anyone know the main difference between Sunni and shia Muslim in less than 6 sentences?

Answer 1

Mohammed died 1500 yrs ago without naming a successor. Two factions formed, one wanted his cousin and son-in-law to be Caliph. The majority wanted his close friend and confidante; they won out. Everything should have been cool because eventually the first factions boy became the 4th Caliph. Except he got offed and the schism reopened. They all met on the battlefield (notice a trend?) and the minoritys guy, Ali, got his head chopped off. This created a martyr, hence Shi'at Ali now Shiite.

Answer 2

Sunni Muslims are by far the largest denomination of Islam. They are also referred to as Ahlus Sunnah wal-Jamaa'h (Arabic: أهل السنة والجماعة) (people of the example (of Muhammad) and the community) which implies that they are the majority, or Ahl ul-Sunna (Arabic: أهل السنة; "The people of the example (of Muhammad)") for short. The word Sunni comes from the word sunna (Arabic : سنة ), which means the words and actions [1] or example of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. They represent the branch of Islam that accepted the caliphate of Abu Bakr due to him being chosen by majority, thus elections, or Shurah, on the caliphate being the first distinguishing factor in Sunni Islam. Most Sunni lawyers define themselves as those Muslims who are rooted in one of the four orthodox schools of Sunni law (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii or Hanbali).

Shī‘a Islam, also Shi‘ite Islam or Shi‘ism (Arabic شيعة šīʿa), is the second largest denomination of the Islamic faith after Sunni Islam. Shias adhere to the teachings of Muhammad and the religious guidance of his family (who are referred to as the Ahl al-Bayt) or his descendents known as Shi'a Imams. Muhammad's bloodline continues only through his beloved daughter Fatima Zahra and cousin Ali which alongside the prophet's grandsons are the Ahl al-Bayt. Thus, Shi'as consider Muhammad's descendents as the true source of guidance while considering the first three ruling Sunni caliphs a historic occurrence and not something attached to faith. The singular/adjective form is šīʿī (شيعي.) and refers to a follower of the faction of Imam Ali according to the Shia ideology.

Shia Islam, like Sunni Islam, has at times been divided into many branches; however, only three of these currently have a significant number of followers. The best known and the one with most adherents is the Twelvers (اثنا عشرية iṯnāʿašariyya) which have a large percentage in Iran 90% and Iraq; the others are Ismaili, Sevener, and Zaidiyyah. Alawites and Druzes consider themselves Shias, although this is sometimes disputed by mainstream Shias[1]. The Sufi orders among the Shias are the Alevi, Bektashi, Kubrawiya, Noorbakhshi, Oveyssi, Qizilbashi, Hamadani and Fatimid orders and denominations. Twenty percent of Turkey's population is Alevi while Lebanon and Syria have a large presence of Druze and Alawites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia

Answer 3

The differences between the Ahl al-Sunnah (Sunnis) and the Shias are very great and are fundamental. For example, the Shiassay that the Qur’aan was altered, and they condemn most of the Companions (may Allaah be pleased with them) and think that they went astray; they exaggerate about their imaams and worship them, and give them precedence over the Prophets and angels; they go on pilgrimages to mashhads (shrines) and graves, where they do all kinds of actions of shirk, associating others in worship with Allaah. They also believe in hypocrisy (as a tenet of faith) and call it taqiyah (dissimulation), and they believe in al-badaa’(the notion that Allaah “changes His mind”), al-raj’ah (the Return, i.e., the raising of the dead to life again for some time in the same form as they were before) and absolute infallibility of their imaams, and in prostrating on a handful of clay. They also curse the angel Jibraeel (Gabriel) and say Allaah made a mistake of making Muhammad the Prophet and not Ali.

Answer 4

Shia Muslims live in the region of Ancient Persia.

They adopted Islam, but still retained much of their own cultural heritage, which is distinct from Arabic culture.

Think Greek Orthodox vs Roman Catholic.

Persia often interacted with the Ancient Greeks, Hebrews and other Mediterranean cultures, while the Arabs did not.

Similar to divisions within the Christian faith, they trace their lineage and prophets back to Muhammed differently than the Sunnis.

Answer 5

The main difference is in "who should rule".
Shia's belief is it should be a direct descendent of the Prophet. Obviously, this is not possible, so they defend people should be ruled by clerics. This is the origin of the type of goverment Iran has.
Sunnis defend a separation between religion and state.

Answer 6

Muslims consider a caliph to be their civil and religious leader and consider him to be a representative of Allah on earth. A Sunni Muslim, or Sunnite, is a member of the branch of Islam that accepts the first four caliphs as rightful successors to Muhammad. A Shia Muslim, or Shiite, is a member of the branch of Islam that regards Ali as the legitimate successor to Muhammad and rejects the first three caliphs.
Basically, Sunnites consider Ali to be the fourth caliph of Islam, and Shiites consider him to be the first caliph. Ali was a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. After Ali's assassination Islam was divided into Shiite and Sunnite sects.

Answer 7

Sunni's believe that the prophet Muhammad was the final prophet where as Shia believe his cousin, Ali, was the last prophet.

Answer 8

One is a sunni, the other is a shia as you put it. Does it take much more than this for the religious to kill each other??????

Answer 9

1. the shi ites said that they could interpret the koran (and held the authority) because of their lineage to mohommad
2. the sunni's said they could because of their allegiance to the caliphate/s...who were very wealthy arabs.
3. the caliphate system..has a lot of similarities with the papacy for interpretation and authority purposes.
4. a mulsim can be 'by birth' or by conversion; but, by birth is the way of more privileges and status.
5. they started killing each other
6. they remain divided to this day.

Answer 10

going back to the death of muhammad, the sunni chose muhammads friend to lead them and the shia thought it should stay with his family. This was the beginning of a division that has plagued them ever since. don't ask me the names as I don't remember.