What is the difference between Sunni and Shi'ah Muslims that cause them to fight each other?

Question

Jeff Stein asks Washington D.C. officials in this article and they seem not to know the answer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/opinion/17stein.html?pagewanted=print

What are the issues of power that cause so much bloodshed in Iraq?

Iraq's most violent Ramadan ends in bloodshed
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/237019/1/.html

Answer 1

They are not shia and sunni that are killing each other, as they had been living in peace with each other for hundreds of years.
They are Wahhabies who are killing both Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Let me explain briefly about Wahhabies.
It was about 200 years ago which a new belief related to Islam but completely to the contrary founded in Saudi Arabia. That was preached by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. His opponents derived their name for the movement from him, but eventually his followers came to use it themselves
The people related to these believes are called Wahhabies.
What they don't understand is that they are NOT real muslims. they are just getting an excuse to fight and then renaming it Jihad and they certainly will not go to heaven or w/e they believe in.
They're taking it to the point of extremism and radicalism and they're fanatics.
Al-Qaeda is consisting of Wahhabi people who cannot tolerate anybody but themselves. They even kill Muslims not believing like them.
Their origin is Saudi Arabia and they are related to it's government and so they are spreading in the name of Islam, specially in Pakistan and now in Iraq.

Answer 2

Shi'ah muslims believe that the descendents of the prophet Muhammad should rule the muslim community while Sunni muslims believe that the closest attendant to the prophet should rule the muslim community. They fought and the Sunni won establishing the various muslim dynasties. Over time Shi'ahism will be perverted by "prophets" who claim to have direct connection with ALLAH. AKA twelver Shi'ahism. Sunni will be perverted by kings who think they know better than ALLAH. Shi'ah and Sunni are between 80 and 90% the same, the rest is the politics of rulership and the slight perversion of the teachings of the prophet Muhammad (I'd go into how badly the stuff the prophet said is corrupted for personal power but that'd be an almost never ending rant). I'll check up later if there needs more clarification.

Answer 3

Islam does not have nearly as many sects and divisions as does Christianity, but there are a few and it is worth knowing something about them. The two biggest are the Sunnis and the Shi'ites, with the Sunnis being the largest of all and representing the vast majority of Muslims. Shi'ites are a minority everywhere except Iran.

After them, the two most influential sects are the Sufis and the Wahhabis. The Sufis represent a mystical tradition in Islam, whereas the Wahhabis are a strict traditionalist tradition which is dominant on the Arabian peninsula, but has little support elsewhere.

Unlike churches, mosques are not denominational. Despite the differences among Muslims, traditional Friday prayer services are largely similar and Muslims of any background are welcome to attend services at any mosque.

Sunni
This is the name for the larger of the two major divisions of Islam. The Sunni, who rejected the claims of 'Ali's line, believe that they are the true followers of the sunna, the guide to proper behavior set forth by Muhammad's personal deeds and utterances.

Sunni Muslims' relationship with God is direct and is not mediated by anything like a priest or rabbi. Some religious figures may exercise a great deal of political or social power, but committees of socially important believers in each community are generally responsible for the management of the mosque and its land.

Shi'a
This literally means "party" or "partisans" but refers specifically to the "party of 'Ali and his descendents."

The Shi'a supported the claims of 'Ali and his line to the right to the caliphate and leadership of the Muslim community, and on this issue they divided from the Sunni in the major schism within Islam. Later schisms have produced further divisions among the Shi'a over the identity and number of imams. Most Shi'a revere Twelve Imams, the last of whom is believed to be hidden from view and waiting, rather than actually dead.

Answer 4

There is a tendency in Western Media and Western mentality to simplify and pervert the truth, by poalrization of groups to an unwitting public, who is ignorant of details and refuses to research the details for themselves.

Sometimes Western corporate/mercantile governmental intererest play the game of "divide and conquer" to gain latent control of resources,industry, and geography by favoring persons of one group over another and rekindle hostilities that were settled hundreds of years past; or present new hostilities and link them to the old forgotten ones. By the time the melee gets underway the issues are so confused and emotions runso high that no one is certain why there is any hostility. They only know that it feels good, if not comfortable, to be hostile and have someone to blame and subdue. You know the feeling.

It would be as if someone external entity stirred up hostilities between Protestants and Roman Catholics throughout Europe.

There are places in the world where both Shi'a and Sunni merely see one another as brothers, Muslims.

When you see these kinds of things simply follow the money to the root of the incitement. It is like waking with your house on fire. Your immediate response is to escape the discomfort. Well the same type of salesmen that create that since of urgency for you the buy while the supply last, are the same that craft ways for the people who are involved in the conflicts and those who veiw the reports of the conflicts with limmited information like a televison movie void of continuity.

Answer 5

Any groups (particularly religious) who are closely connected but have some differences tend to become enemies. You see it here within our own churches when they split over petty differences. Islam and the Jewish religion are very closely tied and they are also not the best of buddies. (but Jews can enter the Holy City(Mecca), as Kissinger did, (infidels cannot). Saudi is practically all Sunni & Iran Shi'ah. Iraq between the 2 has a large # of each sec with the Sunni being in the minority.

Answer 6

It's funny that Mr. Stein doesn't actually mention the major differences in his article. As I understand it, the main cause of the split was a dispute over the succession of caliphs in the early days of Islam. The Shi'as supported Ali, Muhammed's son-in-law. The Sunnis supported another successor who ultimately took control.

Answer 7

The more I read of the Muslim conflicts, the more I am convinced the problem is that they are INTOLERANT of any other beliefs. They cannot conceive of allowing any other form of worship to exist anywhere NEAR them. Already I hear of complaints in cities where muslims are beginning to settle in large numbers. They want the surrounding communities to conform to THEM.!!

As Americans we are pledged to defend the rights and freedoms of others. I worry that the American muslims will not extend the same courtesy to other Americans of different faiths. They view the human race as believer or nonbeliever and nonbelievers are not to be tolerated!!

Answer 8

Sunni Muslims believe that thefather-in-law of Mohammed (Abu Bakr) is his successor after he died (first Caliph) and the Shiite believes that it was his son-in-law (Ali) is his successor, hence the split happened. After a few centuries their practice of Islam became different also.

Answer 9

They differ as to who the official successor of Muhammad was. People find real strange things to fight about.

Answer 10

hairstyle.

seriously, why should I care.