Sunni and Shia Islam: The Division Between Sunni and Shia Islam

Shia and the Sunnis are the two major Islamic sects or groups having a different interpretation of Islam. The dispute between the Shia and the Sunni has erupted from the time of the death of a prophet of Islam named Muhammad over the succession of the Islamic group as a Khilafah of the Islam community. After the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, one group came to be known as Sunni presumed that the successor of the Prophet will be Abu Bakr whereas the second group, Shia, believed that the successor of Prophet Muhammad should be Ali.

This ignited the dispute between the two segments of Islam in various Islamic States and regions leading to the Battle of Jamal and Battle of Siffin. This dispute was fueled post the battle of Karbala as Hussein ibn Ali along with his family was killed by the ruling Umayyad Caliph Yazid I. Thus the outburst of revenge after the battle led to the early separation between the two groups that is referred to as Islamic schism which is named to differentiate it from the Christian schism that happened later.

In the present demography, it is difficult to assess the absolute number of Shias and the Sunnis as different sources provide varied information about the two denominations. However, a rough estimation of the two groups states that about 90% of the world’s Muslim population is Sunni and about 10% of the Muslim population in the world is Shias. 

Shias mostly belong to the Imamiyyah traditions and the rest of them are divided into separate groups. In contrast to the Shias, in most of the communities, Sunnis are in majority like in Southeast Asia, China, South Asia, Africa, and the vast majority of the Arab world. The majority of the Shia population resides in Iraq, Bahrain, Iran, and Azerbaijan and a small portion of the group are present in Pakistan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Chad, and Kuwait in minority. Though both the groups consider Quran as the divine holy book but there is Athar in Shia and the Sunni also has different options. 

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Aftermath of Muhammad’s death

The differences between the two denominations of the Muslim community are rooted back to the time soon after the demise of their prophet named Prophet Muhammad. Post his death most of the Muslim community who was Muhammad’s followers wanted the other elite members of the Muslim community should come together and choose their next successor but a small group of the followers believed that the successor should be from Muhammad’s own family that could be the brother-in-law and cousin of the prophet named Ali. They thought that he is the right candidate to succeed in the prophet’s position. Thus, this group became known as the follower of Ali and is referred to as Shiat Ali in Arabic or simple Shia. 

The dispute was finally won over by the Sunni who were in the majority and they chose Prophet Muhammad’s close friend Abu Bakr to become the first caliph, or leader, of the Islamic community. Ali eventually became the fourth successor of the Prophet or Imam, as Shiites call their leaders but only after the assassination of the second and the third successor. As the bitter power struggle continued between the Shia and the Sunni, finally in the year 661 BCE, Ali himself was killed. The killing was not just only to acquire the political and the religious legacy of the Prophet but a great deal of money was also involved in it. This money is from the taxes and the tributes paid by the tribes united under the banner of Islam. After the death of Prophet Muhammad, his followers built a legacy that was stretched from Spain till Central Asia. 

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Battle of Karbala and Its Lasting Significance

In order to confront the corrupt caliph Yazid of the Ummayad dynasty, Ali’s son Hussein led a group of 72 followers and family members from Mecca to Karbala (present-day Iraq) in the year 618 BCE. A massive army of the Sunni awaited them and upon their arrival, a battle of almost 10 days continued and finally, the son of Ali, Hussain, was killed. His head was deciphered and was bought to the Sunni caliph in the Damasus as a tribute. “It was obviously intended by the Ummayads to put the definitive end to all claims to leadership of the ummah as a matter of direct descendence from Muhammad,” says Hazleton of Hussein’s death. And of the death of all the members of the Muhammads family who were surviving in Karbala, but it is not exactly what had happened in the course of the actions. Instead, the martyrdom of Hussian on the battlefield became the prime celebration of Shia’s tradition, and the day known as Ashoura is commemorated every year as the holiest day of the Shia calendar. 

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What is the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam?

The prime ideological difference was on the question of who will be the leader of the Islamic community after the demise of Prophet Muhammad. The majority of the followers who decided to follow the closest companion of Prophet Muhammad named Abu Bakr became Sunni and the rest of the followers of the Islamic community who believed that the right person to be the leader of the community is Ali eventually became Shia. Sunni believed in following the footsteps of the Prophet’s examples whereas Shias always wanted to follow the linage of Prophet Muhammad through a series of Imams. 

Especially post the Iranian revolution in 1979, there has been a constant rising tension among the Shias and the Sunnis in part of the middle east since the starting of the 1970s. The theocracy of the Shias was abruptly raised in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain following the Iranian revolution and was also supported by the regime of Bashar al-Assad Seriya along with other states like  Hezbollah (Lebanon) and Hamas (Gaza). Thus the Sunni population was subjected to severe violence because of the rising power of the Shias over the government of Iraq and Iran. The Shia movement later marginalized ith the uprising of the alliance between  Wahhabism and the rulers of Saudi Arabia. This has led to the brutalism and religious cleansing of Shias at the hands of Sunni ISIS. 

Further increase in diasporic communities in the West is due to the rise in the tension of the Sunni and Shia communities. In 2013, one of the protests that were carried out by the group of Sunnis in the Uk that was led by Anjem Choudary portrayed banners that red that the Shias are the enemy of God. The tension in the United Kingdoms have fueled following the Sectarian violence in Iraq and Syria. The division can be seen very prominently in the student societies. It is even said that the division between the Sunni community has hardened due to the influence of Wahhabists.