Shia-Sunni: A Deadly Ancient Schism in the Islamic World

But how and why did this schism occur?

Follow us

The split goes all the way back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in the year 632 and it had to do with succession – that is, who would be the rightful successor to the Prophet?

Essentially, those who became Sunni believed that the heir to Mohammad should be determined by the community of elder Muslim clerics. To the contrary, those who became Shias (a distinct minority), felt Mohammad’s successor should come from the Prophet's own family, namely Ali, his son-in-law -- since Mohammad had no sons who survived into adulthood.

Soon after, the Sunnis got their way and chose another successor as the first caliph. Ali eventually became the fourth caliph -- but by then it was too late, the cracks had already formed.
In fact, Ali's selection prompted a war leading to his own death in 661 in Kufa, present-day Iraq.

The relationship between the Shia and Sunni would forever be ruptured.

Moreover, it was Ali's son Hussein who perhaps became the most potent symbol to Shia Muslims.

Hussein launched a war against the reigning caliph -- a bloody battle that led to his own gruesome death. Hussein was decapitated and his severed head was carried to the Sunni caliph in Damascus as a tribute. His (headless) body was left on the battlefield at Karbala (present day Iraq), where it was later buried.

Consequently, Hussein became an eternal martyr for the Shias.
For the past fifteen centuries, Shia Muslims commemorate Hussein's death by self-flagellation in a public ritual called ‘Ashoura.’

Another key difference between Shias and Sunnis has to do with how they address and regard their senior clerics. Shias call their leaders 'Imam' (Ali was the first Imam, Hussein, the third).
The Sunni clerics have no such glorified equivalent.

Gregory Gause, professor of Middle East politics at the University of Vermont, explained to NPR: "Some of the Sunnis believe that some of the Shia are actually attributing almost divine qualities to the imams, and this is a great sin, because it is associating human beings with the divinity. And if there is one thing that's central to Islamic teaching, it is the oneness of God."