Mohammad Elshinawy – What is the Difference Between Sunnis & Shiites

			Could you please explain to us when the division in Islam came into being Shia Sunni?
		

			You're not going anywhere from now to like for him?
		

			Do
		

			I appreciate you guys indulging me
		

			even though indulgences are a trigger word in interfaith gatherings, right?
		

			So I subscribe to Sunni Islam as the the vast majority of the 1.5 billion Muslims on the planet.
		

			And so
		

			I may come off taking sides here a little bit.
		

			Only because it's very difficult for me to,
		

			I guess, advocate or legitimate
		

			or justify a, a belief that I conviction that I don't have. Okay, just as important disclaimer.
		

			But the word sooner Sunni comes from the word soon. Sooner means example. It refers slam at least
it's a big it's a term that refers to the prophets example, right? There are people that trace their
religious understanding whether in theology or in practice, all the way back to the Prophet
Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And we believe he is the ultimate authority and
understanding how we should believe what we should believe about God and what God expects of us and
		

			the location of Gods pleasure and displeasure, right, the law of God all all that would imply,
whether on the ethical sphere in the ritual sphere and the transactional sphere between human beings
civil dealings in a theological sphere, all of it.
		

			And so basically, in principle, they require evidence traceable all the way back to the Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him because he was the final prophet. He received revelation from God. And
revelation has been sealed after that.
		

			She ism comes from the word Shia. She amin supporters, because it first emerged in the time of the
fourth successor after the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
		

			So the Prophet peace be upon him died. It was Abu Bakar. And there was Omar and there was Othman,
and then there was Ali, these were all contemporaries of the Prophet Muhammad, these were his
companions. These are not next generation. And so the fourth of them was Ali, Allah be pleased with
him, this is the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
		

			And he saw opposition, he saw uprisings in his time. And so these people
		

			that
		

			attribute themselves Sally, they consider themselves as supporters of Ali. So we stand in defense of
the legitimate political authority. That's where the Shiite the supporters with the supporters of
the legitimate ruler, if you will.
		

			That's where the name first came. Later on, centuries later, to be honest,
		

			being a Shiite had
		

			very different implications, in terms of theology, in terms of believing that Ali and 12 Imams,
that's why the Shiites, most the majority of them are known as the Imam in my amendments, because
they believe in 12 infallible imams. That is unser, on some level, similar to the doctrine of the
papacy of the Pope, that they have revelation from God, if you will, or inspiration from God as to
what God wants. The Sunni doctrine does not accept that we believe that prophets received
revelation. They are the access point to God prophets that has been sealed. Therefore, our tradition
must be traced back to the Prophet Muhammad, or it's a
		

			it's not religion. It's contrary to that and unacceptable for not
		

			fulfilling that requirement. That's basically it.
		

			Which part?
		

			Okay.
		

			The theological split.
		

			Yeah, so the, the support, there's a volley, if you will, like those who would defend it, the
prophets companion, the prophets cousin, the fourth ruler of Islam, successor of the Prophet
Mohammed, this was within 30 years of the prophets. This was
		

			19 years after the prophet to death approximately, yes, there was a there was an attempted there was
a there was an assassination. So there was an attempted revolution, and it failed, but the
assassination did work. And then his son, son of Ollie took power. And he handed off he abdicated.
He had
		

			They're off power to another ruler to try to bring together the warring factions. And he
successfully did so in very noble he did so. And so this was all political turmoil.
		

			And things went smoothly for another few years. And then the generations would never be as pure as
the first generations of Islam. So things became a bit more complicated. It's more unfortunate, but
the theological,
		

			I guess, differences between Sunni and Shia Islam, that happened two to 300 years after. That's when
it's really emerged as a phenomenon not as like one person here, one person there that had a
particularly particular belief that he was particularly special, because that existed
		

			that existed even during the lifetime of Allah Himself. But it was not a doctrine. It was not a
religion. Forgive me, it was not a sec, none of that. Even only himself, he, he pushed back against
people that went overboard in praising him overboard and deifying him if you will, because he
believed his deification. And he said, even the Prophet Muhammad peace upon him didn't accept this
degree of, of exaltation. And he said, I am both the Servant and Messenger of God. And please, and
he said, Do not do to me, what was done to my brother, Jesus, the son of Mary, meaning over
aggrandizement, if you will, or aggrandizement I am, but the servant of God in His Messenger,
		

			because that was a major thing. That's the fundamental rule in Islam is the distinction between
creator and creation. Because if your ultimate purpose in life is to connect with your Creator,
that's going to be contingent upon identifying who your Creator is and not conflating between
creator and creation. So I'll lead with the same thing. He stopped them and it never became a thing
until two 300 years later. Okay. We will we do that we all human beings do this. It's just, it
doesn't make it a religion. There's like personality cults, if you will, right? Like when we go
overboard praising a politician or something like that, we see all their virtues and refuse see
		

			their flaws. That doesn't make it a religion. But later on, it kind of became a doctrine.
		

			And again, I'm assuming he speaking from the Sunni perspective, and so forgive me if I come off as a
bit biased.
		

			Okay.
		

			Maybe if you were she I think I'm biased.
		

			So let's just try to be fair to them somehow.