What caused the separation of different sects after the death of Muhammad?

Answer 1

The immediate cause is historical. The Shi'ites did not agree on the elected Caliphs (who followed Prophet Muhammad after his death). They believed that the Caliphs should only be selected by God according to Koran and prophet has said all Caliphs after him are within Prophet Muhammad descendants and family. Accordingly, they were supporting Ali Ibn abou Taleb (Prophet cousin and the husband of prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra) to be the first Caliph. However, they did not protest against the elected Caliphs (Abou Bakr, Omar, and Ottman) but supported them in obedience to the decision of the majority. Even Ali supported and helped the elected Caliphs and was adviser to the three Caliphs until he was elected as the fourth Caliph.

No one has the right to expel any Shiites or Sunni out of Islam and to consider him/her unbeliever (or Kafir) so far as:

• he/she witness that there is no god Except one God (Allah), who has no partners, and that Muhammad is his messenger and prophet
• he/she doesn't deny intentionally any of the five pillars of Islam

It should be recognized that both Sunnis and Shi'ites are Muslims. They, both, believe that there is no god except the one and only one God, the Creator with no partner, no father, no son, no companion, no associate, and no equivalence, and that the prophet is the God prophet and messenger. They both believe in God's Angels, all Prophets sent from God, all of God's holy book, the Day of Judgment, and destiny. They believe in the five Pillars of Islam. They both face the direction of Kaa'ba when praying. They pray in any mosque regardless of whether the prayer leader is Sunni or Shi'ite. They may differ in some minor details of rituals but these details are not critical to neither the Shi'ites nor the Sunnis.

Answer 2

the immediate cause was power.

according to answer above shia Muslims including Imam Ali a.s. himself always protested about position of Caliphate being occupied by other people and never were silent about this matter. but they did not make war for getting power in order to Islam can survive for later generations. because at that time Islam had big enemies like Roman Empire and Persian empire and an civil war made military of Muslims weak and it could lead to a finish for Islam.

their support for Caliphs was in order to Islam can survive against enemies. in fact Imam Ali a.s. ans shia Muslims had only 3 choice:

1- cutting any relations to Kings and not supporting them.

2- supporting them in order to welfare of Muslims and survive of Islam

3- fighting the Caliphs and getting power.

the best choice they made was 2 but this not mean accepting their legitimacy

Also none of the first 3 Caliphs were selected by majority. first was elected in a meeting of few number of top bosses of tribes of Arabs. and second was elected by will of first and 3th was elected by a 6 person meeting. this is never majority!

According to shia Islam any human telling Shahadatain is Muslim and so sunni Muslims and even Wahhabi Muslims are Muslim and shia never call them Kafir.

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.

They 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 that differ in major (pillars of Islam) and minor issues. 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. Thier main differ is in Imamat.shia beleives based on Quran and Islam the only one who has the right to elect the leader is God and Muslims do not have such a right in Islam.

Answer 2

---- === ===