There are actually three branches of Islam that are dominant in at least one country in Southwest Asia. In order of popularity: Sunni Islam, Shiite Islam, Ibadi Islam.
the Sunni and Shiite are two main sects in Islam religion first as majority and latter as minority.
it is more accurate in religious sciences if we apply sect instead of branches.therefore we have to say in Islam religion we have two sects,shiite as minority and Sunni as majority.Sunni and shiism are two main sects of islam religion.
they are two sect or fraction of Islam religion. Sunnism as Majority and Shiite as minority are two main sects in Islam religion.
They are the two main branches of Islam. The split between Sunni and shiite Islam occurred very early in Islam's history, in the 7th century AD. It had very little to do with any differences in Muslim belief (although there are a few, mostly minor differences), but everything with the question whether the rightful successor to the prophet Muhammed was his father-in-law Abu Bakr or his son-in-law Ali. Sunni Muslims think is was Abu Bakr, Shia Muslims are followers of Ali ('shia' even means "followers"). In the past, Sunni and Shiite Muslims mostly managed to co-exist peacefully and even intermarried. Today the differences between these two Muslim branches have become intermingled with the struggle for political supremacy in the Middle East between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran.
Islam is split into two large factions. The Sunni follow Mohammed alone as the prophet of Allah, while Shiites also accept the validity of the Caliph Ali (and to some extent several other lesser prophets). The Sunni are hence approximately equivalent to Protestant Christians, while the Shiites are more like Roman Catholics. The Sunni are by far the larger grouping, and sometimes differences between the sects can be quite marked. Relatively few Sunni, for example, practise female circumcision - but the practice is in theory acceptable to the faith. In Shiite Islam female circumcision is haram (blasphemous).
No. Shiite and Shia are both names of one of the two main branches of Islam. Sunni or Ahl-Sunna is the other main branch. The reason that Shiite and Shia are both used is that Shiite is an English-language derivation of Shi3i (شيعي). Like many Biblical ethnicities that end in "i" in the Semitic languages, "ite" was added as an English suffix. (Some examples include: Israelite, Jebusite, Amorite, etc.) Shia comes directly from the Arabic Shi3a (شيعة).
Currently (and ever since the 700s C.E.) Islam is the main religion in Egypt. However, Sunni Islam only became dominant over Shiite Islam in the 1200s.
An Alevite is a Muslim who follows the teachings of Alevism, one of the two main branches of Islam in Turkey, alongside Sunni Islam.
Islam has many branches and denominations. It is, in this way, like Christianity. There are several main branches of Islam and several important small distinct groups. The major two branches or schools in Islamic religion are Sunnis and Shiites. Additionally, there are Sufis and Kharijites/Ibadis. Some of the small but religiously important groups are the Druze, the Dervishes, and Ismaili Islam. There are also several somewhat important sects and movements, such as Wahabiism, Moorish Science, Nation of Islam, and the Qur'anists.
There are actually three main sects of Islam in the Middle East. In order of size, most populous to least populous: Sunni, Shiite, and Ibadi.
the battle of Karbala had a great effect on spread of shiite Islam and caused Muslims specially in understand there is two main version of Islam, Islam of Yazid and Islam of Hussain S.A.