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.