prophet's own family, specifically his cousin/son-in-law, Ali bin Abu Talib.

The Sunnis prevailed: the Prophet Mohammed's close friend and advisor, Abu Bakr, became the first Caliph of the Islamic nation and for the next 1400 years the Shia Muslims refused to recognized the authority of elected Muslim leaders, instead choosing to follow a line of Imams which they believe have been appointed by the Prophet Mohammed or God Himself.

But aside from these political differences, and some differences in practicing their faith, they both share the main articles of Islamic belief: that Allah is the only God, that Mohammed is messenger, both follow the five pillars of Islam, both fast on Ramadan, and both share the same military handbook, the Koran.

A reader recently asked my opinion of their feud and whether it is good for non-Muslims.

My view is that it's not a good thing, even if they are busy killing each other. Today we see their continued rivalry possibly breaking up Iraq into two states; one backed by Shiite Iran and the other by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states. An Op-Ed Contributor to the New York Times believes this would be a good thing - for Al Qaeda (1).

While those who read history know this blood-fest has been going on for 14 centuries, some Muslim bloggers blame the current sectarian civil wars on the Mossad and American neoconservatives (2).

The schism between Sunni and Shia have interesting parallels with the feud between Lilliput and Blefuscu in Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels:

Wikipedia, Lilliput and Blefuscu

Both nations follow the teachings of a prophet, Lustrog, as recorded in their scripture, known as the Blundecral ("which is their Qur'an"). Sectarian divisions exist in the debate between "Little-Endians" and "Big-Endians."

...

Traditionally, Lilliputians broke boiled eggs on the larger end; a few generations ago, an Emperor of Lilliput, the Present Emperor's great-grandfather, had decreed that all eggs be broken on the smaller end after he cut himself breaking the egg on the larger end. The differences between Big-Endians (those who broke their eggs at the larger end) and Little-Endians had given rise to "six rebellions... wherein one Emperor lost his life, and another his crown". The Lilliputian religion says an egg should be broken on the convenient end, which is now interpreted by the Lilliputians as the smaller end. The Big-Endians gained favour in Blefuscu.


While we may laugh at the petty religious disputes between the Lilliputians and at the similar squabbles of Muslims we cannot ignore the danger that all Islam, including moderate Islam, presents to western civilization - for what all Muslims strive for, despite sectarian differences, is to bring the world entirely into Islam when all belief is for Allah alone.

Sunni, Shia, whatever, doesn't matter, be afraid. Be very afraid.




ENDNOTES


(1):

NY Times, Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?

A complete collapse in Iraq could provide a haven for Al Qaeda operatives within striking distance of Israel, even Europe. And the nature of the threat from Iran, a potential nuclear power with protégés in the Gulf states, northern Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, is entirely different from that of Al Qaeda.

(2):

Respect, Sunni Shia Conflict & the ‘Continuum’ of an Ideology

sectarian conflict in Bahrain

The war on terror manufactured and implemented by a cabal of Israel first politicians including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Richard Myers and Paul D Wolfowitz is the same group behind the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) which according to Dr Alan Sabrosky, a US strategic analyst, “wanted to use the 9/11 attacks as a catalytic event that ensured the US would fight Israel’s wars” and have been funding sectarian strife and regime change in the Middle East.




### End of my article ###

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