7 Major Differences Between Shia and Sunni Muslims

How much do you know about the Middle East and do you know 7 major differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims? Today the Islamic world is polarized with Saudi Arabia and its stringent Sunni values as well as other Sunni states on one end, and Shiite states like Iran and Iraq on the other.

Access to and seeing Sharia law, rituals, traces of holy people. These two major Islamic ways are genuinely distinguished. So much so that the Sunni Islamists and religious fundamentalists do not look at all as members of the Muslim religion at all, but as apostates and unbelievers. At first glance, there is one unified Islamic religion, in fact, every Muslim believes in the Islamic ideal. But in practice, political and historical factors contributed to the creation of differences within that community. The distinctions are, above all, social and cultural in nature. Although there are many Muslim sects, we will stay in the first division of sunsets and Shiites. The Sunni make up about 90 percent of the Muslim population in the world, and shields about 10 percent. The basic differences between them are minimal and concern customs and practices. There are also some other differences in the nuances, often based on cultural factors, with little doctrinal significance. The first differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims are differences in rituals. Shia and Sunni Muslims have slight variations in their timings and method of prayer, and the former believe that it is allowed to combine the two most important Dhuhr and Asr prayers as well as the two Maghrib and Isha prayers. Shiite Muslims believe in Tawassul, which means they think that supplicating to the Prophet and the Imams is permissible, whereas Sunnis perceive this as shirk or polytheism. In a little bit common in Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims it is that both of them believe that at one point Mahdi will appear that will bring a just Islamic society. However, the Shia Muslims believe that Mahdi was already born, that Muhammad al-Mahdi, who has been in an occultation for more than 1,000 years while the Sunni Muslims consider that he will only be born again, it will be called Muhammad and that the prophets will be a direct descendant.

If you want to see what are the major differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims, check Insider’s Monkey list of 7 Major Differences Between Shia and Sunni Muslims and expand your knowledge more about this topic.

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