The righteous successor of Prophet Muhammad

Shia Muslims believe that Sunnis are not really the followers of Prophet Muhammad because the prophet proclaimed Ali as his successor (in the month of Zilhajj 10 A.H at Ghadir-e-Khum) but Sunnis believe in Abu Bakr the usurper! I think Sunnis have also some logical reasons for it, do you know anything about it?

Edited by Cyrus Shahmiri

There are also Turkish Alevis...

Interesting origins on sunni and shia Islam.

 

Sunni: Main group in Islam, making up 90% of the religion's adherents. Has been dominating almost continuously since 661, when the Shi'is departed from the main fold (the Kharijis left in 658). Sunni Islam claims to be the continuation of the Islam as it was defined through the revelations given to Muhammad and his life, a claim which is substantiated through the fact that Shi'i Islam for a number of decades had very little following and had no real, formal organization. As for the theology, Sunni Islam represents no more of a continuation of Islam than the other orientations.
Hence one should be careful about thinking of Sunni Islam as mainstream Islam, and clearly refrain from calling it "orthodox". None of the 3 orientations of Islam coming out of the schisms of the 7th century, can do no less than trace their origins back to the very first Muslim societies, and for the bystander none of the orientations must be deemed as inferior to the others.
Sunni Islam has its name from its identification with the importance of the Sunna (the examples from the hadiths), which earlier than in Shi'i Islam was established as a central element in Islam, and central to understanding the full truth in the religion. There was a need to establishing a law, called Shari'a (for which the hadiths served as a central source), as Sunni Islam was the religious orientation of the rulers, while the Shi'is did not establish administrative organizations for yet a long time to come.
The actual theological and ritual differences between Sunni and Shi'i Islam, came over a couple of centuries with development. For a long time, Sunni Islam was defined from Shi'i Islam by its adherence to the Caliph as the leader of the Muslim world. But there are many small and some large differences between Sunni and the other orientations, in all aspects of the religion. Sunni and Shi'i Islam share only three core doctrines, oneness of God, the belief in the revelations of Muhammad, and the belief in resurrection on the Day of Judgment.
Sunni Islam has a different set of hadiths from Shi'i Islam. Sunni Islam puts far more importance into the hajj to Mecca, while Shi'i Islam has some other very important pilgrimages as well. Sunni Islam revere Ali, but does not hold him up as the only true continuation of the tradition from Muhammad, and has no emphasis on him bringing on a divine light from the Prophet.

Isn't it true:

http://al-islam.org/restatement/50.htm

"Many people in Medina had taken the oath of loyalty to Abu Bakr but there were some who had not. Most important among them all was Ali ibn Abi Talib, the new head of the clan of Banu Hashim. The new khalifa and his advisers believed that it was absolutely essential that Ali should also take the oath of loyalty same as other people. They, therefore, sent for him from his home but he refused to come. His refusal infuriated Umar. A little earlier, he was the king-maker but now he had become the Chief Executioner of the new government of Saqifa. He, therefore, went with an armed escort to enforce the orders of the government, and threatened to burn down the house of the daughter of Muhammad, the Messenger of God, if Ali did not come to the court to take the oath of loyalty to Abu Bakr. Someone pointed out that the house belonged to the daughter of the Prophet, so how could Umar burn it. But Umar said it did not matter if the house belonged to the daughter of the Prophet. What really mattered, he asserted, was the oath of allegiance that Ali had to take."

That is from Wikipedia:

This controversy is the cause of the first schism in Islam, between Sunni and Shia. Whatever the truth of the matter, Ali, though he actively campaigned for the first three elections, did not contest Abu Bakr's rule, nor the rule of the two later caliphs, served under them, and was in his turn elected to the office in 656. These facts are believed by some historians to be the reason why the first four "Rightly Guided" Caliphs are respected across the sectarian divides. The Sunni/Shi'a schism did not erupt into open warfare until much later.

key word is "did not contest".

Originally posted by Seko [ What ever happened to the Sunnah of Allah, and not just the Sunnat of Sunni or Shia. Maybe you can see that problems of religious corruption and seperations come from placing too much emphasis on so-called hadiths (sayings supposedly of the prophet Muhammed-peace).

well not realy

the Hadith difference thing is used only when the Shia is trying to show that Ali is the man to rule after Prophet's (PBUH) death .

but the rest of the difference and problems are not related to Hadiths or the Quran.

 

also i think the main differece between the Sunnah and the Shia is that the Shia making people "Holy" and start to worship them. while sunnies dont consider any as a Holy exept Prophets and the Three lands.

 

 

Originally posted by Seko My point, as I am thinking this out, is that why do we even have Sunni or Shi'a at all? I don't think that God wrote that believers should break up into factions.

the "Question of Why" has many endless answers.

it is clear that Islam is a religion of Union and unity.

 

I think about it the shia is the best branch in islam they have no teerorist

and they have democracy by election and what happend in iraq a big proof

mohamed (god blessed him) before his died he proclimed ali as caliph many times

���� ����� ���� ������ � ����� ����� ����� ������ ������ ������ ������ ��� ������

Dr. Henry Stubbe

(1632-1676) Classicist, polemicist, physician, and philosopher.

�� �He had a contempt of the world, its glory and pomp, he feared God much,

gave many alms, was just in all his actions, humble and affable; of an

exceeding quick wit and of an ingenuity that was not common, he was

exceedingly learned, not in those sciences that terminate in speculations but

those which extend to practice.�

[An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism, 1705, p. 83]

Wilferd Madelung

Professor of Arabic at Oxford University

�� "In face of the fake Umayyad claim to legitimate sovereignty in Islam as

God's Vicegerents on earth, and in view of Umayyad treachery, arbitrary

and divisive government, and vindictive retribution, they came to appreciate

his honesty, his unbending devotion to the reign of Islam, his deep personal

loyalties, his equal treatment of all his supporters, and his generosity in

forgiving his defeated enemies."

[The succession to Muhammad: a study of the early caliphate, Cambridge, 1997,

pp. 309-310]