What is the difference between Shia and Sunni?

@asker,

asking this question will get you VERY little good and accurate answers. I suggest you read the Quran and ask a practicing Sunni and Shia their beliefs.

(everything I am saying is NOT meant to hurt ANYONE's feelings, this is what Sunnis and Shias have actually told me)

Sunnis are more than 95% of Muslims worldwide. Shias are less. Shias follow Ali(I think he was Prophet Muhammad's(PBUH) cousin) more. They think that he is the "rightful" person or whatever...not sure exactly.

They do different things, i.e. praying differently, kalmas, etc

Shias usually follow their imams' teachings more than the Quran and Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) and Hadiths (this is what real Shias have actually TOLD me)

EDIT: as for the kalma thing that r talking about, about Shias not saying "Mohammadan".....that is true, I have some Shia friends and they have said that they don't say that. I have had talks with them about their religion, and the things they tell me are pretty different then Sunnis.

But, I think that both believe in Allah(SWT)

Stuff I got from Wikipedia:

main beliefs of Islam: Allah, oneness of God, Prophets, Revealed Books, and Angels.

The 5 Pillars of Islam(Sunnis believe this, I don't think Shias do): Declaration of Faith, Prayer, Charity, Fasting, and Pilgrimage

The Beliefs of Shias: Succession of Ali, Imamate of the Family, Mourning of Muharram, Intercession, Ismah, The Occultation, Clergy.

Hope I Helped!

Difference between Shia and Sunni started from the day of Gadeer E Khum.

The last sermon of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh).

They are trwo different sects within the same religion with differing views on how often and the manner of prayer, plus other arreas of dissent such as burial rites.

They have different family and inheritence law systems each giving more right than the other in different arreas.

The Shia are most commonly know as being different for their reverence of Imam Ali, who was a relative of the Prophet Mohammed. Their marches and reinactments of his death during Ashoora can seem histrionic to an outsider but create a cohesion amongst followers of the sect.

Of all the sects of Islam they most closely reflect the Catholic Church ( Shia) and the Church of England ( Sunni ) in the Christian faith.

Sunnis follow the quran and sunnah through the understanding of the companions and their successors. MAny of the shia make takfir (consider them disbelievers) claiming almost all of them committed apostasy after the death of the prophet. Saying this about the sahabah right away takes you out of Islam because it is undeniable the status of the nobles such as the khulafa ar rashideen, 'Aisha the beloved of the prophet and so on, also it greatly severs your source of religion because you no longer accept hadeeth from the sahabah. So by doing that they are destroying the resources of the religion based on a false premise of disbelief.

So you are left with the hadeeth books of the shia who do not even compare to the standards of the sunnis, their greatest hadeeth book is al kaafi by al kulayni, and none of them can even attest that its one hundred percent authentic. But they think that saying a book is authentic other than quran is worshipping the book. No its simply pererving the words of the prophet which themselves were revelation.

"Your companion [Muhammad] has not strayed, nor has he erred, Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination. It is not but a revelation revealed," An Najm 53:2-4

Alo the sunnah of the prophet is a part of this religion, it explains the quran as well as stands on its own as a means of legislation. And yeah of course the sunnah of the prophet is a means of legislation, would you tell the prophet no if he commanded you with something.

Also Allah says:

"Certainly did Allah confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error." 3:164

So Allah says the prophet came with the book and the wisdom, can the wisdom be anything but the sunnah of the prophet explaining and clarifying the Quran.

The main difference i feel is in having a faulty science of hadeeth because they did not take the religion from Muhammad but they took it from their Imams, whom they also attribute lies to because even they are not what they say of them.

For example they have a narration where it says one of their imams, Ja'fir as Saadiq said a Nasibi (sunni) is worse than a dog, when in fact in more authentic narrations, this Imam would take pride in being related to Abu Bakr through different lineages.

Do the research yourself, but don't buy into that nonsense that only quran is authentic, the prophet was truthful and what he spoke was preserved in truth.

The names

The shiit made thing very bizarre like in Achoura

For the sunni, Achoura it's a day of fasting

It's the day when God Saved Mose and his people from Pharaoe

So, the sunni fast in that day and the shiits hit themselves

Instead of fasting like said the Prophet Muhhamad, they crying about someone (Hussein or Ali i don't remember) who was murdered.

They don't understand that it's not allow to do that to it's own body, and we will be judge about what we did to our body.

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I've seen some videos were shiit insulted some companions of the Prophet and even Aisha !

They did like you see strange things and it's away from the teaching of Islam

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They are waiting to the Mahdi (an Imam)

When all the sunni are waiting for Jesus.

What is more important : a Prophet or an Imam ?

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Ect ...

Well....

I Am A Christian But I Do Know The Difference...

Shia Is When They Do Shisha, They Do Not Think Muhammad Is The Prophet Of The Muslim God..They Think That 'Ali' Is The Last Prophet Of The Muslim God 'Allah'...

And They Say 'Laa Ilaaha Ilaa Allah Ali Rasool Allah'....

But Sunni...

Do Not Do Shisha (But Some Of Them Do)...And They Think Muhammad Is The Last Prophet Of The Muslim God...And They Say 'Laa Ilaaha Ilaa Allah, Muhammadan Rasool Allah...

=] Hope I Helped..x

Shia follow their 12 Imam

Sunni follow Prophet SAW .

Sunnis follow the way of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Shias do some other stuff, misguidance is what it is.

"Awf ibn Malik reported that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, 'The Jews split into 71 sects: one will enter Paradise and 70 will enter Hell. The Christians split into 72 sects: 71 will enter Hell and one will enter Paradise. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, my Ummah will split into 73 sects: one will enter Paradise and 72 will enter Hell.' Someone asked, 'O Messenger ofAllah (Peace be upon him), who will they be?' He replied, 'The main body of the Muslims (al-Jama'ah).' Awf ibn Malik is the only one who reported this Hadith, and its isnad is acceptable." And in another version of this Hadith the Prophet (Peace be upon him) goes onto say that the saved sect, "...Are those who follow my and my Sahaba's path" (Tirmidhi, vol. 2, pg. 89)

wtf!!!

so many people say bad about us!

and we say la illaha ilallaha mohammadan rasool allah! i am a shia n we say thing in our salaat.

these people know nothin about us!

they follow allah, rasool and then sahaba who they feel prophet has appointed as sucesors here their sahaba are abu bakr, umar, uthman.

we worship allah folow rasool and follow imams as the sucesors coz imam ali AS was the rightful successor!

we follow the ahlul bayt and our last imam is the 12th imam who is still to appear to us!

if you want views about both the sects ask each one individually coz the sunni hate shia so they tell things against us. so in case you want to know exactly what do sunnis follow then ask the sunnis n if u want to kno wat the shia follow then ask the shia!