The Differences Between Sunni & Shia Muslims (For Teenagers) – Ask Shaykh YQ #227

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Sarah welcome rahmatullahi wa barakatuh what hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah we praise Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, the One and the unique, we worship Him alone and his his aid that we seek. He is the Lord of the oppressed and the answers the day of the week, brothers and sisters today in shallow data, we have one question that I have been asked by many, many people, but I'm answering it today. And I will actually choose a particular question her that came with this specific question, brother Sajid from Australia emails. And Michelle is about our colleagues in high school. He's a teenager, and he's learning about Islam, and he says that he has come across the fact that there are two

different messages in his locality. One of them is Sunni Masjid, one is a shih tzu, the Shiite Masjid. And he says that this has now caused him confusion, because he felt that Islam was for unity that all the Muslims are one. But he is aware of the fact that even in his own hometown, somewhere in Australia, that there are different massages. And he's now asking that Well, how do we understand this? And also, he asks me to explain what is the difference between these two groups and what should we do about it? Now obviously, this is a very, very difficult question. And to my dear brother, Sajid, I will say that the answer is actually quite complicated, but I will try to address

this question in a manner that is satisfactory to you insha Allah to Allah, to those others in the audience who might be more mature or more knowledgeable, please understand that there is a time and a place and this particular language for when to be used, and our brothers Sajid is a teenager, similarly, perhaps a new Muslim, or perhaps somebody who is unaware of these things, that there is a language and a methodology to teach these very, very sensitive topics, and inshallah Tada, this is a very basic level response, that should be sufficient for those that are new to this reality or those that are young, or those that are not involved in the intra Muslim issues or affairs, they need to

be told an answer that is sufficient for them, and other avenues exist for more detailed discussions. Sadly, the fact of the matter is that this question is already a tense question. Because most of us are well aware that there is quite a lot of animosity and tensions between these two segments of the Muslim ummah. And there are people who like to find the fuel of hatred, look where that has gotten us across the globe. from my sight, I am completely against exacerbating tensions, and I'm all for factual academic teaching. So today inshallah I will try to demonstrate that by walking into this land in mind of a question and by explaining in a manner that insha Allah

whoever listens to this answer, will not be able to criticize any fact that is said to be fair, and to be unbiased and then to let the facts speak for themselves. To answer our young brothers sojitz question. He is saying that isn't the Muslim oma one and shouldn't we be unified? And the response is that Indeed Allah subhana wa tada does say in the Quran, we're in the has he oma to come omit and wa Haider, one are both comfortable doing this is your oma, it is one oma and I'm your Lord, so worship me. And Allah says in the Quran, in normal movement order, all of the believers, they are brothers, they are brothers together, all of the believers are brothers, this is the ideal, this is

the aspiration. This does not negate the reality. And the reality is that that ideal is sometimes not met, and that there shall be differences and tensions and different understandings of realities and of truths and even a faith. Allah says in the Quran, kindness will own Merton wahida. Mankind used to be one united oma and then they deferred and because they deferred for Botha Laguna de novo, she didn't within Allah then had to send prophets to teach and to give glad tidings to warn to relay the message of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Allah says in the Koran, what oh sha Allah Who? Allah Azza wa Haider, it if Allah had willed, He could have made all of mankind in one nation. If Allah had

willed a different reality that would have been the case but that is not the case.

verses in the Quran where thou shalt Rob Booker ledger Allah Nasser on button wa Haider, while I was at Dr. Ruffin, if Allah had willed, all of mankind would be one, but they shall remain disunited, while I was in Italy, Morocco, Morocco, except those whom Allah has shown mercy on that they shall be united. So Allah is saying that mankind, as a rule differs amongst themselves. And you know, my dear brothers saij it and all of you out there, we see this reality in every single aspect of life, you say that you are in high school, the teenager, don't you sometimes play with your friends that you like, and then maybe even your brothers and siblings, and then you disagree, sometimes those

disagreements become very, very bitter, stuff a little lost, sometimes they might even go more than just words, even though they shouldn't misunderstandings occur. Some people have different ways of looking at the same thing. They have different priorities in life. Some people, they understand realities differently. And this is the way that Allah created mankind. Not everybody has the same angle, the same lens, the same perception, the same analysis, the same list of priorities, and the closer you are to somebody. And the more you have in common with them, the more different difficult the differences are. And that is why if a stranger differs with you, it's not a big deal. But when

your brother differs with you, it really hurts. And so when we have two groups of the oma, who are our brothers, when they differ, sometimes the difference is really difficult for us because we're so close, and yet still. So this is a reality of existence that people differ. And we have to also point out that some differences of opinion are actually healthy and encouraged. To a certain degree, it's good that your flavor ice cream that you liked is different than my flavor and your brother's flavor, we want everybody to have the exact same flavor, some diversity is good. And even in, for example, the film schools, the laws, Islamic Fiqh, we have different positions. Usually, typically,

those positions are healthy difference of opinion, it is good the Sahaba themselves differed over specific areas of Islamic law. And it is said that, you know, a number of them said, This difference of opinion is a mercy from Allah subhanho wa Taala. And sometimes the differences of opinion, are not desirable, and we don't like them. But we need to just tolerate and live and let live, even if we don't like. And this is the reality of the differences that you're asking about between these two large groups of the oma. So it is a reality that there are two large strands. And it is not something that we like that this exists, but it is there. And we simply have to tolerate and accept

that there are people that view the world and view Islamic theology differently than us and understand that their worldview is different than our worldview. Now, you asked me to summarize that, what is the what are the main differences and again, this is something that

much can be said and actually this is one of my areas of expertise, which is Islamic theology and the development of Islamic theology. But to summarize to a level that is in sha Allah useful for you to know, I will summarize in 10 key points 10 key differences that insha Allah if data are factually correct academically sound and ask Allah to guide me in this we have to be fair and accurate. And we have to quote, the reality of what people believe without distortion without manipulation. And you don't understand that they have different worldviews. So the first difference is that the Sunni belief which is our belief, you're asking us, you're asking me and I'm from the Sunni belief, the

Sudanese are called Sunni's, because they believe in the Koran, and in the Sunni. Sunni means they believe in the sooner everybody believes in the Koran. So what makes the Sunni people different is that they believe in the Quran and in the Sunnah, what is the sun, the sun, is the life and teachings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, as recorded in the famous books of Hadith. So, for us the primary source of revelation of inspiration of ethics of laws of theology of morality, where do we turn back to, we turn back to the Quran and the Sunnah. The other group, the Shia group, they it is short for shiai to ID or the other one, or the partisans or the people who follow are the

rhodiola one, that for them, the primary source is the Koran, and then a living descendant of ideal the law, one to whom they call an Imam. So there is an authority, there is a person whom they consider to be the final arbiter, the one who's

speaks essentially on behalf of the religion, and this person is the one who can decide who can legislate and interpret the Quran. This is the person who can have the final say, in what is to be correct and not correct. And this is a person whom they call the Imam. So this leads us to the second point, and that is that the Quran and Sunnah are of course, revelations and books. And so for Sunni Muslims, we believe that scholars are human beings who are trained to study those books, and then interpret the books, there is no one scholar who is appointed by Allah to speak on behalf of the texts, there is no one person who is absolutely 100% correct. Rather, the collective group of

scholarship, and especially the unanimous consensus of the scholars is what is binding and correct, there is no single individual authorized by Allah subhana wa, tada are authorized by the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, to interpret the faith. This is the belief of Sudanese which is us, the Shia, as we said, believing in something called the Imam. And so they believe that there must always be one person, that the world must have always one person who is divinely appointed, and who has the ultimate and final right to interpret the faith. Hence, for the Sudanese, no human being alive is infallible. 100% correct. Whereas for the Shia, the there is somebody who is infallible, and that is

the Imam. This leads us to the third point, and that is that for Sudanese leadership of the community, is a political reality, not a religious one. And hence, whoever leads the community, they don't interpret the Koran or assume that in any extra authority, if they're not trained, they don't interpret it all. The political leader is not something that is dictated by the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet system didn't say so and so should be the leader. And the leader can be chosen by the people. And that leader can be good, that leader can be bad, historically, the Sudanese belief, some of our leaders were great, and some of them were not so great leadership of the community is not a

divinely appointed status that the revelation came down to assign. As for the Shia community, they believe that the default is that the leadership is a religious office, and that the one who is the political leader should also be the religious leader, and that person is appointed by God. That person is the one that Allah wanted to be the leader by name. So there is an element of concentration of power, if you like, in one person for the Shia community, that one person, of course, is that Imam, that Imam should be the political and the religious authority. And that person should be the one in charge of the affairs of the community, and in charge of the interpretation of

the texts, and therefore he is appointed by God himself or by the prophets of Allah while he was setting him. Of course, as for the Sudanese, we do not believe this is the case. And so leadership, generally speaking in the political field is not something that generally speaking, it's a good and bad, no big deal. It is the religious leadership that is different General, again, this is generally sometimes you'll have a scholar in the political class, such as in the first few generations, Abu Bakar, Omar earthman, ali rhodiola. They were scholars, and they were also political leaders. But historically, the political leadership has been distinct from the religious leadership. And

historically, the political leadership has not interpreted the texts, there's simply in charge of the affairs of the oma and religious clergy are not appointed by Allah. Anybody can train and become a clergy. Anybody can train and study the text. And then once they're qualified, they give an opinion and no one individual is divinely appointed. So this is another fundamental difference between Sudanese and between Shias. Point number four, based upon this reality that she I believe, that from the very beginning of Islam, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam wanted his cousin and his son in law, hardly even Have you thought of rhodiola Thailand to be the leader, the Imam after

him. They believe this to be clear from the entirety of the sila. every incident involving involving Alia the loved one for them, illustrates and demonstrates that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam explicitly appointed our the rhodiola one to be not just a political leader, but as we said the religious leader

The mom after him for the Sudanese, the prophet system did not appoint any such leader. And much of these incidents regarding audit of the loved one, the Sunni is also acknowledge and affirm, but they don't interpret them the way that the Shia interpret them. They don't view that the Prophet systems praising ideal the loved one indicates is going to be the Imam or the person in charge. They simply say that was praised for him just like the Prophet system praised other companions as well. And in fact Sudanese believe if anything, when the Prophet system was passing away, about to pass away when he's on his deathbed, the fact that he insisted on a worker is so difficult to log on to lead the

solder when he has only a few days left to live and work with us. So there was the one who that the solar rhodiola, one for a number of days, indicates if anything, that he wanted to give political leadership political leadership, but he did not say so it is an indication it is an assumption. As for the shiana, they say it was explicit, not just an assumption that the prophets has an explicitly mandated and he explicitly said that early rhodiola one should be not just the political leader, but the Imam and the religious authority after he passed away. So this is another fundamental difference between the Sunni and the Shia understandings. Point number five,

the issue of the family of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam, the LLB through the ILO elbaite, that, for the Sudanese, it is indeed a blessing to be a part of the family of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to be biologically related to the prophets of Allah Almighty, He was setting them. However, that blessing only comes when that individual himself or herself is also pious and righteous, merely being related by blood, while the person himself is not righteous or pious, is not going to help the Prophet systems. Uncle himself is Abu lahab and Abu lahab. We know what his fate is by the testimony of the Quran. Simply having a biological connection does not in and of itself,

make a person bless it. However, if a person is good, and has adequate and does good deeds, and is also from the family of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam this is indeed a double blessing. And for the Sudanese. The Companions have multiple types of blessings. There are blessings for those who embrace to start very early on. There are blessings for those who did both of the hedgerows to Abyssinia and to Medina, there are blessings for those who did one hedgerow to Medina, there are blessings for those who participated in the Battle of button, and to be a member of the process of his household, it's also a blessing. There's no supernatural powers that come it's just a generic

blessing that can also be given like so many other blessings. As for the Shia, then the superiority of the family of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And the blessings of that family becomes a is an integral point of theology, and they view the island bait in a light that is more than what the Sudanese view, the Sudanese as we said, view the Al Bayt with a blessing if they themselves are pious, but that blessing does not mean that they have extra powers, or that they have supernatural powers, or that they are in any way fashion or form meant to be the arbiters of the faith, or to be the political leaders of the faith. It is simply a blended family. And we ask Allah to bless the

family of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. As for the Shia, then the blessings of the island bait become second only to the Koran itself. And so because the Imams themselves come from the added bait, and so for them the Quran, and then the URL bait and the Imams that come from them are really the two most important

sources if you like of interpretation and Islamic law. This leads us to the sixth point that the she I believe that this emam must be from the progeny of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam from the Ahl Al Bayt. The Sunni is of course don't have any such equivalent, as we said, they don't really believe in a figure. That is the final arbiter. Now, here we have to go a little bit technical. Our brother says that he knows there's a shearing mosque in his vicinity. It's clear therefore that he is not aware that there are even multiple strands of Sudanese and multiple strands of Shia, so Sudanese and Shia. Just FYI, statistically, there's probably around 85 to 90% of the

Muslim world is Sunni. And probably around 10 to 12% of the world to Shiri and within shear ism, you have multiple strands and within pseudoaneurysm you also have multiple strands, but

Of course, generally speaking within scientism, the strands generally, they don't have different mosques and whatnot. Within shear ism. There are multiple strands, depending on which Emacs they follow. So the majority of the shear of the world today the Shia of let's say the in Iran and Iraq and in Lebanon, these are like the, you know the common well known Shia branches, they follow what is known as twelver, Shiism, twelver Shiism, so they believe in the existence of exactly 12 imams. And this is the default when somebody says there are Shia, the default is they are twelver Shia, you should know that there are other smaller segments as well. There's something called the five or the

zedi Shia and they are common in one part of Yemen in southern Yemen. There's also seven or ismaili Shia and they have small branches and pockets you have the the Bora and you have the the design is made out of hundreds of multiple strands within and they are relatively quite small the seven or she out in terms of numbers. So the default is that you're talking about twelver Shiism and we'll talk about the entire talk today is about 12 hirsutism. We're not going into the differences between the other strands of shears and maybe another day we will do that. So we said that the shear I believe in a mom's from the little bait twelver Shia, which is the default believe in exactly 12 Imams, they

believe in exactly 12 Imams, and these imams are all from the descendants of from the island bait, the descendants of alila one Fatima rhodiola who is and other groups of Shia have other strands and other linkages that we're not going to go into. Our next point is that we talked about twelver Shia and one of the key beliefs of twelver Shia is that every single Eman assigns and delegates from Allah subhanho wa Taala the name of the next email so every mom authorizes the next email it's a continuous chain and this is known as nos nos means that every man has to verify and assign pass the baton down to the next email. The first email according to the Shia was appointed by the prophet

system and that is added to the Allah one. After him came his two sons has sent and then you're saying rhodiola one home and then that's the second and third Imam and then from her St. rhodiola one it is father son Father, Son, Father Son all the way down to the 12th Imam. Okay, so you have father son throughout the entire chain except for the second and third there are two brothers has an understanding of the Allahu anhu the grandsons of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So this is twelver. Shiism, as we said, there are other strands and they basically break away from this twelver at various places some breakaway at the fifth so they're called as a these the fifth fibres,

some breakway at the seventh are called smelliest because the seventh was made. So they have different strands amongst themselves, but the bulk or the predominant strand is twelver Shia Shia Islam and for twelver Shiites, these 12 imams are infallible, they cannot commit a mistake. And when they speak, they speak essentially on behalf of God. They cannot commit a mistake. That's what makes them an Imam, for the Sudanese.

All of these imams are fallible human beings. And they are not appointed by Allah to be the final arbiters. It's not something that that soon is believed. Interesting. Interestingly, the Sudanese respect immensely, are the rhodiola one and has an arsenal of the law as being of the debate. And they also respect especially, you know, the first two or three imams after Imam Jafar Assad has given a lot of respect in Sunni circles as a great scholar, as an Adam as a *y. As a teacher of so many other great scholars of Islam, but they don't view them as being infallible. They don't view them as being divinely appointed. And by the way, interestingly enough, from the Sunni perspective,

these individuals Oliver the law 100% of the Allahu anhu him and the rest of the early imams did not claim to be imaams they did not this is the Sunni perspective. Obviously, they did not claim that they were divinely appointed by God. They did not claim that they were infallible. This is something that Sudanese do not believe even they claimed, of course, the Shia I believe that they claim this and they are deserving of this, but you should know that the Sudanese respect immensely, especially the first few imams as historical figures as as embodiments of piety as receptacles of knowledge. And their biographies are found in Sunni literature, and their name occurs constantly in this

In the books of history and Hadith with a lot of veneration and respect, but there's no special powers given or there's no extra status given to them that that the Shia give so that is a historic difference between between the two. This leads us to our next point and I'm sure by now you're thinking about the question well if there's only 12 moms

and the world must have any mom well then where is the Imam where is the 12th Imam right now? And this is a very very good question. So of course for the Sudanese there is no concept of a divinely appointed EMA as you're aware, we call any person of nology ma'am Okay, I'm called Imam in my Masjid sometimes and even though there's an official Imam title, but sometimes just call me mom. So for us an Imam is not a divinely appointed office. I mean anybody can be the Imam and for the Shia as we said, the Imam is one figure appointed by Allah with certain characteristics and certain attributes that the rest of us do not have most importantly infallibility and then also a knowledge of things

that we do not have a knowledge of, and then also God given powers that we do not have. So this is the infallible image. Now the question arises where is the Imam for twelver Shia so by the way, you should know that both the fibers ladies and also the the ismaili miseries, they have imams that they recognize that are alive and they can interact with them. That's different strands of shears of ours for twelver. Shiism, they have a belief that the 12th Imam went into hiding this was almost 1000 years ago, almost 1000 years ago, roughly, I mean, just to be simplistic, that a long time ago, they believe the 12th the mom went into hiding called labor and currently he is on Earth. But nobody

knows where he is. He is in hiding, he can appear whenever he wants to appear, he can help whomever he wants to help. But there is nobody that is in contact with the Imam right now. And this is called labor. This is called the the great hiding if you like, and he has chosen to do so this is the sheer belief. And they believe that towards the end of time, the Imam shall return publicly This is called da da da. He's going to come back publicly he's going to proclaim himself as the final Imam as the 12th Imam as the hidden Maddy. And that will signal the beginning of the end of the day of judgment. That's what it's all going to start coming to an end and the end of the day of judgment will come at

that time and the Maha de the 12th Imam will come back the return of the Imam will come and that will bring in an era of peace and an era of harmony and the enemies of Islam will all be destroyed at the hands of the Imam. So this is what the the the twelver Shia, I believe that the 12th Imam is currently in hiding and that he shall return towards the end of times. As for the Sudanese, they do not believe in any hidden Imam in the first place and so they don't have any equivalent of this belief. However, Sudanese do believe that there shall be a finger towards the end of times. That is called the MADI and this MADI they assign no supernatural powers, not infallibility simply a good

man who will come and unite the oma and help the world in a very difficult time, and bring about the precursor to the coming of Jesus Christ. So there are some parallels between Sunni and Shia about the MACD. But there's market differences as well. The main difference is that for the Sudanese, the MADI shall be born a normal birth, he's not going to be infallible, he's going to be a leader for his time and his people, and then he's going to pass away. And for the twelver Shia, that Maddie is alive right now. But he's in hiding. And he is the 12th Imam. And when he comes back, he, he has powers that nobody else has, and he is infallible, and he has power to do things and cause damage

and whatnot that Allah has given him these, these these powers, but he has chosen to be hidden until the time comes towards the end of this world to return. And so when that happens, then the end of time shall be signaled in. So there's, as we said, some similarities and some differences between the Sunni and the Shia belief. This leads us to

point number nine in our 10 point list. And very briefly, this is a very small point, not a very big deal, you should be aware that there are some differences in how the rituals are practiced, and some legal differences between the two schools. So for example, you know, the peculiarities of the prayer how exactly this one pray, just like we have differences of Sunni Islam between the format tabs so to ensure Islam, they have a slightly different way of how they pray. They have different rulings for combining the prayers than us.

They have different timings for breaking the fast. So for us, we break the fast with the advent of mohareb. And for them they break the fast you know, after they pray mothership after a little bit after the sunset, so there's a bit of a delay between us and then when it comes to breaking the fast as well. They have a ritual, they have

specific rituals that they do on the 10th of Muharram. The day of Ashura to them that they have actually becomes a day of commemoration, it is a holy day for them. It is a holy festival for them, in which they commemorate the death or the assassination or the martyrdom of Hussein radi Allahu anhu, the grandson of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam, who was martyred on that date, and that day, becomes really the center of the Year for them, in terms of rehashing the the rituals, the teachings, the theology and also the events of the martyrdom. As for us, the 10th, of Muharram, the the incident of Karbala, the martyrdom of the process, and it is a historical tragedy, it is not a

theological one, meaning that we don't base any theology off of it. And I have an entire lecture online, by the way, you can listen to it about the incident of Karbala, and how it has been interpreted by Sunni and by Shia, and it is a very lengthy lecture, and you can listen to it for an understanding of what of what the difference is, between our interpretation and their interpretation of the issue of Karbala, and of the martyrdom of her saying are the Allahu taala. And who, both Sunni and Shia, they view the tragedy of the death of Hussein with a great sadness. And they say, whoever did this tragedy is somebody who is deserving of punishment. And they say that this is an

evil crime that took place, but then for the Sudanese, it is a historical crime, and their religion does not change. And for the Shia, they see a lot of theology. And they see in it,

motif of their faith tradition of, of fighting against oppression and of dying, you know, a martyr's death. And the death of her saying symbolizes for them many things, and you could listen to other lectures and the lecture I have given as well, to get an idea of this. But my point being, this is one of the differences as well. And that is the commemorations that take place on the 10th of Muharram. It is a ritual for the Shia, and for the Sudanese, if anything we fast on that day, because our profitsystem told us to do so but there's no festival that takes place that is equivalent. And the final point which I have saved for the last because it is

the most difficult one, and it is the most contentious one. And it is one the one that causes the most hurt feelings, and at times, unfortunately even leads to violence. And that is the one of the fundamental differences between the Sunni and the Shia groups, is how they view the companions of the Prophet sallallahu why he was setting them. And that's because if you've been following along carefully, I hope I haven't confused you with all of these, this theology

to believe that the Prophet salallahu it who was seldom assigned, I needed the law hunter to be the leader. And then to realize that he wasn't chosen, that he was passed over that he was neglected and ignored. Obviously, if you believe this, then you will view those who jumped over him with a negative view, you will be angry with those whom you think disobeyed the Prophet sallallahu while he was sending them, and because of this, the Shia are not very favorable in how they view those Sahaba especially the senior Sahaba the eyes of the Sudanese workers who declared the law why no matter how powerful the law 100 months had been, I found with the law one and also, for example, our mother, I

should know the law that they don't view these senior Sahaba with a positive view. In fact, it is true to point out that historically and especially

key Shiite clergy in the past, were extremely harsh towards these individuals. And even many of them would claim that they are not actually Muslims, that they are hypocrites, not actual faithful Muslims. And of course, this claim is extremely painful and hurtful for those who view these companions as being the embodiment of virtue and the Paragons of piety. And obviously, this is where you know you have different versions of history. So it is important, my dear brother, that you understand how you view early history and your narrative of early Islam is going to be based upon your sources.

And your sources are going to be based upon which sect you are following. So the books of history of the Shia, present a narrative that is markedly different than the books of history of the Sudanese. And this is not the time and the place to compare the specific details. And to mention, you know which one is right and wrong, this is something that you will have to decide on your own when you grow up and whatnot, obviously, you know what I believe, because I am a Sunni. So my belief is very clear in this regard. But I'm simply at this point, being academic and explaining that each side is taught a narrative of history that fits in with their theology. And I'm not saying that that's both

right or wrong. Obviously, they both can't be right. Obviously, one of them is right, one of them is wrong, obviously, you can't have it both ways. So if you believe that abubaker D, or the law one or whatever, photogra, the law and the seniors companions knew that idea rhodiola one was supposed to be the halifa. And they all united to kick him out. How would you feel about that, you would feel a great injustice has occurred, you would feel angry towards this group of Sahaba you might even feel as some of the the clergy do of that of that group, that they're not Muslims having gone against such a key commandment. And by the way, many later voices in Shia Islam are not saying that they're

not Muslim, they're simply toning down and they're saying that, you know, they made a mistake. And so there's within themselves, there's a bit of a, you know, spectrum of opinion of how this group is interpreted, but to be factual, they are not viewed with respect to this, that's very clear to say, they are not viewed favorably. And obviously,

a picture is painted of a type of battle between these individuals. And ideally, your loved one. Stories are said that Sunday's have never heard would never believe, or bla bla, bla, bla, bla and physically yandy, hitting the daughter of the Prophet system or trying to burn her house down. These are stories that are told by one branch and believed by one branch, and not even known, much less accepted. No Sunni would ever believe that, or going to a hotel rhodiola when it was disrespectful to the daughter of the Pro, we don't have this. We don't believe this at all. It's not from our perspective. But obviously, if you are taught to this narrative, how would you feel about anybody

who disrespected the daughter, the process of you would not like that person? Well, that is how many of the Shia feel about these Senior Companions. And this is the perhaps most emotional point of contention. You know, because you know, believing in an Imam and whatnot, this is, this is a big theological difference. No, no point. No, no question about that. But it doesn't offend the sensibilities of the average Muslim. But when you say bad things about a book, or one of the loved one, or about it shall be Allah Juana. Understandably, the average Muslim is very hurt. And that's why even amongst the Shia, there's a lot of discussion about rethinking through toning down, there

are a number of modern ayatollahs have issued fatwas that, that the the Sahaba should not be disrespected. And I appreciate that effort. And I encourage that effort amongst the Shia. Now these are some of the main differences. Before we conclude, let us also point out that you know, what, yes, there's some significant differences. But in the end of the day, both of these groups c'est la ilaha illAllah, Muhammad Rasulullah. Both of these groups believe in Allah subhana wa tada as the one and only Rob. Both of these groups believe in the Quran as the speech of Allah and revelation from Allah. Both of these groups believe in the finality of the prophets of Allah Almighty, who was

telling him that he was committed, I mean, both of these groups pray facing the Qibla, doing Voodoo, bowing their heads to Allah subhana wa Tada, both of these groups faster Melbourne, both of these groups give charity, both of these groups go for Hajj. So the five Arcana of Islam are all met on both of these groups. So yes, there are some key fundamental differences. And it is also true to state that some of these differences are painful. But in the end of the day, what we agree upon are bigger fundamentals. And they are the primary fundamentals of our faith. So what is to be done them? Well, you have some people who wish to make this difference bigger than it is. And they're always

fomenting hatred and speaking against the other group and yelling and screaming about how nasty the other group is. And sometimes that type of rhetoric has led to violence in some land civil wars in some lens. And that's not right. We don't want violence. We don't want to hurt physically hurt other people because they believe in something even if we don't agree with what they believe. It's between them and Allah, they have to respond to Allah. We don't want to preach violence and we have to speak out against violence. It's not allowed to hurt a human being because of a belief that he or she has, that's between them and Allah subhana wa tada if Allah allowed the 100 Kitab you know, the non

Muslim to hold in their beliefs, then how much more so about a fellow Muslim even if we disagree, so that's one extreme

On the flip side, you have another group of people that basically says, oh, there is no difference between the two of us and we are both one in the same. But see,

even though the sentiment might be good, that's just not true. We are not one in the same, there are some key fundamental differences. So what should we do? For this purpose of this q&a, I'll conclude on this. Note that my view has been one of pragmatic tolerance, pragmatic tolerance, we have no option but to live and let live. But we have to also be factually clear that the differences between us while pragmatically tolerable and wild still within the fold of Islam, without preaching any hatred, we really must say that the differences are significant. It's not trivial to believe, whether Allah has chosen a person or not to be the mom for the entire home, it's a big deal, it's

something you have to come to the conclusion and and then decide, it's not a trivial thing to say a worker is a good or a bad person or motorable compared with the law, it's a very big thing. So to have two different messages in your community, you have to understand why that is the case that it is healthier for each community to be amongst its own, but we should not preach a hatred or exacerbate the division. And by the way, just because there's another machine I'm not saying never ever pray there, if that's the place you're driving by, it's closer to you know that this last time is going you have nowhere else to pray, you know, you're going to pray, there's so much to do than

the end of the day is facing the Qibla is worshiping Allah subhanho wa Taala. But at the same time, understand that there's a pragmatic wisdom that, you know, the the understanding that is being taught is different. And so it's healthy, that they are able to express, we're able to express that we preach and teach our theologies, but I strongly encourage both groups, I strongly encourage that they do not exacerbate the tension, live and let live. And also, we learn need to learn to come together. When the situation calls for it. I'm not saying that we pray one jumar. Together, understandably, what we preach is going to be slightly different. But I'm saying we should not

preach hatred, I am saying we should marginalize the radical clerics who are only interested in Division and hatred and animosity, because we have clerics, both of us that are like that we should move them to the fringes. And we should promote clerics who are pragmatic and understand You know what, these differences are not going to go away, we have to live and let live. And I go beyond this. And I say, not only is there no problem, we should come together with all strands of Islam to fight our bigger battles. There are times and places where we set our differences aside, and there are times in places where we acknowledge those differences. So there's an evil politician in your

community, there is a person running for the minister, the senator, the Congresswoman, and she is an islamophobe. Or he is somebody who wants to ban the building of massages. How can we not unite with all different Muslims? How can we not rally and petition How can we not come together and prove our resources and vote that evil person out? This is the essence of Islam. And if we have to cooperate with anybody, even a non Muslim who agrees with our values, we will cooperate with them, no problem, our difference of opinion should not lead us to be so blind to the hatred that we can never come together for the common good. If there is a charity feeding the hungry, and we're limited in the

community, why can't different massages of different groups come together. And we said this is a public soup kitchen for Muslims, on behalf of the Muslims, for all of the poor of the area. This is excellent cooperation. But understandably, if a critical mass is reached, and every group is able to have its own Masjid, understandably understand there's nothing wrong with this. And there's an element of healthy, you know, separation that is shallow, there's something, we understand that there's good in this as well. And in the end of the day,

our preaching and teaching should be pragmatic and full of wisdom and be factually correct. We're not going to eliminate these differences, but we shouldn't exacerbate them. And we should work together where we're able to work together and agree with practical agreed to disagree with a practical understanding that you know, they have their interpretation, we have our interpretation, this is a very basic answer Do you brother outside yet I hope that it was useful to you. And if you're interested in more advanced study, then of course, there are so many books, so many lectures, to listen to, but I advise you to listen to those that are academic based those that state the the

facts in a truthful manner, and not based upon emotional sectarianism. And the final point, always make dua to Allah subhana wa tada to guide you and that you'll be a role model and a beacon of truth and a virtue and of tolerance. May Allah subhana wa Tada, bless us all to to the truth. I hope inshallah, to see you next week to zachman lohit saramonic rahmatullah wa barakato.

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