Branches of Islam

[TheBear]

To the Muslims here -

What are the similarities, and what are the differences between Sunni, Shia, Kharijite and Sufi Islam? And, what branch do you belong to?


Thanks in advance.

 

[anatolian]

Salam.I'm a sunni muslim.Sunnis simply believe in the Quran,Sunnah and Ijmaa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijma hierarchy.Shii's believe that Ali and other 11 Imams are infallible source of the religion.But according to us-sunnis-they corrupt the teachings of these Imams and create a diferent Islam.Kharijii's believed that Ali and his sons were not even true muslims and one of them killed Imam Ali.As far as I know they do not exist or very few.

I personally associate the Shia with Christianity and Kharijite with Judaism.Jews accused Jesus of being an infidel and tried to even kill him and christians over-praised him and called him "God".Shii's over-praise Ali and Kharijii's accused Ali of being an ifidel.Two oppostie polls..

Ahl-i Sunnah and Jammah which is the true Islam teachs the true/middle way as the Prophet once said "Islam is the middle way"

 

[rahma]

The answers to your questions would be enough to fill several disertations, but here's my attempt to be short and concise.


There are two main branches of Islam - sunni and shia. The differences between the two can be boiled down to authority. Who has the authority to suceed the Prophet (saws)? Who has the authority to rule? Who has the authority to make religious law?

Sunnis are those who believed that the authority to suceed the Prophet (saws) laid in the hands of his closest companions, and it was for them to chose who would rule. Shia are those who believed that the authority to suceed the Prophet (saws) lay only with his family.

From there, two religious traditions emerged. Throughout history, they've cross pollinated, with great scholars in each group studying with scholars of the other group. But in the end, we both turn to those with authority within our own groups.

Among sunni muslims, authority lies in the Qur'an, the sunnah (traditions of the Prophet as collected by sunni scholars) and in the ijma, consensus of scholars of sunni islam. I am not familiar with shia thought much beyond the basics, but for them, authority again is drawn from the family of the Prophet (saws) through the imamate, the descendants of the Prophet (saws) who were the religious leaders of the shia community. I believe that for them, their sources are the Qur'an, and the Sunnah as interpreted by the imams.


Kharajites are an early sect of muslims that had issues with authority (ah see, it all comes back to authority). They were originally shiat Ali, partisans of Ali, believing that God had appointed him as the Imam of the muslims. However, when he acted in a way that seemed to contradicted how the annointed of God should act, they killed him.



Sufis are not a seperate group. They are either sunni or shia muslims who practice the religious science of tasawwuf, the inner science of self, of purification of the heart. There are "goofy sufis" who have seperated themselves from Islam and gone universalist, but they can't really be considered as muslims and as such, aren't really a branch on the tree of Islam.



Myself, I'm a muslim of the sunni variety, following the school of jurisprudence of Imam Shafi'i, and beginning to tread the path of tasawwuf in the order of Abul Hassan ash Shadhili, God willing.

 

[PassionFruit]

Aren't there different sects within Sunni, Sufi, and Shi'a Islam?

 

[rahma]

There are sects and then there are groups.

Groups naturally divide out, and follow slightly different methodologies for fiqh/jurisprudence/law, aqidah/creed, sufism/tasawwuf. These groups will differ on certain issues, but they don't make takfir (ie declare someone as a non muslim) on those outside their group.

Under the heading of ahl al sunnah wa jamaah (people of the sunnah and congregation aka sunnis), You'll have hanafis, hanbalis, malikis, shafi'is and non madhabis(fiqh), asharis, maturidis and atharis (aqidah) and shadhilis, naqshabandis, etc etc etc (tasawwuf). People within these different groups may think that those outside their group are wrong, but they won't go so far as to say that they're outside of Islam.

Now within these groups some have formed sects, where they're right, and everyone else is wrong and hellbound. This is a particular problem within some salafi groups and have caused their collapse, as they divide into smaller and smaller sects and alienate everyone else around them.



As for shia islam, I don't have personal or academic experience to know whether their divisions would fall under the heading of groups or sects. There are twelvers, who believe 12 imams suceeded the Prophet (saws), the last of whom is hidden and whom their await his return. There are Ismalis, who split after 7 imams. And there are Zaidis who accepted the first 4 imams of the other 2 groups, but differed as to the sucession relationed to the fifth.

I would say that within shia islam, there are a lot more subgroups/sects that have developed and split away from islam then there are from among sunnis. The Druze, Agha Khanis, Alawis all came from shia islam.