What do Shiite Muslims believe?

Answer 1

shia and sunni have same basic beliefs. They both believe in Allah (or God in English and same God worshiped in Judaism and Christianity) as the one and only one God with no partner, no son, no father, no companion, no associate, and no equivalence. The believe in the same prophet; Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. They believe in the same God holy book Qur'an and practice same ritual worships.

However, shia believe that after death of prophet Muhammad God select the successive of prophet who is the leader of Muslim community and people can not select it. Shia believe the Imam (successor of prophet) is appointed only by God and can not be selected by people because God said in Koran: "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." (Quran 2:30)

This means only God can select an Islamic leader.

in shia they are only fourteen infallible (12 Imams and prophet and his daughter Fatimah Zahra (sa))

and all of them are the same and have no mistake and have the knowledge of everything (this knowledge is from God and by permission of God and is not absolute knowledge. absolute knowledge is only for God and they still do not know many things. but they know anything human may need to know.) and they never die and they hear all sayings and even thinks of all humans after their death by permission of God and they are intermediates between God and human.

and shia Muslims always support them and forgive their lives for them.

shia muslims do not consider selection of Abubakr as Caliphet valid because God did not select him. they believe God ordered prophet to declear Ali is selected as successor of prophet (Quran 5:3) and prophet did this mission in Ghadir event that was in last Hajj of prophet in his life and prophet did a speech for 120,000 Muslims participating that Hajj with prophet. the famous shia book Al-Ghadir is a collection of evidences and proofs for Ghadir Hadith from 10,000 sunni books.

Both Shiites and Sunnis, as all Muslims, believe in:

• The oneness of Allah (God) the one and only one God.
• The prophecy of Prophet Muhammad as Allah's Prophet and Messenger.
• The holy book Quran, as God revelation to prophet Muhammad.
• All God prophets, Angels, and holy books.
• The Day of Judgment.
• All Islam major teachings.
• Islam 5 pillars (see related question below).

Answer 2

Please see the Related Link below.
all in all we can categorize these difference into two levels:one level lies in principles and other in interpreting of Quran .

first level:the five principles of religion as stated by shiism include:tawhid or belief in divine unity,nubuwwah or prophecy,maad or ressurrection,imamah or the immamate:belief in the imams as successors of the prophet and Adl or Divine justice.in the Three bsic principles -unity, prophecy and resurrection-Suunnism and shiism agree.it ts only in the other two that they differ. in the question of the imamate it is the insistence on the esoteric function of of the imam that distingushes the shiites perspective from the Sunni.in the question of Justice it is the emphasis placed upon this attribute as an intrinsic quality of the divine nature that is particular to shiism.we might say that in the esotericformulation of Sunni theology,especially as contained in Asharism there is an emphasis upon the will of god .whatever god will is just precisely because it is willed by God.and intelligence is in a sense subordinate to this will and to the voluntarism which characterizes this form of theology.in shiism however , the quality of justice is considered as innate to the Divine Nature..God can not act in n unjust manner because it is His nature to be just.Fa,him to be unjust would violate His own nature,which is impossible.intelligence can judge the justness and injustness of an act and this judgment is not completely suspended in favor of a pure voluntarism on the part of God.

second level:shiism also different in its consideration of the means whereby the original message of Quranic revelation reached the islamic community and thereby in certain aspects of the sacred history of islam.there is no disagreement on the Quran and the prophet.that is,on what constitutes the origin of the islamic religion.the difference in view begins with the period immediately following the death of the prophet.one might say that the personality of the prophet contained two dimensions which were later to become crystallized into Suunism and Shiism.each of this two schools was later to reflect bck upon the life and personality of the prophet solely from its own point of view,thus leaving aside and forgetting or miscinstruing the other ddimension excluded from its own perspective.for shiism the dry (in the alchemical sense) and austere aspect of the pesonality as reflected in his successors in the Sunni world was equated with worliness.while his warm and compassionate dimevsion was emphasized as his whole personality and as the essence of the nature of the imams,who were considered to be a continuation.
refer to question below:
In short:

The Principles/Basics of Islam (Usool Al-Deen) are five:

Tawheed (Monotheism) - One God and no one is similar to him and God is eternal

Justice of God - Almighty God is just and he never commits injustice

Prophethood - God sent 124,000 infallible and sinless prophets and messengers to guide humanity

Imamate - Prophets appointed leaders, successors after them to continue guiding people and handling the affairs of Muslims after them

Day of Judgment or Resurrection - We will be resurrected and there will be a day where God will reward those who did good and punish those who did evil

I suggest that you watch these videos for detailed study of the principles:

Principles of Islam Course by Dr. Sayed Khalil Tabatabai

See link below

Branches of Islam (Furoo' Al-Deen) or Islamic Practical Laws are ten:

Salah ("Prayer" - performing the five daily prayers)

Sawm ("Fast" - fasting during the month of Ramadan)

Hajj ("Pilgrimage" - performing the pilgrimage to Mecca)

Zakat ("Poor-rate" - paying the poor rate)

Khums ("One-fifth" - paying tax on one-fifth of financial gain)

Jihad ("Struggle" - struggling to please God)

Amr-Bil-Ma'roof (Enjoin what is good)

Nahi-Anil-Munkar (Forbid what is wrong)

Tawalla (To love the Ahl-ul-Bayt (The Holy Household of Prophet Muhammed) and their followers)

Tabarra (To disassociate with the enemies of the Ahl-ul-Bayt)

Refer to question below for more information
Some of the beliefs of Shias. 1. Allaah often lies and does mistakes. (usool-e-kaafi, page #328, yaqoob kulaini, vol1). 2.The Munafiqeen (i.e. Sahaba) took very much out of Quran (took out the verses). (Ihtijaj-e-tibri, page #382). 3.When Imaam Mehdi comes he will bring with him the real and original Quran. (Ahsan-ul-maqaal, page #336, safdar Husain najfi). 4.The person who says that the present Quran is complete is a liar because the "complete Quran" was compiled by Hazrat Ali. (Fasl-ul-khitaab fee tahreef kitaab rab-ul- arbab, page #4, Noori Tibri). 5.Abu Bakr is kafir and the one who loves Abu Bakr is also kafir. (Faq-ul-yaqeen, page #690, Baqar majlisi). 6.Abu Bakr was kafir and Zandeeq. [naouzobillah](Kashf-ul-asrar, page #69, khamini). 7.There is no difference in Abu Bakr and mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiyani.[naouzobillah] (Jagir fidk, page #690, Ghulam Husain najfi). 8.Shia deny existance of Allah and Nabih :Neither we believe the Allah nor the Prophet of the God whose khalifah is Abu Bakr . (Anwar-ul-nomania, page #278). 9.I don't believe in that Allah who gives government to Usman and Ma'avia. (Kashf-ul-asrar, page #107, Khamini). 10. Umar was a real kafir and Zandeeq. (Kashf-ul-asrar, Khaminee, page #119). 11.When imam Mehdi comes he will make alive Hazrat Aa'ishah from death and whip her. (Tafseer saafi, line 16, page #108). 12.Abu Bakr and Umar were agents of Iblees. (Hulyat-ul-mateen, mulla baqar majlisi). 13.Hazrat Khalid bin Walid was not saif-ullah but saif-us-shaitaan. (Manazir-o-baghdad, page #100). 14.All the Prophets will become alive from dead and start the jihad under the leadership of Hazrat Ali. (Tafseer ayyashee, page #181). 15.Real Quran that is compiled by Hazrat Ali will come with imam Mehdi. (Anwar-ul-nomania, page #360). 16.All Prophets are beggar at the doorstep of Ali. (khalqat-e-norania, page #201, Talib Husain karpalwi). 17.All the prophets and Angels are the slaves of the 12 imams except Mohammad . (kaleed manaazra, page #35, barkat ali). 18.12 imams are the teachers of all Prophets except Mohammad . (Majmoa-e-majalis, page #29). 19.When imam Mehdi comes he will hang Hazrat Abu Bakr and Umar at the holy grave of . (Majma-ul-ma'arif, page #49). 20.If Gabriel and Mekael had loved Abu Bakr then they would have been in hell too. (Ameer mukhtar, page #8, mirza basharat Husain). 21.After the death of all the Sahaba become MURTAD except three. (Roza-e-kafee, page #245). 22. Hazrat Anas Bin Malik, Abu huraira, Amr bin Aas, Ameer Ma'avia and Aa'ishah were worst people of all times. (Makalmaat-e-husainia, page #59). 23.Man can have Nikah (marriage) with man and his mother, sister and daughter too. (Firqa-ul-shiat, Abi Mohammad-ul-Hasan Bin Moosa). 24. Hazrat Abu Bakr was Mushrik, Umar was Munafiq and Usman was Kafir. (Shia'an-e-ali aur inn kee shaan, page #54, ghulam husain najfi). 25. When imam Mehdi come he will be nude and the first person who Bay'ah him is Mohammad . (Haq-ul-yaqeen, page #347, Baqar majlisi). 26. Hadhrat Umar (Radiallahu Anhu) was the leader of the Munafiqeen (hypocrites). Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) had prayed for the murder of Hadhrat Umar (Radiallahu Anhu). The day on which Hadhrat Umar (Radiallahu Anhu), was murdered by the Persian kafir, Lu'lu', is the most auspicious day of the year. Aa'ishah and Hafsah martyred Rasulullah by giving him poison. (Hayat-ul-quloob, page #870, Baqar Majlisi). 27.Thus these two male munafiqs (referring to Abu Bakr and Umar) and those two female munafiqs (referring to Aa'ishah and Hafsah) agreed to martyr Rasulullah by administering poison to him. (Hayat-ul-quloob, page #745, Baqar Majlisi).
refer to question below:

Answer 3

Shia Muslims believe on La'ilaha Illallah Muhamaddur-rasulullah.

They have more importance to Hazrat Ali and does not have more affection to remaining 3 Khulfa-e-rashideen...

Nothing much difference only conflicts arised from Islamic politics...

Answer 4

The Shiia Muslims also believe in the same Five pillars of Islam, as do all the other Muslims. It was much later that a split took place in the name of Hazrat Ali (RA). The Shias say that after the death of the beloved Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SAW), Hazrat Ali (RA) deserved to become the Caliph. But history bears witness that Hazrat Ali (RA) acted as an important adviser to the earlier three Rightful Caliphs. Had he been against the Caliphate of Hazrat Omar (RA), Hazrat Omar should not have included his name among the Six-Member committee who were supposed to choose the Caliph among themselves. Moreover, Hazrat Ali (RA) was not a coward to accept the unlawful caliphate. He was the Lion of God.

Answer 5

Answer 1The Shiites are Muslims as all other Sunni Muslims and all Muslims. They believe, as all other Muslims; in Allah (or God in English and same God worshiped in Judaism and Christianity) as the one and only one God with no son, no father, no partner, no companion, no associate, and no equivalence. They believe that prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is God prophet and messenger to whom God revealed Qur'an through the angel Gabriel (Jibril). They follow all Islam fundamentals and beliefs and ritual worships and morals. The only minor side difference than other Islamic schools is that Shiites believe that Ali Ibn Abou Taleb should be the first Caliph after prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) death and not Abou Bakr, or Omar, or Othman. Despite that, Shiites didn' fight when a Caliph was elected other than Ali. Even Ali was the most supporter to the other Caliphs and never was against any of them. Refer to question below for more information.

Part of Shia beliefs:

1. Justice

2.Piety

3.Respect for others;

4.Anything that would have Allah and His messengers,to perform.

5.Helping others

6.Defend the oppressed of the world

All the beliefs are kinds of good morals that all Muslims believe in. Refer to related question below for morals as extracted from Qur'an.

Answer 2

Five Pillars of Islam according to shia Muslims are:

1. Monotheism: The Oneness of Allah (tawhid)

2. Divine Justice ('adl)

3. Prophethood (nubuwwa)

4. Succession to Muhammad (imamat)

5. The Day of Judgement and the Resurrection (Qiyama)

Practices of Islam according to shia Muslims:

1- Prayers (salaat) - 5 times a day

2- Fasting (sawm) during Ramadan

3-4. Alms giving (zakaat and khums)

5- Pilgrimage to the city of Makkah (hajj)

6- Holy Defense (Jihad)

7-8. Enjoining good (amr bil-ma'rouf) and forbidding evil (nahiy an al-munkar)

9- Supporting those who walk in the path of Allah (tawalli li awliyaa' Allah)

10- Turning away from the enemies of Allah (tabarri min a'daa Allah)

shia and sunni have mainly conflict on Imamat (leadership).

shia say Imamat is one of 5 pillars of Islam and only God can select leader for people. but sunni say Imamat is not part of Islam and leader can be selected by people by any method like shura (for example for Abubakr) or by will of previous leader for example for Omar) or by people (for example for Ali).

the conflict of shia and sunni has been always amplified by world Imperialism to prevent Islam from spreading in world.

Shia believes in Allah, prophet and all fundamentals of Islam.

Shia pray 5 times a day but usually do the 2, 3 and 4, 5 pray together and so may seem they do only 3 pray a day. there is some differences in details of pray like genuflect (for shia should be on a stone or part of earth and for sunni on carpet or floor ).

shia believe after death of prophet God selected the successive for prophet who is the political leader of Muslim community and people can not and does not the right to selected it.

shia refers to many verse of Quran like: "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority" (Quran 2:30) or "O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth" (Quran 38:26) also other verses.

Shia believes such verses means only God can select an Islamic political leader (Caliph) and there is no mention in Quran people have the right to select leader. and shura is not allowed to be used for selecting leader and prophet himself always selected leaders of wars and other leaders by command of God.

In Shia Islam Caliphs after prophet are 12 infallible Imams who have inherited divine knowledge of prophet.

Shia Muslims do not consider selection of Abubakr as Caliph by people valid because God did not select him. They believe God ordered prophet to declare people that Ali is selected as successor of prophet and prophet did this mission many times during his prophet-hood and mainly in Ghadir event after last Hajj of his life at a 3-4 hour speech in front of 120,000 Muslims at Ghadir in hot desert after 2 days stop of long caravan for gathering and 3 days after speech for congratulations and homage of Muslims to Ali.

Islam at that time had high power in world and Some companions had high interest in leadership position after prophet. Muslims knew that it is the final Hajj of prophet (predicted by prophet) and were going along with prophet to hear what prophet says at end of his life.

Shia believes Ghadir event is the most important event of Islam and is mentioned in Koran in many verses like "Today" (اليوم) in verse 5:3 of Quran is the day of Ghadir. Or Verse 5:67: "(O Messenger! proclaim the (message) which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission. And Allah will defend thee from men (who mean mischief). For Allah guide not those who reject Faith)" is revealed at Ghadir day and is about declaring political and spiritual leadership of Ali S.A. after prophet.

Both Sunni and Shia Muslims accept happening of Ghadir event But different interpret. Some Sunni writers tried to reject the event of Ghadir as declare of leadership of Ali S.A. and said at Ghadir prophet only wanted to say Ali S.A. is my friend and no one should bother him.

Ali S.A. had 3 different missions to Yemen by prophet during 10 years and in 2 of them some companions of prophet had some conflicts with Ali S.A. and prophet said some sayings about Ali S.A. to solve conflicts and some sunni writers have mixed stories of missions of Ali S.A. to Yemen with story of Ghadir to prove Ghadir event is not about Leadership of Ali and is not important.

Shia scholars believe some Sunni writers who were related to Kings have changed and deviated historical evidences about political leadership of Ali S.A. in old historical books and republished them to destroy evidences of leadership of Ali from old Sunni books.

The famous Shia book Al-Ghadir (الغدير) by Allameh Amini is a collection of evidences and proofs for Ghadir Events written all from sunni historical books by referring to 100,000 Sunni books and full reading of 10,000 sunni books. Allameh Amini is a famous Shia scholar and spent 40 years of his life in traveling to access original old Sunni books in libraries in different countries to write this 20 volume book only from Sunni books and not using any Shia book. Some Sunni scholars tried to reply this book but then said if we want to reply this book we should first destroy all sunni books.

Shia doctrine have root in Battle Karbala.

When tragedy of Karbala happened most of Iranians understood there is two different interpret of Islam that both can not be true. so most of Iranians became shia and followers of "Ahl al-Bayt" and forgive their lives for them like what they did in Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq War.

Shia Muslims have at least 120,000 Hadith (saying) from The Fourteen Infallibles that is the base of Shia Islam along with Quran.

Shia believes according to " Hadith of the two weighty things" The Fourteen Infallible are the only valid interpreters of Quran and sayings of them are from God because they are Representative of God in earth and they have inherited divine knowledge of prophet.

Shia believes 12th of them (Imam Mahdi S.A.) is alive and because people have killed all 11 Imams before him, he is in occultation like Jesus S.A. and will rise with Jesus S.A. when people become ready and want to accept his leadership. All 11 Imams have been killed and during their life they all have been in prison or under hard control of government to not have any political activity.

They never had enough serious followers to can get political power. Among them only the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was relatively free (for transition of power between Umayyads and Abbasids) to have only scientific activities and so only he is known in west because he established university and had students from all over the world. Westerns know him as a polymath: an astronomer, alchemist, Imam, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, writer, philosopher, physician, physicist and scientist. He was also the teacher of the famous chemist, Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), and of Abū Ḥanīfa, the founder of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. He never wanted be a famous man and only shared his knowledge with seekers of knowledge. Some researchers consider his teachings the root cause of renaissance.

Sunni Muslims also accept Mahdi and his worldwide leadership as Caliph of God in earth at end of world. There is a famous Hadith from prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that Mahdi at occultation is like sun behind cloud, he is hidden from people but people receive his benefits.

Shia Muslims say some faithful believers have connection with Mahdi and use his knowledge and at least 1000 persons have had connection and talk with Mahdi during his occultation but Any one having relation with Mahdi S.A. should keep it secret and does not declare it in public until death.

Shia Islam is the A branch of Muslims that believe in Imamat as one of five pillars of Islam. Imamat means that based on Quran only God has the right to select the leader and no human even prophet SAWW has such a right. Imam (political leader) has divine knowledge of prophet SAWW from God and is the only human that can lead all humans to all be in welfare and can meet God. according to shia prophet declared 12 Imams for leadership of humans after his death but for some political reasons they never could lead humans and all of them were killed or poisoned for political reasons. according to shia 12th Imam is currently alive and by will of God has a long life and guides and protects real believers all over the world but he is in occultation untill people of world really want him as their leader and do not kill him like his 11 fathers who were Imams of their own times after prophet. according to shia granted from God, Imam has the power of controlling all the universe (miracle) and can perform any miracle and has knowledge of everything ( but still there are things that only God knows). but he use this power only when is needed to protect real believers and surviev of real Islam for truth seekers.

Human has freedom and beleiving in Shia Islam or Sunni Islam is a personal choice and according to Quran no compulsion should be in religion. every human is free claim one is better but it needs reasoning and evidence based on Quran and Hadith and authentic history. when prophet Muhammad SAWW died and Ali a.s was at funeral of prophet SAWW quickly a leader was elected while prophet SAWW was not still buried. and it was start of division between supporters of Ali a.s. and supporter of elected ruler.

Answer 3They just got divided on the way the successor of the prophet (after his death) should be. some of top Arab tribe bosses at Saqifeh elected Abou Bakr to be the first Caliph after prophet Muhammad (PBUH) death and other Muslims were forced and even killed (for example سعد ابن عباده Saad Ib Ebadeh) to accept this ruler. Some like Ali a.s., Salman, Abuzar, Miqdad, Bilal,... disagreed this election. they believed that the successor should be Ali a.s. because God selected him as leader and not because he is relative of prophet SAWW. However, after the election of AbouBakr, they did not fight for power and Ali a.s helped the elected Caliph for survive of real Islam and to big enemies like Roman and Persian empires can not destroy Islam using civil war of Muslims. and always declared his disagreement with this election bu did not made civil war for power. The same scenario was repeated after election of Umar as the second Caliph by will of Abubakr and Othman as the third Caliph by election in a 6 persons meeting. when Muslims killed Uthman for his corruptions Ali a.s. was then elected as the fourth Caliph by majority of Muslims while he was not interested in power.

However, Sunnis and Shiites are two Islamic schools (not sects as in Christianity) that differ in the definition of the major (pillars of Islam) and minor issues. It is to be recognized above that the five pillars of Islam are the same for all Muslims. Just the Shiites posed them under other headings; It is same for all Muslims the belief in the oneness of God and Muhammad (peace be upon him) as God prophet and messenger; practicing praying, alms giving, fasting, and pilgrimage. All other morals above are common to all Muslims.

The world Imperialists know Islam is truth and if people know this they will lost power. so they try to make wars between Muslim groups to gain control on Muslim countries and on their resources. for example they bomb a shia mosque and tell in media that sunni did it and so on. The two main groups are Sunnis and Shiites. Both groups agree upon basic Islam pillars(unless Imamat (Islamic rules for political leadership)) and believe in same and only version of Quran and follow the sunnah of same prophet (PBUH), pray to same direction (facing Kaba in Makkah or Mecca in Saudi Arabia, go to same places on pilgrimage (or Hajj), and adhere to same Islam morals and ritual worships. Their main difference is in Imamat. Shiites beliefs are based on Quran and prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) teachings. Shiites believe that the only one who has the right to elect the leader is God and Muslims do not have such a right in Islam. This last belief has no impact on main Islam beliefs and practices.

Refer to related questions below.
Shia and Sunni have mostly same beliefs and both believe in fundamental beliefs of Islam. Today there is up to 260 sects in Islam that are in two main categories of shia and sunni.

the conflict of shia and sunni has been always amplified by world Imperialism to prevent Islam from gaining power.

Shia believes in Allah, prophet and all fundamentals of Islam.

Shia pray 5 times a day but usually do the 2, 3 and 4, 5 pray together and so may seem they do only 3 pray a day. there is some differences in details of pray like genuflect (for shia should be on a stone or part of earth and for sunni on carpet or floor ).

shia believe after death of prophet God selected the successive for prophet who is the political leader of Muslim community and people can not and does not the right to selected it.

Shia believes the Caliph (Representative of God in earth) is selected only by God and can not be selected by people because God said in Koran: "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority" (Quran 2:30) or "O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth" (Quran 38:26) also other verses.

Shia believes such verses means only God can select an Islamic political leader (Caliph).

In Shia Islam Caliphs after prophet are 12 Imams and all of them are the same and have no mistake and have the knowledge of everything (not absolute knowledge like knowledge of God) and they hear all sayings and even thinks of all humans after even after their death by permission of God and they are intermediates between God and human Shia Muslims always support them and forgive their lives for them.

Shia Muslims do not consider selection of Abubakr as Caliph by people valid because God did not select him. They believe God ordered prophet to declare people that Ali is selected as successor of prophet and prophet did this mission many times during his prophet-hood and mainly in Ghadir event after last Hajj of his life at a 3-4 hour speech in front of 120,000 Muslims at Ghadir in hot desert after 2 days stop of long caravan for gathering and 3 days after speech for congratulations and homage of Muslims to Ali. Islam at that time had high power in world and Some companions had high interest in leadership position after prophet. Muslims knew that it is the final Hajj of prophet (predicted by prophet) and were going along with prophet to hear what prophet says at end of his life. Shia believes Ghadir event is the most important event of Islam and is mentioned in Koran in many verses like "Today" (اليوم) in verse 5:3 of Quran is the day of Ghadir. Or Verse 5:67 (O Messenger! proclaim the (message) which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission. And Allah will defend thee from men (who mean mischief). For Allah guideth not those who reject Faith) is revealed at Ghadir day and is about declaring political leadership of Ali after prophet.

Both Sunni and Shia Muslims accept happening of Ghadir event But different interpret. Some Sunni writers tried to reject the event of Ghadir as declare of leadership of Ali and said at Ghadir prophet only wanted to say Ali is my friend and no one should bother him. Ali had 3 different missions to Yemen by prophet during 10 years and in 2 of them some companions of prophet had some conflicts with Ali and and prophet said some sayings about Ali to solve conflicts and some sunni writers have mixed stories of missions of Ali to Yemen with story of Ghadir to prove Ghadir event is not about Leadership of Ali and is not important.

Shia scholars believe some Sunni writers have changed and deviated historical evidences about political leadership of Ali in old historical books and republished them to destroy evidences of leadership of Ali from old Sunni books.

The famous Shia book Al-Ghadir (الغدير) by Allameh Amini is a collection of evidences and proofs for Ghadir Events written after referring to 100,000 Sunni books and full reading of 10,000 sunny books. Allameh Amini is a famous Shia scholar and spent 40 years of his life in travelling to access original old Sunni books in libraries in different countries to write this 20 volume book only from Sunni books and not using any Shia book. Some Sunni scholars tried to reply this book but then said if we want to reply this book we should first destroy all books of ourselves.

Shia doctrine have root in Karbala tragedy. When tragedy of Karbala happened most of Iranians understood there is two different kinds of Islam and after happening of Karbala tragedy most of Iranians became followers of "Ahl al-Bayt" and forgive their lives for them like what they did in Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq War. Shia Muslims have at least 120,000 Hadith (saying) from The Fourteen Infallibles that is the base of Shia Islam along with Quran. Shia believes according to " Hadith of the two weighty things" The Fourteen Infallibles are the only valid interpreters of Quran and sayings of them are from God because they are Representative of God in earth and they do not say anything from themselves. Shia believes 12th of them (Mahdi) is alive and because people have killed all 11 Imams before him, he is in hide like Jesus and will come out of hide toghether with Jesus when people become ready and want to accept his leadership. All 11 Imams have been killed and during their life thy all have been in prison or under hard control of government to not have any political action. They never had enough serious followers to can get political power. Among them only the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was relatively free in his life to have only scientific activities (but banned from any political action) and so only he is known in west because he established university and had students from all over the world. Westerns know him as a polymath: an astronomer, alchemist, Imam, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, writer, philosopher, physician, physicist and scientist. He was also the teacher of the famous chemist, Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), and of Abū Ḥanīfa, the founder of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. He never wanted be a famous man and only shared his knowledge with who wanted to learn. Some researchers consider his teachings the root cause of renaissance.

Sunni Muslims also accept Mahdi and his worldwide leadership as Caliph of God in earth at end of world. There is a famous Hadith from prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that Mahdi at hide is like sun behind cloud, he is hidden from people but people receive his benefits. Shia Muslims say some faithful believers have connection with Mahdi and use his knowledge. Shia Muslims believe that it is proved at least 1000 persons have had connection and talk with Mahdi during his hide period but Any one having relation with Mahdi keep it and does not declare it in public until is alive.

Answer 6

shia and sunni have mostly same beliefs

but shia believe after death of prophet God select the successive of prophet who is the leader of Muslim community and people can not select it.

shia believe the Imam (successor of prophet) is appointed only by God and can not be selected by people because God said in Koran: "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." (Quran 2:30)

this means only God can select an Islamic leader.

in shia they are only fourteen infallible (12 Imams and prophet and his daughter Fatimah Zahra (sa))

and all of them are the same and have no mistake and have the knowledge of everything (this knowledge is from God and by permission of God and is not absolute knowledge. absolute knowledge is only for God and they still do not know many things. but they know anything human may need to know.) and they never die and they hear all sayings and even thinks of all humans after their death by permission of God and they are intermediates between God and human.

and shia Muslims always support them and forgive their lives for them.

shia muslims do not consider selection of Abubakr as Caliphet valid because God did not select him. they believe God ordered prophet to declear Ali is selected as successor of prophet (Quran 5:3) and prophet did this mission in Ghadir event that was in last Hajj of prophet in his life and prophet did a speech for 120,000 Muslims participating that Hajj with prophet. the famous shia book Al-Ghadir is a collection of evidences and proofs for Ghadir Hadith from 10,000 sunni books.

Answer 7

the five principles of religion as stated by shiism include:tawhid or belief in divine unity,nubuwwah or prophecy,maad or ressurrection,imamah or the immamate:belief in the imams as successors of the prophet and Adl or Divine justice.in the Three bsic principles -unity, prophecy and resurrection-Suunnism and shiism agree.it ts only in the other two that they differ. in the question of the imamate it is the insistence on the esoteric function of of the imam that distingushes the shiites perspective from the Sunni.in the question of Justice it is the emphasis placed upon this attribute as an intrinsic quality of the divine nature that is particular to shiism.we might say that in the esotericformulation of Sunni theology,especially as contained in Asharism there is an emphasis upon the will of god .whatever god will is just precisely because it is willed by God.and intelligence is in a sense subordinate to this will and to the voluntarism which characterizes this form of theology.in shiism however , the quality of justice is considered as innate to the Divine Nature..God can not act in n unjust manner because it is His nature to be just.Fa,him to be unjust would violate His own nature,which is impossible.intelligence can judge the justness and injustness of an act and this judgment is not completely suspended in favor of a pure voluntarism on the part of God.

second level:shiism also different in its consideration of the means whereby the original message of Quranic revelation reached the islamic community and thereby in certain aspects of the sacred history of islam.there is no disagreement on the Quran and the prophet.that is,on what constitutes the origin of the islamic religion.the difference in view begins with the period immediately following the death of the prophet.one might say that the personality of the prophet contained two dimensions which were later to become crystallized into Suunism and Shiism.each of this two schools was later to reflect bck upon the life and personality of the prophet solely from its own point of view,thus leaving aside and forgetting or miscinstruing the other ddimension excluded from its own perspective.for shiism the dry (in the alchemical sense) and austere aspect of the pesonality as reflected in his successors in the Sunni world was equated with worliness.while his warm and compassionate dimevsion was emphasized as his whole personality and as the essence of the nature of the imams,who were considered to be a continuation.

Answer 8

Shiite Muslims believe in one God (Allah) and Muhammed (pbuh) and Ali is the Wali of Allah and the wasi of Muhammed (pbuh).