History
Sunni and Shi'a
How the split began
4 min, Intro
The split began as a question: who should lead after the Prophet? Today most Muslims, roughly 85 to 90 percent, are Sunni. Most of the rest are Shi'a. They share the Qur'an, the Prophet, prayer, fasting and Hajj.
Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
The thread
When the Prophet died, Muslims faced one question: who should lead? One answer was Abu Bakr, chosen by the community. The other was 'Ali, appointed, his supporters held, by the Prophet himself. At Karbala in 680 the killing of 'Ali's son Husayn gave the Shi'a their defining story. Yet Sunni and Shi'a still share far more than divides them.
Who leads after the Prophet?
The whole story starts with one question. When the Prophet ﷺ was gone, who should lead the Muslims?
Sunni Muslims answer that the Prophet left the choice of leader to the community. The community chose Abu Bakr. And in the Sunni view, the first four caliphs were all rightly guided.
Shi'a Muslims answer differently. Their name comes from Shi'at 'Ali, the party of 'Ali. They hold that the Prophet appointed 'Ali. They point to his words at Ghadir Khumm, on the way back from his last Hajj: "Whoever I am his master, 'Ali is his master."
Sunnis accept those words. But they read them as love and loyalty, not succession.
Sunni and Shi'a both accept the words at Ghadir Khumm. They read them differently.
Karbala, 680
Mu'awiyah's son Yazid became caliph. One man would not accept him: Husayn, son of 'Ali and grandson of the Prophet. He refused to pledge allegiance.
Husayn set out for Kufa. On the way, at Karbala, he and about seventy companions and family were surrounded by a much larger army, and killed. It was the tenth of Muharram, the day called 'Ashura.
Sunni scholars widely condemn the killing. For Shi'a Muslims, Karbala is the defining story of standing for justice against tyranny, and they remember it every year.
The killing of Husayn at Karbala is mourned across the Muslim world.
What is shared, and what differs
So what does the split look like today? First, what Sunni and Shi'a share. One God. The Prophet. The same Qur'an. Five daily prayers, Ramadan, zakat. And Hajj to Makkah, side by side.
Then the differences. Shi'a follow a line of Imams from 'Ali's family. Twelvers count twelve, the last in hiding. Shi'a rely on their own hadith collections, and differ in some details of prayer and law. Sunnis follow four schools of law.
The largest Shi'a populations are in Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. They are a majority in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain and Azerbaijan. South African Muslims are overwhelmingly Sunni.
Sunni and Shi'a share far more than divides them.