What's the Difference Between Shiite and Sunni Muslims?

When you purchase through links on our site , we may realise an affiliate mission . Here ’s how it works .

Although Sunni and Shiite Muslims are both faction of the Islamic organized religion , the difference of opinion between these two chemical group stanch from conflicting religious beliefs .

Political conflict separates the groups as well Saudi Arabia , a Sunni nation , and Shiite Iran continue to compete for regional influence in the Arab humanity . Amidstanti - government activity protestsand car bombing , Sunni leaders in Saudi Arabia have accused their Shiite populations of loyalty to Iran .

Get answers to lifes little mysteries. Subscribe and feel like a kid again.

One matter that Sunnis and Shiites have in common is that they are the two heavy denomination of theIslamic faith . Additionally , both Sunnis and Shiites believe that the Prophet Muhammad established the Islam faith during the seventh century . [ What Is Ramadan ? ]

The schism between the two sects get down after the death of Muhammad in 632 A.D. , at which point a dispute over the indistinguishability of Muhammad ’s spiritual replacement caused the follower of Islam to divide into Sunnis and Shiites .

The Sunnis believe that Muhammad had no lawful inheritor and that areligious leadershould be elect through a vote among the Islamic community ’s masses . They believe that Muhammad ’s followers chose Abu Bakr , Muhammad ’s close friend and adviser , as his successor .

side-by-side images of a baboon and a gorilla

Shiites believe that only Allah , the God of the Islam faith , can select religious leader , and that therefore , all successors must be direct descendants of Muhammad ’s mob . They maintain that Ali , Muhammad ’s cousin and son - in - law , was the rightful heir to the leaders of the Islam religion after Muhammad ’s death .

Another disputatious religious remainder between Shiite and Sunni Muslims occupy the Mahdi , which is Arabic for " guided one . " Both groups perceive the Mahdi as the exclusive rule of the Islamic biotic community . But while the Sunnis arrest that the Mahdi has not yet been assume and call his arrival , the Shiites believe that the Mahdi was carry in 869 A.D. and will return to Earth under Allah ’s orders .

Most Muslims are Sunnis . Of the entire Moslem universe in the Moslem public , only 10 percent are Shiite , consort to cnn.com . The only countries that have a Shiite majority in the Middle East are Iran , Iraq and the Gulf island state of Bahrain .

A female patient is shown sat up in a hospital bed smiling at a nurse who has their hand placed on theirs. The patient is wearing a head scarf.

Originally published onLive Science .

A diagram of the solar system

A mosaic in Pompeii and distant asteroids in the solar system.

A black and white photo of a large mushroom cloud from a nuclear blast

a closeup of King Tut�s gold mask

Albert Einstein stands next to a blackboard

An illustration of Noah�s ark during the biblical flood. We see a wood boat crashing over a giant wave against a stormy sky.

Colorful Easter eggs on the grass at sunrise

Here we see a family (woman, child and man) lighting a Menorah together (a sacred candelabrum with eight branches).

Father and daughter decorating Christmas tree in bay window at home, tradition, anticipation, childhood

A black and white photograph taken in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 during World War II. It shows Jews, both adults and children, held at gunpoint as SS troops look on.