What is the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam?

Sunni and Shia Muslims share the Qur’an and Muhammad, and they divide on who should have led after he died. Sunni Muslims recognize Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali as the first four caliphs. Shia Muslims hold that leadership belonged to Ali and his descendants. This page states that disagreement. It does not decide it.

Key points

• Britannica calls Sunnis the majority branch, also Ahl al-Sunnah, who recognize the first four caliphs. It says the Shi‘ah hold that leadership belonged to Ali and his descendants.
• Pew (2009) says 87–90 percent of Muslims are Sunni and 10–13 percent are Shia, as approximate ranges.
• Newman’s Shi‘i article says the earliest sources agree Muhammad did not formally designate a successor on his deathbed. The community chose Abu Bakr.
• Sahih Muslim 2408aOne day Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood up to deliver sermon at a watering place known as Khumm situated between Mecca and Medina. He praised Allah, extolled Him and delivered the sermon and. exhorted (us) and said: Now to our purpose. O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah's call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family.Sahih Muslim 2408a · sunnah.com EnglishOpen on sunnah.com ↗ reports a sermon at Ghadir Khumm about the Book of God and the members of Muhammad’s household. It is a Sunni collection. Shia argument also uses that day.
• The hadith canons differ. Sunni Muslims look to the Six Books. Shia Muslims look to the Four Books. Which Muslims accept which hadith?

What Sunni Muslims hold

Britannica describes Sunni Islam as the larger branch and as Ahl al-Sunnah. The political claim is the recognition of the first four caliphs, including Abu Bakr as the first. Consensus, ijma, is part of how Sunni law is described there. The hadith they treat as most reliable are the Six Books, above all Bukhari and Muslim.

What do Sunni Muslims believe? Sunni Islam

What Shia Muslims hold

Newman’s article says shi‘ah means party or faction, first used of those who followed Ali in the wars against the Umayyads. Some held that Ali should have succeeded at once. Abu Bakr was chosen, then Umar, then Uthman, who was killed in 656. Ali was accepted and ruled from Kufa. The Battle of the Camel was in 656, Siffin in 657. A Kharijite attack followed, and Ali died in 661. Muawiya was then recognized.

Husayn, Ali’s son, was killed by Umayyad forces at Karbala in October 680. That sentence names an Umayyad army. It does not say a later Sunni school killed him.

Britannica lists Twelvers, Ismailis, and Zaydis among Shia communities. The hadith canon of the Imami Shi‘a is the Four Books, of which al-Kafi is the oldest. What do Shia Muslims believe? Shia Islam

Ghadir Khumm in a Sunni collection

Sahih Muslim 2408aOne day Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood up to deliver sermon at a watering place known as Khumm situated between Mecca and Medina. He praised Allah, extolled Him and delivered the sermon and. exhorted (us) and said: Now to our purpose. O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah's call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family.Sahih Muslim 2408a · sunnah.com EnglishOpen on sunnah.com ↗ reports Zayd ibn Arqam on a sermon at Khumm, between Mecca and Medina. The contiguous words of the sermon, in the English on sunnah.com, include:

One day Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) stood up to deliver sermon at a watering place known as Khumm situated between Mecca and Medina. He praised Allah, extolled Him and delivered the sermon and. exhorted (us) and said: Now to our purpose. O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah’s call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family.

Sahih Muslim 2408a · sunnah.com English

Sunni hadith

Zayd then names Ali, Aqil, Ja‘far, Abbas, and their offspring as the household meant there, the people for whom zakat is forbidden. He also says the wives are members of the family, and then distinguishes this list.

Newman’s article says a report from that day, that whoever takes Muhammad as his mawla should take Ali as his mawla, is disputed in meaning. This page does not print a wording it has not quoted from the collection above. Sunni Muslims receive reports of the household and still count Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman as the first three caliphs. Shia Muslims read the day as Ali’s claim.

The report is Sunni hadith. Which Muslims accept which hadith?

What this page does not decide

Christians disagree among themselves on secondary questions and still confess one Trinity. Sunni and Shia Muslims disagree on succession and on which hadith books bind. This page gives each side its own sentences. It does not award the caliphate.

Christians confess that the one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity That confession is not a vote between these two branches.

Frequently asked questions

Does “Sunni” come from Abu Bakr?

Britannica gives the name as Ahl al-Sunnah, the people of the sunnah. This page does not rest the name on a folk etymology.

Are there only two groups?

Pew’s ranges are Sunni and Shia for the world population. Inside Shia Islam, Britannica names Twelvers, Ismailis, and Zaydis. Inside Sunni law, the same Pew report names Hanafi, Shafi‘i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools. The shelf for a Qur’an-only position is later. Qur’an only

Where is the life of Muhammad?

Who was Muhammad? is the other series. What is a caliphate? is the next page in this one.