What religion believes in the Sunnis and Shiites?

Answer 1

two main differences are here. in principles both shiite and Sunni has common ideas such as tawhid or the oneness and nabuwwah or prophecy and ressurrection or Maad , but shiite despite these beiefs ,hs two other namely immamat or belief in the imams as successors of the prophet AND Adl or Divine justice.in the three basic first principles -unity,prophecy and resurrection .

the two problem of succession and Authority in religious Sciences:there are two problems of succession and authority between shia and sunni . in accordance with the islamic teaching which form its basis , shiism believed that the most important question facing islamic society was the elucidation and clarification of islamic teaching and the tenets of the religious sciences . only after such clarifications were made could be application of these teachings to the social order be considered . in other words , shiism believed that , before all else , members of siciety should be able to gain a true vision of the world and of men based of the real nature of things . only then could they know and perform their duties as human beings-in which lay their real welfare-even if the performance of these religious duties were to be against their desires . after carrying out this first step , a religious government should preserve and excute real islamic order in society in such a way that man would worship none other than God , would possess personal and social freedom to the extent possible and would benefit srom true personal and social justice .

these two ends could be accomplished only by a person who was inerrant and protected by god from having faults . otherwise people could become rulers or religious authorities who would not be free from the possibility of distoration of thought or the commoting of treachery in the duties placed upon their shoulders. were this to happen , the just and freedom-giving rule of Islam could gradually be converted to dictatorial rule and completely autocratic government.

moreover , the pure religious teachings could become, as can be seen in the case of certan other religious , the victims of change and distoration in the hands of selfish scholrs given to satisfication of their carnal desires . as confirmed by holy prophet , Ali followed perfectely and completely the book of god and the tradition of the prophet in both words and deeds. As shiism sees it, if, as the majority say , only the Quraysh opposed the rightful caliphate of Ali, then that majority should have answered the Quraysh by asserting what was right. they should have quelled all opposition to the right cause in the same way that they fought against the group who refused to pay religious tax . the majority should not have remained indifferent to what was right for few of the opposition of Qurayesh .

what prevented te shiaah from accepting the elective method of choosing the caliphate by the people was the the fear of the unwholsome consequences that might result from it: fear of possible corruption in islamic government and of the destruction of the solid basis for the sublime religious sciences.As it happened,later event in islamic history confirmed this fear or predication , with the result that the shiites became even firmer in their belief . during the earliest years , however, because of the small number of the followers , shiism appeared outwardly to have been absorbed into the majority , although privately it continued to insist on acquiring the islamic sciences from the household of the prophet and invite people to its cause. At the same time , in order to preserve the power of islam nd sfeguard its progress, shiism did not display any opposition the men of islamic society.members of the shiite community even fought hand in hand with the sunni majority in holy wars and participated in public of affairs . Ali himself guided the sunnu majority in the interest of the whole islam , whenever such actions was neccessary.

Answer 2

of course we have in the religion of islam the majority as sunnis and minority as shiah .

Most religions believe that Sunnis and Shiites exist. They just disagree with the religious claims that Sunnis and Shiites make.

Answer 3

One might claim that all three are different since they are three different names. But, the fact is, these three denominations have commonalities rather than the differences. And the commonalities form the basics/essence of the Islamic faith.

And Sufism is an Islamic denomination which mostly focuses on spiritual wayfaring (sayr suluk). And the term sufi refers to woolen cloth, which back then was a sign of those who left seeking worldly pleasures. So, sufism is more of a manner (tareeqah) rather than a theological school or a school of jurisprudance (sharia).

However, sufis as well, have their views on Islamic history and jurisprudance. And, when you study it, you see that it is not like water and oil not mixing. They (the three islamic faith) mix together and form harmony (of course if you ignore the extremists sectarians among them, who have no justification of rejection of other schools). For instance, when you study the first spiritual leaders of sufism, you see that, sufis usually accept the twelve imams concept as described by shia islam. In that aspect sufis are shiites (subscribers of shia islam) as well. And when you study the jurisprudance in sufism, you see that they mostly benefit from sunni sources. So, in the aspect of ijtihad (jurisprudance) most sufis are sunnis. So, again, it depends on what aspect you are talking about.

In summary, sufism is a tareeqa and it has commonalities with sunnis and shiites. In the concepts such as imamah, their beliefs overlap with shia, in the concepts such as fiqh, their beliefs overlap with sunni. And, it must be noted that, there is also the school of IRFAN in islam, which is a fruit of the unity of sunni, shia and sufi beliefs on maarefah (gnosis).

You can further study the concept of sufism and irfan by the Lecture of Respected Dr. Farrokh Sekaleshfar - Sufism & Irfan

Answer 4

They are all Muslim sects.