Ideological differences between Shiites and Sunnis tribes

War of the Arab tribes Shiites and Sunnis

When the Near and Middle East is evoked, these words keep coming back. The Arab League is composed mainly of Sunni countries, Iran is the great power Shiite clan Assad is Alawite minority in Syria ... What are the differences between these branches of Islam? A brief overview.
Shia-Sunni schism in year 632

As the Prophet Muhammad is alive, Islam as a single stream. In 632, his death, differences of opinion arise.

1 Shiites and Sunnis do not recognize him the same successor. Those who choose Ali, son of the prophet, become Shiites, while those, the majority, who prefer to follow Abu Bakr, Muhammad's companion, become Sunnis.

2 A very different organization of the clergy

Shiites recognize 12 imams deemed infallible in interpreting the Qur'an. Among these 12 imams are the two son of Ali. Shiites believe that the Twelfth Imam will return to the end of time to judge men.

For Shiites, the Koran is a human work, whereas the Sunnis he has a divine nature.

The expectation of a Mahdi

For Sunnis, the cycle of prophecy is closed. In contrast, the Shia expect and preparing for the arrival of the "Mahdi", a sort of Messiah who "fill the earth with justice and equity as it is now filled with injustice and tyranny." This expectation, which often involves among Shiites rejection of the existing order and the preparation of the arrival of the Mahdi, is a destabilizing factor.

Imamat Caliphate against

To Shiism, the existence depends on the presence of an imam living intercessor between the spiritual and temporal world, between the Prophet and the believers. The imam has, as part of the exegesis of the Qur'an "knowledge" and "infallibility". The Koran has a clear direction and a "hidden" to be studied, and the imams are responsible for transmitting to the most deserving faithful. This emphasis on the imam has no equivalent in the Sunni and explains the organization, prioritization and authority of the Shiite clergy (eg, Iran).

Action against predetermination

Shia practice the method Kalam (deductive reasoning), which emphasizes reasoning, argumentation, free will and character set of the Koran, unlike the Sunnis. Shiites believe in the freedom of the individual will. Sunni has indeed Sunnah, that is to say, the Tradition of the Prophet, including his words, his actions and practices. Be Sunni Muslim returns to perpetuate more mimetically Tradition of the Prophet. Sunnis believe that the Quran (God's word) was not created, and that the universe and history are predetermined.

Beyond the Qur'an, Sunnis are also faithful to the "sunna", the actions of Muhammad. Through the Sunnah, Sunni try to imitate the Prophet. They believe that history is predetermined, while Shiites place more emphasis on individual freedom.

Fidelity to the sunna

So Sunnism is the whole Muslim communities are characterized by an emphasis on fidelity to the Sunnah (Tradition of the Prophet) which, relating teaching, statements, facts and actions of Muhammad, is legislation , an example and a model for Sunnis. Recorded in the hadith, the Sunnah is the second source of Sunni Islam after the revealed word of the Quran.

Through the Sunnah, the Prophet is for believers a source of imitation, a pattern of behavior, both in terms of personal ethics than that of Community law.

This submission to the divine order and tradition, regardless of the historical situation was sometimes wipe blame fatalism. In fact, the Sunnis have great force of adaptation and assimilation for the Conservatives, which prohibit innovation (bid'ah), as the Liberals, who permitted by analogical reasoning, the orthodoxy of Sunni is defined by the principle of consensus (idjmaa). In this sense, an innovation at its beginning may be considered wrong (Kufr), but if in the long run, this practice is beneficial recognized unanimously by the doctors, then it becomes impossible to make historical criticism or seek to show that it has no basis in the Qur'an without getting in the position of heterodoxy. Thus, one can not separate all of the ideas of the community of his time without separating from the community.

Shia also differs from Sunnism by the existence of a very hierarchical clergy. While the Sunnis accept that the political and religious authority is melted in one person (as in Morocco, where the king is Commander of the Faithful), in Shia political power to reckon with the power, separate, religious authorities (the ayatollahs in Iran, for example).

3 ultra-Sunni majority

Sunnis constitute the mainstream, and even very large majority, Islam. In the world, Muslims are divided between about 85% Sunni against Shia 15%.

However, the Shiites are the majority in Iran, Iraq (few) and Bahrain.

In Lebanon, the Shiites have also recently become the majority community (they are now outnumber Christians and Sunni Muslims).

With about 20% Shiite, Pakistan also has a large number of followers of Ali.

4 kharidjites, Alawite, Druze: twigs dissident

The kharidjisme is a sect that was formed in 660. As Shiism, she appeared at the time of succession disputes after the death of Muhammad. The Kharijites were criticized Ali rely on a human and not divine decision to decide who would lead the community. This is also a kharidjite who murdered Ali. This tradition is present in the Berbers of the Maghreb.

Alawites are a dissident branch of Shiism, Alawite meaning "in favor of Ali." They consider it as the incarnation of God on earth. Much less legalistic than Kharijites, they pray at home and drink alcohol. Very few, they are in power in Syria, through the Assad clan.

Alawis share with another community, the Druze, the habit of keeping their secret rites. Divided between Lebanon, northern Israel and Syria, the 500,000 Druze practice a non-proselytizing religion: if one is not born in a Druze family, you can become Druze. Forming a "heretic" branch of Shiism, highly esoteric dimension, Druze believe that God manifested in human form periodically.

Alain Laprise June 20, 2014