How did the division between the Shi’i and the Sunni occur?
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The Origins of the Sunni/Shia split in Islam\nby Hussein Abdulwaheed Amin, Editor of IslamForToday.com\n\nIntroduction\nThe Shia shahadah (declaration of faith) states:\n\n"There is no god but Alláh, Muhammad is the Messenger of Alláh, Alí is the Friend of Alláh. The Successor of the Messenger of Alláh And his first Caliph."\n\nIf you are already familiar with standard Sunni beliefs, you will immediately notice the addition to the shahadah regarding Imam Ali (ra), cousin of the Prophet (pbuh), husband of his daughter Fatima, father of Hassan and Hussein and the second person ever to embrace Islam. The term Shia or Shi'ite derives from a shortening of Shiat Ali or partisans of Ali.
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All Muslims go to Mecca.  It is one of the main teachings in Islam to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.  \n\nThe main difference between the two has to do with who should succeed Mohammed.\n\nThe Sunni believe it would be a man who was capable of doing the job.  Abu Bakr was the first chosen. They believe that leadership was not a common birthright but rather a privilege.\n\nThe Shia believe that the Imam (religious teachers) are sinless by nature. They become saints capable of divine intervention.  Shia make pilgrimages to the tombs of the saints.\n\nThe Sunni do not believe there is any basis for the existence of saints in Islam.\n\nThe Shia reject the Hadith(traditions).  These were written by the friends and relatives of Mohammed and have to do with the life and practices of Mohammed.\n\nThere are many more differences, but these are the main ones. \n\nThe Shia believe the leadership should remain within Mohammed's family.  They believe the true successor  was Ali, who was the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed.  They believe that the Sunni assassinated Ali.\n\nSunni
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Many Shi'a believe that Ali didn’t want his grave to be desecrated by his enemies and because of that he asked his friends and family members to bury him secretly.. This secret gravesite is supposed to have been revealed in later times. Most Shi'as accept that Ali was buried at what is now the city of Najaf, which grew around the mosque and shrine called Masjid Ali.\n\n    * One story recounts that the caliph Harun al-Rashid (ruled from 786 to 809) went hunting and came upon a bit of raised ground which his dogs refused to approach. Local inhabitants told him that this was the grave of Ali ibn Abi Talib. The caliph ordered the building of a mausoleum, which was the nucleus of the city and the shrine.\n\n    * Another story claims that the location of the gravesite was passed from father to son along the line of Shi'a Imams, and that Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shi'a Imam, told the caliph where to find the grave.\n\n    * While an additional story, usually maintained by Afghans, notes that his body was taken and buried in the Afghan city of Mazari Sharif at the famous Blue Mosque or Rawze-e-Sharif.
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In what way? I see it as war that over threw a dictator, being used to  cover up religious conflict  masquerading as a political issue.\nThe Shites have the power now ,the Sunni's want it\nback and both figure they have Allah on their side. \nStrange they all pray to the same God and kill each other\nin his name. Neither is willing to stop killing civilians as the both love the media coverage of their side getting out. Iran which is mainly Shite is loving the new peace plan that puts them smack in the middle for a take over like Syria has in Lebanon.\n\nSaddam was evil but at least now we can have a glimmer of understanding into why he ruled with such an iron fist. Keep the people down, hopeless and threaten their very existence and they won't kill each other.  Twisted but it worked.
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Iraq faces a complex process in the next ten years.  If the government of Iraq does not gain self dependence, the country of Iraq will likely fracture into 3 major parts made up of Kurds, Sunnis, and shiites.  As Benjamin Franklin said "Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner, liberty is the sheep disputing the vote."  The sunni people are not going to be sheep and eaten with out a fight.  The sunni people were put in control of Iraq by England in order to control the larger Shiite population.  They have controlled the Iraq country for 100 plus years and are not about to sacerfice wealth and control to the previously governed Shiites.  The Sunnis are located in resource and oil poor areas and are fighting strongly to retain power.  Of course fighting the ocupation force is just part of the job.
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That depends which Tribe, religion, and ethnic group one belongs. Liberators to Shiites and Kurds, Invaders by the Sunnis
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only shiites believe in the 12 imams. shiites make up a small minority of muslims. the majority, sunnis, do not believe in this.
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The Sunnis were in charge for 30+ years living the high life.  They made laws which benifited themselves, and created government sponsored benifits profitting themselves as well.  Now that is gone.  They have to work again without the benifit of government sponsorship.  It is like "It has been this way for over 30+ years, why should I change."  Also, there is a fear of reprisals from other ethnics because of their harsh rule.  Hopefully we can find the middle ground so all can live in peace.
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Might not be a good idea to put the hatred in all of them as a lable.\n\nThe primary difference is that the Sunni don't believe that you have to be a descendant of Mohammed to be the supreme leader.\n\nThey also have differences in terms of how you conduct worship.\nFor example, some Sunni consider some Shite shrines to be idol woship.\n\nTo the Islamist, all people who disagree with him are either Infidel (thats us) or apostates.
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Not all of them are fighting.\nI'm shia and I have lots of sunni friends.
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Yes....it has started to turn into a civil war. To your why......because shia and sunni are two Muslim groups who have been turned against each other . Where there is fuel it is easy to turn it into fire. So there are a lot of people who are exploiting this situation.
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Ali is the central figure at the origin of the Shia / Sunni split which occurred in the decades immediately following the death of the Prophet in 632. Sunnis regard Ali as the fourth and last of the "rightly guided caliphs" (successors to Mohammed (pbuh) as leader of the Muslims) following on from Abu Bakr 632-634, Umar 634-644 and Uthman 644-656. Shias feel that Ali should have been the first caliph and that the caliphate should pass down only to direct descendants of Mohammed (pbuh) via Ali and Fatima, They often refer to themselves as ahl al bayt or "people of the house" [of the prophet].\n\nWhen Uthman was murdered while at prayer, Ali finally succeeded to the caliphate. Ali was, however, opposed by Aisha, wife of the Prophet (pbuh) and daughter of Abu Bakr, who accused him of being lax in bringing Uthman's killers to justice. After Ali's army defeated Aisha's forces at the Battle of the Camel in 656, she apologized to Ali and was allowed to return to her home in Madinah where she withdrew from public life.\n\nHowever, Ali was not able to overcome the forces of Mu'awiya Ummayad, Uthman's cousin and governor of Damascus, who also refused to recognize him until Uthman's killers had been apprehended. At the Battle of Suffin Mu'awiya's soldiers stuck verses of the Quran onto the ends of their spears with the result that Ali's pious supporters refused to fight them. Ali was forced to seek a compromise with Mu'awiya, but this so shocked some of his die-hard supporters who regarded it as a betrayal that he was struck down by one of his own men in 661.\n\nMu'awiya declared himself caliph. Ali's elder son Hassan accepted a pension in return for not pursuing his claim to the caliphate. He died within a year, allegedly poisoned. Ali's younger son Hussein agreed to put his claim to the caliphate on hold until Mu'awiya's death. However, when Mu'awiya finally died in 680, his son Yazid usurped the caliphate. Hussein led an army against Yazid but, hopelessly outnumbered, he and his men were slaughtered at the Battle of Karbala (in modern day Iraq). Hussein's infant son, Ali, survived so the line continued. Yazid formed the hereditary Ummayad dynasty. The division between the Shia and what came to be known as the Sunni was set.
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The thing is that shites believe more in the word of the God's messenger, Abraham, and they don't want to accept Muhammed. The Sunnis believe in the word of Muhammed, but also in Abraham as well. So, based on that, there are some differences in how shites and sunnis pray. I think it is very similar as the differences between Catholics and Orthodox.
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Mohamad didnt create 2 beliefs, after his death his followers separated in to different groups and the majority was Shia or Sunni. Like in christianity how there are Babtists, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic.. u get the picture.
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First off, good question.  I'm not a muslim and my understanding of this issue is pretty basic, but I'll let you know what I know in case you don't get any better answers.\n\nFirst off, Shiite and Sunni Muslims have more in common than they have different.  They all trace their religiious heritage to Adam and to Abraham, along with Christianity and Judaism. Shiites and Sunnis also have some core religious principles in common, called the Five Pillars of Islam, including reference for the Prophet Mohammed as receiving the divine guidance of Allah and recording it in the Koran.  \n\nThe differences came about a few decades after the death of Mohammed when a dispute arose as to the line of succession from Mohammed.  Shiites trace their succession of religious leaders to Ali, who was the husband of Mohammed's granddaugther, while Sunnis trace the line of succession to another relative.  So, Ali and his martyrdom plays a very prominent role in Shia Islam but not in Sunni Islam.  You may have heard of the Shiite religious event of Ashura where they commemorate the death of Ali.\n\nDoctrinally, this distinction between the two in terms of the line of succession has resulted in Shiite Muslims relying more heavliy on a religious hierarchy traced back to Ali and Mohammed for conveying the word of Allah to people today.  Ayatollah Khomeni in Iran was perhaps the most famous example.  In contrast, Sunnis tend to believe that the word of Allah is more accessible to everyday Muslims.  The distinction is somewhat analogous to the religious hierarchy in the Catlholic church, when contrasted with some forms of Protestantism.  So, for example, a Shiite may be much more restricted in who he or she believes can authentically make a religous proclaimation (called a fatwah) than would a Sunni Muslim.\n\nIn my mind, the beliefs between Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims, and Christians and Jews for that matter, tend to have a lot more in common than they have differences.  Unfortuntely, people tend to focus (and often kill each other) based on the differences.\n\nHope this helps.
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The Shia believe the the succession after the Prophet Muhammed (PBHU) should have been passed down to Ali, his cousin and son-in-law, and his offsprings. They have a hadith (a saying/occurence) of the Propeht which was recorded at his last speech in which he pointed out that Ali was to be his successors. Sunnis do not accept this point of view. They believe that the succession was based upon an election in which Abu Bakr, the Prophet's companion, was chosen to be the Muslim's leaders. \nThe result is the splitting of the Muslims into two groups. One who say that Ali and his successors are a direct link to the Prophet (PBUH) and God (of course along with the Quran).The Shia view this as Divine Commandment. The Sunnis dispute this. The other that says the Quran and narrations/sayings (hadiths) of the Prophet (PBUH) provide Muslims with their religion.\nThe Shia hold the family of the Prophet (Ahul-lul-Bayt) in very high esteem. All their Imams (spiritual leaders) descend from the Prophet's (PBUH) family. This is why the Shia commemorate the massacare at Karbala every year. In that several family members of the Prophet, including his grandson, were killed by fellow Muslims. The Sunnis of course do not commemorate this event. \n\nOf course from this the two groups differ even more. The science of hadith is different for the two. They pray differently.etc All because the sources of the religion is different.
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Shiah and Shiites are the same thing.  And yes, maybe it's spin; Shiites looks a lot like sh*t.  \n\nLike when Bush the First changed the pronunciation of Sadam Hussein to "Sodom".