Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam does not follow dynastic lines, from its beginings, Islam has been democratic in terms of the rules. Although accusations have been thrown that is what Mohamed was trying to establish, and it may be true, if any "dynastic line" existed in Islam it would be the descendants of Ali, whom Mohamed formally adopted as a son. Although the most well known Hashemite is King Abdullah of Jordan, technically he would not be king of the Arabian peninsula, here's why;

1) I do not believe Abdullah descends from Faisal's oldest son, and Faisal is the defactor modern "founder" of the Hashemite dynasty.

2) Members of the Hashemites, the majority of them live in Great Britain, under the protection no less, of Britain's own royal family. The Hashemites in Britain enjoy much privelege, and many are Oxford educated, in Great Britain today, I believe working as a doctor, or whatever profession requiring an advanced degree, is the direct descendant of King Faisal, a descendant, that is, of Faisal's oldest son, if anyone is "King of the Arabs" it would be him. Most British nobles, despise the Al-Saud, both out of greater respect for the Hashemites, and British interests, if they were to see a monarchy in the Arabian peninsula, they would much prefer the Hashemites there, in fact early in the 20th century that is what they tried, however the royal family of Iraq was brutally massacred, few survivors managed to escape.

3) Most Muslims would prefer a Caliphate or an Islamic republic, over a monarchy, especially many Saudis. What the majority of modern Muslims want, especially young people in their late teens and early 20's, the "college generation" of today in the near east, is an Islamic Republic, something that combines a republican democratic government like the one enjoyed in the U.S. but governed by Sharia law. If Faisal's great grandson were to be place on any throne, anywhere, it would be a disaster, you are looking at rioting, looting, civil war, the whole nine. Abdullah is able to rule Jordan, largely because many of the Beduin there, fought alongside the Hashemites to free the region from Turkey, hence, he holds power more from gratitude towards the family, than "recognition for the dynasty," Abdullah is respected and recognized as leader not because of his lineage, but because his grandfather brought victory against the much hated Turks. If you want the specific history watch "Lawrence of Arabia," the events of King Abdullah's family of the early 20th century, are dramatized in that silly movie with the silly "the Arabian desert is romantic" orchestral score.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuxHLzwlDY4

"The desert is so romantic and magical." That is what the orchestra says.

Tell that to all the heroin, prostitute and arms smugglers.

Of this you can be sure though, the royal family of Jordan knows who T.E. Lawrence is. Betchu money that King Abdullah personally knows either old men who actually met him, or the sons of people who knew him.

in Iran near 90% of people are shia Muslims.

Muslims in world are near 80% sunni and near 20% shia. researchers have counted up to 260 sect for Islam that they all belong to categories Sunni and shia. the main category of Shia is 12 Imami shia and other sects of shia are nearly extincted.

there is at least 300,000,000 shia Muslims in world, but there is no clear stat. shias always have been controlled and killed during history and so usually they hide their beliefs. all 12 Imams of shia have been killed or spent their life in prison by Omayyads and Abbasids.

According to his wikipedia, Sayyid Muhammad Sikander Warsi is a Sunni Muslim, Means, He is a Hanafi/Sunni/Barelvi Muslim, he loves Alahazrat Imam Ahmad Raza Khan Fazil-e-barelvi.

No, the reason is because according to Sunni Islam they are not Muslim and they will go to Hell like other non Muslims.

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.

in this case there is differences among the representative man of religion or Mujtahedun. but according to the most opinion of them, there is no obstacle in marring betwenn a shiiah women and sunni men.

Yes, but there are minorities of Shiite Muslim Kurds, Yazidi Kurds, and Baha'i Kurds.

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.

the friends and followers of Ali believed that after the death of prophet, the caliphate and religious authority belonged to ALI. this belief came from consideration of Ali's position and station in relation to the prophet , his relation to the chosen among the companions , as well as his relation to muslim as general.

it was only the events that occurred during the few days of the prophet final illness that indicated that there was opposition to their view, contrary expectation, at the very moment when the prophet died and his body lay still unburied while his household and a few companion occupied with for his burial and funeral services , the friend and followers of Ali received news of the activity of another group who had gone to the mosque where community where gathered faced with this sudden loss of its leader.

this group ,Which was later ti form the majority , set forth in great haste to select a caliph for the muslim with the aims of the ensuring the welfare of the community and solving its immediate problems. they did this without consulting the household of the prophet , his relatives or many of his friends who were busy with funeral and without providing them with the least information. thus Ali and his companions were presented with a fait accompli .

Ali and his friends such as Abbas , Zubayr , Salman . Abu Dharr , Meghdad and Ammar, after finishing with the burial of the body of the prophet became aware of the proceedings by which the caliph had been selected . they proteted against the act of choosing the caliph by consultation or election , and also against those who were responsible for carrying it out.

they even presented their own proofs and arguments but the answer they received was that the welare of the muslims was at sake and the solution lay in what had been done.it was this protest and criticism which separated from the majority the minority that were following Ali and made his followers known to society as the partisans or shiah of Ali . the caliphate of the time was anxious to guard against this appellation being given to the Shiite minority and thus to have muslim society divided into sections comprised of a majority and a minority .

THE supporters of the caliph considered the caliphate to be a matter of the consensus of the community , and called those who objected the opponents of allegiance . they claimed that the shiiah stood, therefore opposed to muslim society .sometimes the shiiah were given other pejorative and degrading names.

shiism was condemn from the first moment because of the political situation of the time and thus it couild not accomplish anything through mere political protest.

Ali in order to safeguard the well-being of islam and the muslims and also because of lack of sufficient political and military power did not endeavor to begin an uprising aganst the existing political order which would have been of a bloody nature . yet those who proteted against the established caliphate refused to surrender to the majority in certain questions of faith and continued to hold that the succession to the prophet and the religious authority belonged by right to Ali. they believed all spiritual and religious matters should be refered to him and invited people to becime his followers.

The main difference between Shia and Sunni Muslims is the case of Caliphate and Leadership after Prophet Muhammed:

Shia Muslims believe that Imamate/Caliphate/Leadership after prophet Muhammed was appointed by him (peace be upon him) and the holy prophet appointed Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib is the leader and successor followed by 11 Imams who are known and appointed by the holy prophet Muhammed and the previous Imam.

Sunnis, however, believe that Caliphate is done in different manners:

- Case of First Caliph:

By election (through a small committee (Saqifah) in the case of Abu Bakr.

- Case of Second Caliph:

Appointment by previous caliph (Abu Bakr) in case of Omar.

- Case of Third Caliph:

An election between nominated number Muslims who were less than 10 (nominated by Omar) in the case of Othman.

- Case of Fourth Caliph:

Majority of Muslims elected and chosen, in case of Ali ibn Abi Talib (1st Shia Imam).

- Case of Fifth Caliph:

Appointment by previous caliph, in case of Hassan ibn Ali (2nd Shia Imam)

- Case of the Sixth and the rest...

Then it became kingship even if the previous king is overthrown by power in case of Ummayads and Abbasids, etc.

Muslims in world are near 80% sunni and near 20% shia. researchers have counted up to 260 sect for Islam that they all belong to categories Sunni and shia. the main category of Shia is 12 Imami shia and other sects of shia are nearly extincted.

there is at least 300,000,000 shia Muslims in world, but there is no clear stat. shias always have been controlled and killed during history and so usually they hide their beliefs. all 12 Imams of shia have been killed or spent their life in prison by Omayyads and Abbasids.

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 100,000 sunni refrences and read all of 10,000 sunny books. one sunni scholar said if we want to reply Al-Ghadir book (by Allamah Amini) we should first destroy all our books.

When the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) died, Abu Bakr (ra) his best friend was appointed kalipha. Shia's believe that he wasn't the right kalipha and Ali (ra) his son in law should have been kalipha. And from then on other differences have formed. But the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) told Muslims not to create splits in religion. That's why some Muslims like to not have the label of sunni or shia and rather just be called a Muslim.

The are the majority for sure

Different souses for the percentage

It's vary from 55% to 70%

the question it self is not logical , baath part is a social political movement that leads the society through certain understanding , suni or shea are Islamic groups with the same religious beliefs and small differences made big by some religious leaders serving outside agendas

^^^My only purpose in responding to this is to establish how horribly idiotic this answer is. Yes, Sunnis and Shias are of the same Islamic faith, but OH MY GOSH they cannot simply be defined as "having small differences." Sunnis and Shias have been feuding for about the past 1500 years, specifically over who would succeed Mohammad after his death: his chosen successor and cousin Mohammad Ali or someone considered to be more qualified for the position of caliph. Sunnis and Shias have been BRUTALLY MURDERING each other over this issue since the beginning of Islam, which is the very foundation of why Iraq is currently on the brink of Civil war. The current militia (the majority of which is sunni) is beating, murdering, and arresting protesters of the government and causing many to fear for their lives and flee the country. TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, the Ba'ath party was founded by a Sunni, they are a political organization that promotes socialism and "Arab unity" (which is rather ironic). Although they are not officially recognized as Sunni the majority is, in fact, Sunni, and the party agenda is probably the farthest one could get from a Shia viewpoint.

To whomever answered this question, please make sure you know what you're talking about before you answer such a politically weighted question. You have insulted hundreds of thousands of people who have died under the hand of the Ba'ath party and the Sunni/Shia feud.

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.

Of Syrian father and Turkish mother Nizar Qabbani was a Muslim. A thought provoking poet, he was also a thorn in the side of the establishment. Follow the link

th cause or reason of the separation of the Shiite minority from the Sunni majority :the friends and followers of Ali believed that after the death of prophet, the caliphate and religious authority belonged to ALI. this belief came from consideration of Ali's position and station in relation to the prophet , his relation to the chosen among the companions , as well as his relation to muslim as general.

it was only the events that occurred during the few days of the prophet final illness that indicated that there was opposition to their view, contrary expectation, at the very moment when the prophet died and his body lay still unburied while his household and a few companion occupied with for his burial and funeral services , the friend and followers of Ali received news of the activity of another group who had gone to the mosque where community where gathered faced with this sudden loss of its leader.

this group ,Which was later ti form the majority , set forth in great haste to select a caliph for the muslim with the aims of the ensuring the welfare of the community and solving its immediate problems. they did this without consulting the household of the prophet , his relatives or many of his friends who were busy with funeral and without providing them with the least information. thus Ali and his companions were presented with a fait accompli .

Ali and his friends such as Abbas , Zubayr , Salman . Abu Dharr , Meghdad and Ammar, after finishing with the burial of the body of the prophet became aware of the proceedings by which the caliph had been selected . they proteted against the act of choosing the caliph by consultation or election , and also against those who were responsible for carrying it out.

they even presented their own proofs and arguments but the answer they received was that the welare of the muslims was at sake and the solution lay in what had been done.it was this protest and criticism which separated from the majority the minority that were following Ali and made his followers known to society as the partisans or shiah of Ali . the caliphate of the time was anxious to guard against this appellation being given to the Shiite minority and thus to have muslim society divided into sections comprised of a majority and a minority .

THE supporters of the caliph considered the caliphate to be a matter of the consensus of the community , and called those who objected the opponents of allegiance . they claimed that the shiiah stood, therefore opposed to muslim society .sometimes the shiiah were given other pejorative and degrading names.

shiism was condemn from the first moment because of the political situation of the time and thus it couild not accomplish anything through mere political protest.

Ali in order to safeguard the well-being of islam and the muslims and also because of lack of sufficient political and military power did not endeavor to begin an uprising aganst the existing political order which would have been of a bloody nature . yet those who proteted against the established caliphate refused to surrender to the majority in certain questions of faith and continued to hold that the succession to the prophet and the religious authority belonged by right to Ali. they believed all spiritual and religious matters should be refered to him and invited people to becime his followers

shiism believes that the divine law of Islam or Shariah whose substance is found in the book of God and in the tradition or Sunnah of the Holy prophet, will remain valid to the day of judgment and can never, nor will ever , be altered . A government which is really Islamic cannot , under any pretext, refuse completely t carry out the shariah's injunctons. the only duty of an Islamic government is to make decisions by consultation within the limits set by the shariah and in accordance with the demands of the moment.

the vow of the allegiance to Abu -Bakr at Saqifah, which was motivated at least in part by political considerations and the incident described in the hadith of "Ink and paper", which ocurred during the last days of the illness of the Holy prophet, reveal the fact that those who directed and back the movement to choose the caliph through the process of election believed that the book of God should be preserved in the form of the constitution . they emphasized the Holy book and paid much less attention to the words of the Holy prophet as an immutable source of the teaching of Islam. they seem to have accepted the modification of he certain aspects of islamic teachings concerning government to suit the conditions of the moment and for the sake of the general welfare.

shiites belive in the prophet (pbuhahf) and in his family....whereas sunnis deny the family of Muhammed(pbuhahf) and they wanted to kill Imam Ali (as) because the prophet told everyone that he is the next caliph after he dies...but since the sunnies (abu bakr, uthman and umar) denied it and gave everyone money to follow abu bakr as the next caliph ...but he is only the prophets friend nothing more...whereas Ali (as) is the prophets cousin and son-in-law and th prophet stated that Ali is his bother and he is the next caliph. since abu bakr gave everone money ....only some people took it and belived in him while the rest stayed with Ali (AS) and his family .....so the followers/supporters of ALI are the shiites and the money-hungry followers of abu bakr are the sunnis......thanks for reading! :)

i am a shiite Muslim but if i had any doubt in my religion and know its wrong (not that it is) i would switch to the right one but surely (no doubt) its the right one