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Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest religious denomination for any religion in the world and composes roughly 85% of all Muslims. Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as the orthodox version of Islam. The word "Sunni" comes from the term Sunnah (Arabic: سنة), which refers to the collected wisdom of Prophet Muhammad's sayings and actions as recorded in the Hadith and the Sirat an-Nabi.
586 Questions
What is the difference between the Sunni and the Shia sects?
The difference in between Sunni and Shiite Muslims is based on believe and faith rather than traditions. Usually they have same traditions since they live demographically close to each together.
What is Iman according to sunni philosophy?
Ahl as-Sunnat scholars convey, word for word, the definition given by our Master the Prophet. Iman is to have belief in the six fundamental principles expressed in the Amantu. The following is the purport of the hadith-i sharif, whch was declared to be the Amantu:
(Iman is to have belief in Allah, in His angels, in His books, in His prophets, in the Last Day [that is, to believe in the Day of Qiyama, Paradise, Hell, Judgement, and Mizan], in qadar and that good and evil are from Allah, and in death and Resurrection. It is to bear witness that there is no god except Allah and that I am a human slave and Messenger of His.) [Bukhari, Muslim, Nasai]
The well-known hadith of Jibril (Archangel Gabriel 'alaihis-salam), too, explains the fundamentals of iman and Islam:
Our beloved superior Hadrat 'Umar narrates:
"One day we were sitting near the Messenger of Allah. Then a man came and asked:
'O the Messenger of Allah! What is Islam?'
'Islam is to say the Kalima-i shahadat, to perform five daily prayers, to fast every day of the month of Ramadan, to give the zakat of one's property, and to perform hajj [major pilgrimage] for an able person once in his life.'
'You told the truth. What is iman?'
[We were astonished that he was asking a question and was confirming that the answer was correct.]
'Iman is to have belief in Allah, in His angels, in His books, in His prophets, in the Last Day, and good and evil occur as the result of Allah's will. '
'You told the truth. What is ihsan?'
"It is that you worship Allah as if you were seeing Him because though you do not see Him, He always sees you.'
'When will Doomsday come?'
'The One who is asked does not know better than the one inquiring about it.'
"He inquired the signs of Doomsday, and the Prophet of Allah communicated them. After that person had gone on his way, the Messenger of Allah stated, 'He who asked all these questions was Jabrail alaihis-salam. He came in order to teach you your religion.'" (Muslim, Nasai, Abu Dawud, Tirmudhî)
Another hadith-i sharif says:
(Some people are keys to good and locks for evil while some others are keys to evil and locks for good. Glad tidings to those whom Allah has given the keys to good, but woe to those whom Allah has given the keys to evil.) [Ibni Maja, Abu Dawud, Tabarani, Ibn Hibban]
The above-mentioned hadith-i sharif points out the fact that good and evil are from Allah.
The following Qur'anic verse, too, states that good and evil are from Allah:
(If Allah hastened to give people evil, the way they hasten to obtain good, all of them would certainly have been ruined. However, We leave those who do not believe in meeting with Us[who do not believe in the next world and Resurrection] wandering in their transgression.) [Surat-u Yunus 11]
Allah, alone, is the Creator of evil and good. If one wants to do a good or a bad deed, if Allah wills, too, one does that deed with one's irada-i juz'iyya (partial free will). If Allah does not permit, a servant cannot do either a good or a bad deed. For this reason, our Master the Prophet declared, "Both good and evil are from Allah." It is not that Allah makes people do good or bad deeds by force. If it were so, a person who performs an evil act would say, "You have made so-and-so perform a good act. Why have You compelled me to do that wicked thing?" The Jabriyyagroup believes that Allah causes evil and good to be done by force. On the other hand, the Mu'tazila says that Allah interferes in neither good nor evil and that both are created by servants. Neither of these two beliefs is correct.
When did the Shiites and the Sunnis start fighting?
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.
What is the US role in the Sunni and Shiite Conflict?
No. The Sunni-Shiite Divide occurred in the 600s C.E., over 800 years before Colombus even discovered America.
There are Muslims that claim that the United States is taking activities designed to keep the Sunnis and Shiites from reconciling, but even if it were true, this would not make the United States in anyway responsible for the original split and the majority of Sunni-Shiite animosity and grievances. This is false, though, since Sunni and Shiite Muslims have actually been brought together politically by the United States both domestically and in Iraqi politics. The United States has never supported a country or an army because it is Sunni or Shiite and even its detractors have noted that the United States supported Shiite Iran (under the Shah), Sunni Iraq (under Saddam Hussein), Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, and Israel all for primarily strategic reasons.
What are the two muslim groups called?
Answer 1
It is because of some minor and side differences that have nothing to do with basic Islamic rules and teachings. Refer to question below: Sunni vs. Shiites and their distribution.
Answer 2
There are more than two Muslim groups. It just so happens that Sunnis and Shiites together make up >99% of Muslims. They have all separated from each other for a variety of different theological and political reasons. Please see the Related Question below: Why did the Islam branches separate?
What is the sunni Islam religion?
Islam is the religion preached by all the Prophets of Allah Karim. Islam is neither Sunni nor Shiita. The last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (SAW) preached Islam and his holy Companions (May Allah Karim be pleased with him) practised Islam during and after his life time. Very unfortunately, conspiracies worked and there was a split after the death of the Fourth Rightful Caliph Hazrat Ali (May Allah be pleased with him). There was no Shiia SECT during the reign of first three Rightful Caliphs. Hazrat Ali (RAU) in whose name this sect was created had been a sincere and active adviser of these three Caliphs. How can he be such a coward to hide his True self during all these years of his life? He and all the members of his family had been receiving stipends from these three Caliphs. How could he receive all favours from them if he didn't consider them to be Rightful? Was he a hypocrite? No, He was much above this meanness. He was the Lion Of Allah Almighty. All the Muslims, included the Sunnies, respect and love him from the depths of their hearts. The love of Ahl-i-Bait is the foundation of Each Muslim.
Is cricketer nawab pataudi is shia or sunni?
He was a Sunni, Original khans(either pashto speaking or non pashto speaking) belong to Hanafi Sunni Islam and are very radical.
What caused the division between the Sunni Muslims and the Shiite Muslims?
Disagreements over Succession after Mohammed's death.
The Muslim community was united while Mohammed was the leader of this community. Most Muslims hold, however, that he never specifically chose a successor to his leadership. There was a minority in the community that supported the candidacy of 'Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law, this political faction became known as the "Supporters of 'Ali" which in Arabic is Shiat 'Ali (where the modern term "Shiite" comes from). They derived their support from specific hadiths and events that they claimed showed that God had revealed to Mohammed that 'Ali would succeed him. The majority of Muslims held that these hadiths and events showed nothing more than that 'Ali was very pious, something they did not deny. Therefore they gave power to the man who was Mohammed's second-in-command and father-in-law Abu Bakr. This majority were called the People of the Customs [of the Prophet] which in Arabic is Ahl Sunna (from where the modern term "Sunni" comes from.)
After the assassination of the third Caliph 'Othman (successor of Mohammed), 'Ali came to power, something that excited the Shiites. The Governor of Damascus, Mu'awiya, 'Othman's kinsman, demanded that 'Ali find and punish those responsible for the murder. 'Ali began an investigation, but Mu'awiya claimed it was taking too long and demanded the power to pursue the guilty himself. This led to Mu'awiya rising up against 'Ali to claim the Caliphate. Those that sided with Mu'awiya would become the Sunnis and those who sided with 'Ali became the Shiites.
What countries follows Shiite branch of Islam rather then Sunni?
shia Muslims live in many countries. Iran is the main Shia county and the leader of Shia Islam in world. Shia Islam constitute the majority of the population in Iran (90%), Azerbaijan (75%), Bahrain (30%), Lebanon (65% of Muslims) and Iraq (65%), Yemen (45%). Other countries with a significant proportion of Shia are Syria (15%), Kuwait (35%), Pakistan (20%), India (23% of Muslims), Afghanistan (15%), Saudi Arabia (18%), Turkey (20%), United Arab Emirates (16%), Qatar (15%), Albania(25%).
other Muslim countries are mainly sunni with minor shia population. Qum in Iran and Najaf in iraq are two main city of Shia Islam.
Why is Islam divided between Sunnis and Shiites?
Answer 1
Because of Imamat. i.e successorship and political leadership of Muslims.
Answer
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.
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
The split between Sunnis and Shiites ocurred over Disagreements over Succession after Mohammed's death. The Muslim community was united while Mohammed was the leader of this community. Most Muslims hold, however, that he never specifically chose a successor to his leadership. There was a minority in the community that supported the candidacy of 'Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law, this political faction became known as the "Supporters of 'Ali" which in Arabic is Shiat 'Ali (where the modern term "Shiite" comes from). They derived their support from specific hadiths and events that they claimed showed that God had revealed to Mohammed that 'Ali would succeed him. The majority of Muslims held that these hadiths and events showed nothing more than that 'Ali was very pious, something they did not deny. Therefore they gave power to the man who was Mohammed's second-in-command and father-in-law Abu Bakr. This majority were called the People of the Customs [of the Prophet] which in Arabic is Ahl Sunna (from where the modern term "Sunni" comes from.)
It is important to note that the split between the Sunnis and the Shiites was not the only split in Islam. There is the third Ibadi Islamic Sect, there were splits between Sunni Orthodoxy and Mu'tazilites, and splits between the three major sects and the Post-Islamic Religions.
Do Sunni Muslims believe in capital punishment?
Islams believe there are three crimes that deserve the capital punishment; murder, sexual misconduct (including making false allegation) and apostasy (crimes giving up or insulting religious faiths).
The sunni-shi'a division originated as a?
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.
Areas that practice Sunni Islam?
unless below areas:
Twelver shia Muslims live in many countries. Iran is the main Shia county and the leader of Shia Islam in world. Twelver Shia Islam constitute the majority of the population in Iran (90%), Azerbaijan (75%), Bahrain (70%), Lebanon (65% of Muslims) and Iraq (65%), Yemen (45%). Other countries with a significant proportion of Shia are Syria (15%), Kuwait (35%), Pakistan (20%), India (23% of Muslims), Afghanistan (15%), Saudi Arabia (18%), Turkey (20%), United Arab Emirates (16%), Qatar (15%), Albania(25%).
other Muslim countries are mainly sunni with minor shia population. Qum in Iran and Najaf in iraq are two main city of Shia Islam.
May a Sunni marry to a Shia girl?
Both are Muslims, so they are eligible for marriage. In the Holy Qur'an, any People of the Book can marry a Muslim man. Any doctrine that says otherwise is created by scholars who have no justification to change Islam.
Where did the struggle between Sunni and Shiite Muslims take place?
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.
Why ahle tashee are Muslims or not?
ahle tashi is pure Muslims ... and ye firka sub se pehle bna...... and i change u all ahle tashi is perfect firka .. ya har lihaz se sahi ha...
khana kaba me bss Muslim ko entry ki ijazat hai.koi kafir kaba shreef k pass b nhn a skta..na pak hota hai..agr ahle tashii musalman nhn to phr kyn saudi hakoomt ny un ko permit kia hai hajj k lya..har sall hazaron ki tadad me ahle tashi hajj ka fareeza pora krty hain..they are pure Muslims/
What are some similarities in the two major sects of Islam Sunni and Shia?
There are following similarities between Roman Catholics and Shia Muslims. At first, both confessions admit the necessity of an immaculate religious authority (Pope for Catholics, Imam for Shia). At second, they share the cult of suffering expressed in the cult of Jesus Christ and Imam Hussein (Prophet Muhammad's grandson martyred at Karbala in 680 AD) and have the similar forms of the veneration of these holy figures such as passion play (ta'ziye in Shia Iran, self-flaggelation known as zanjir-zani among Shia). At third, they share the veneration of holy women such as Virgin Mary and Fatima al-Zahra (Prophet Muhammad's daughter, Imam Hussein's mother) respectively.
What languages are spoken by Sunni Muslims?
shiite is about beliefs and is not related to language.
shia Muslims live in any country.
but most of shia Muslims talk Persian or Arabic.
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.
Are the Sunnis or Shiites fighting in Iraq against the US?
The United States is no longer in Iraq. When the US was in Iraq, the answer to this was very complicated. First, we must assume that by "Sunni" you are referring to "Sunni Arabs" in short-hand since the Kurds are also majority Sunni, but are very religiously diverse and have distinct motivations and militias from the Arabs. There were a number of Sunni militias such as the "Sons of Iraq" that fought alongside the US soldiers, there were Sunni militias that primarily targeted Shiite militias or the Peshmerga and had minimal contact (positive or negative) with the US military, and there were Sunni militias such as the "Islamic State of Iraq" and "al-Qaeda Iraq" which directly opposed the US military. There were several Shiite leaders (especially Ayatollah al-Sistani) whose forces supported the US and integrated into the Iraqi Armed Forces and the US-Supported Government of the Republic of Iraq and there were several Shiite militias such as "Jaysh al-Mahdi" and "Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq" which opposed the US military.
The Iraq War had multiple different conflicts going on contemporaneously and the US was just one party in several of them.
Why was sunni ali so important?
because the caliph were muhammads successors when muhammad died there was turmoil between who had the right to succeed him this started the sunni and shia split
What were some accomplishments of Sunni Ali?
Sunni Ali captured and fortified many cities, including Timbuktu.
What is difference between the marriage law of shia and sunni?
The difference b/w shia nD sunni divorce is .. sunni husband can say the word "Talaaq (divorce)" to his wife and he can get divorce by just saying those 3 words but there should be a witness who heard him say it. On the other hand, Shia divorce is done by 2 Islamic leaders where they recite qura'an ayaat nD both the husband and wife should be available at that divorce
The difference b/w shia nD sunni divorce is .. sunni husband can say the word "Talaaq (divorce)" to his wife and he can get divorce by just saying those 3 words but there should be a witness who heard him say it. On the other hand, Shia divorce is done by 2 Islamic leaders where they recite qura'an ayaat nD both the husband and wife should be available at that divorce
The difference b/w shia nD sunni divorce is .. sunni husband can say the word "Talaaq (divorce)" to his wife and he can get divorce by just saying those 3 words but there should be a witness who heard him say it. On the other hand, Shia divorce is done by 2 Islamic leaders where they recite qura'an ayaat nD both the husband and wife should be available at that divorce
The difference b/w shia nD sunni divorce is .. sunni husband can say the word "Talaaq (divorce)" to his wife and he can get divorce by just saying those 3 words but there should be a witness who heard him say it. On the other hand, Shia divorce is done by 2 Islamic leaders where they recite qura'an ayaat nD both the husband and wife should be available at that divorce
How do the beliefs of Sunni and Shiite differ?
Answer 1
it is related to this question:
who was the right political leader of islam world after death of prophet?
shia says it was Ali (PBUH)
and sunni says it was Abubakr
The Sunni believe that Muhamed's companions should be the new leader after his death, and the Shiite's believe it should be his cousin or son-in-law.
Answer 2
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 3
The dividing issue was whether the Prophet's successor should be his father-in-law or his son-in-law. The father-in-law's party was in the majority and they became the Sunnis, those who follow the Path, of tradition. The son-in-law's party became the Shias, a word meaning "partisans."
It's about a 9:1 ratio worldwide, with the Shia concentrated in Iran and environs.
In practice, both are Muslims to outside eyes, but many Sunni adopt an intolerant attitude toward Shia, treating them as non-Muslims.
The people rioting over pictures of Mohammed are usually Sunnis, as Shia are not so freaky about depiction.
As the generally persecuted, the Shia are less tradition-bound and generate more breakaway sects. They birthed both the Bahai and the Assassins.
Answer 3
General Discussion
The major difference is historical. The Shiites did not agree on the elected Caliphs (who followed Prophet Muhammad after his death). They believed that the Caliphs should only be within Prophet Muhammad descendants and family. Accordingly, they were supporting Ali Ibn Abu Taleb (Prophet cousin and the husband of his daughter Fatima) to be the first Caliph. However, they didn't protest against the elected Caliphs (Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman) and even Ali, himself, was good supporter and adviser to the three Caliphs until he was elected as the fourth Caliph.
Both Sunnis and Shiites are Muslims. No one has the right to expel anyone out of Islam and to consider him/her a Kafir (unbeliever) so far:
- he/she witness that no god Except one God (Allah) with no partner and that Muhammad is his messenger and prophet, and that
- he/she doesn't deny intentionally any of the Islam five pillars.
As for Sunnis and Shiites:
- They, both, believe that No God except one and only one God, the Creator, with no partner, no father, no son, no companion, no associate, and no resemblance and that prophet is His messenger and prophet.
- They both believe in God Angels, all God prophets, all God holy book, the Day of Judgment, and destiny.
- They both believe in the five Pillars of Islam. They both face the direction of Kaaba when praying and both require the Hajj pilgrimage.
- They pray in any mosque regardless the praying leader is Sunni or Shiite.
- They may differ in some minor details of rituals but these details are not critical to neither the Shiites nor the Sunnis.
Today there is up to 260 sects in Islam that are in two main categories of Shia and Sunni. The conflict between Shia and Sunnis has been always amplified by world Imperialism to prevent Islam from spreading in world. Some of this negativity has corrupted some Shia and Sunnis to believe that their beliefs are diametrically opposed, when in fact the differences are small and not worthy of Takfir (calling someone a blasphemer).
Specific Differences
Imamat or Leadership: Shia and Sunni mainly have a conflict on Imamat (leadership).
The division between Shia and Sunni dates back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 C.E., and the question of who was to take over the Imamat (leadership) of the Muslim nation. Sunnis, the majority, believe that the first four caliphs, Mohammed's successors, rightfully took his place as the leaders of Islam. They recognize the heirs of the four caliphs as legitimate religious leaders. These heirs ruled continuously in the Arab world until the break-up of the Ottoman Empire following the end of the First World War.
The Shia say the Imamat is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and only God can select leader for people whereas the Sunnis say Imamat is not part of Islam and the leader can be selected by people by any method like Shura (for example for Abu Bakr) or by will of previous leader (for example for Omar) or by people (for example for Ali) provided he is capable of performing the job. Shia believe after death of the Prophet (Mohammed), God selected the prophet's successor who should be the political leader of Muslim community and people cannot and do not the right to select such an individual.
Self-Identification: Sunni Muslims agree with the position taken by many of the Prophet's companions, that the new leader of the Umma (Islamic Community) should be elected from among those capable of the job. This is what was done, and the Prophet Muhammad's close friend and advisor, Abu Bakr, became the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. The word "Sunni" in Arabic comes from a word meaning "one who follows the traditions [of the Prophet]."
The word "Shia" in Arabic means a group or supportive party of people. The commonly-known term is shortened from the historical "Shia-t-Ali," or "the Party of Ali." They are also known as followers of "Ahl-al-Bayt" or "People of the Household" (of the Prophet).
Prayer Styles: Shia pray 5 times a day just like Sunnis but usually do the second and third prayers and fourth and fifth prayers together. Thus, it may seem they do only 3 prayers a day. There are some differences in details of prayer like genuflecting (for Shia should be on a stone or part of earth and for the Sunnis it should be on carpet or floor ).
Doctrines of Karbala: Shia doctrines have their roots in Battle Karbala.
When tragedy of Karbala happened most of Iranians understood that there were two different interpretations of Islam that could not both 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.
Hadith Collections: Shia Muslims have at least 120,000 Hadith (sayings) from The Fourteen Infallibles that is the base of Shia Islam along with Qur'an. Sunni Hadith collections are much smaller as they do not contain volumes from people who lived after the Prophet. Sunni collections also differ based on the School of Sunni Islam. Abu-Hanifa, Ibn Hanbal, Ash-Shafi'i, and Ibn Annas of the Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i, and Maliki Schools each have their own collections.
The Imams and Infallibles: Sunnis do not believe in any of this. However, Shia believe 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 Representatives of God in earth and they have inherited divine knowledge of prophet. Theses individuals are the 12 Imams, the Prophet and his daughter Fatimah Zahra (sa). All of them are without impurity and have no mistake and have the knowledge of everything. (This knowledge is from God according to His will 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.) They never die and they hear all sayings and even thoughts of all humans after their death by permission of God. They are intermediates between God and human.
Shi'ites do not accept that the Imam is to be only a political leader but they believe that they are literally 'manifestations of God', they are sinless, infallible and the bringers of true understanding to all humanity. They are referred to within the Shi'ite tradition as being masum, that is, free from error or sin.
Shia believe that the 12th Imam (Imam Mahdi S.A.) is alive and because people have killed all 11 Imams before him. He is in hiding 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 avoid them having any political activity.
They never had enough serious followers to allow them to attain political power. Among them only the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was relatively free on account of the freedom afforded during the transition of power between the Umayyads and Abbassids. He is primarily known in the West to have taken part in scientific activities, established a university, and had students from all over the world. Westerners 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 those who sought knowledge. Some researchers consider his teachings the root cause of the Renaissance.
Positions on the Mahdi: The Mahdi, according to Shia, will bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth after an apocalyptic battle between the forces of Islam (those who believe in God) and the rest of the world. Sunni Muslims also accept Mahdi and his worldwide leadership as Caliph of God on Earth at end of world, but do not accept the Shia teaching that this person is the twelfth Imam. There is a famous Hadith from prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that Mahdi in hiding 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 a connection and conversation with Mahdi during his period of hiding but anyone who may have a relation with Mahdi S.A. should keep it secret and not declare it in public until death.
Madogo, the tenth si of Gao, was the father of Sunni Ali, the founder of the Songhay Empire in West Africa.
