questions and answers about shiah, sunnah ,and wahhabism

The Muslim World , 2019

American Journal of Islam and Society, 2003

Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi eBooks, 2020

The Rise and Expansion of Islam* This Unit comprises of six sections: first Section covers political and social milieu of Arabian Peninsula before Islam, second Section offers a precise description of growth of Islam and Islamic state in Medina under Muhammad, third Section is about the Caliphate and dissensions within Ummah (Islamic community) leading to the rise of Kharijites, Shia and Sunni sects, fourth Section describes various branches of Shi'ism like Ismaili, Imami and Zayids, fifth Section illustrates growth and doctrine of two Islamic theological branches during the Abbasid Caliphate-Mu'tazila and Asharite, and the last Section details emergence of Sufi orders.

This encyclopedia is Sunni-referenced-oriented. It is assumed that the reader would like to see all the proofs based on the references from major Sunni documents. However, in the discussions, both Shia and Sunni perspectives are presented to maintain a level of fairness and integrity in reporting the topics.

Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements, 2021

An overwhelming majority of today's world's 1.8 billion Muslims are Sunnī (Kettani 2019). A key doctrinal difference and cause for the divergence of the Shīʿa Muslims from the Sunnī is based on the contested leadership of the Islamic community following the death of the Prophet Muḥammad. Sunnīs believe that the four caliphs (Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib) who led the umma after the death of Muḥammad were legitimate leaders of the Islamic community and were 'rightly guided' by Allāh. This contrasts with the Shīʿite view that only ʿAlī and his progeny were the rightful successors of Prophet Muḥammad and that the first three caliphs were thus illegitimate (Louer and Rundell 2020). Since their initial split, Sunnī and Shīʿa communities around the world have formed distinctive cultures and religious responses to their own changing circumstances. While Sunnīs today are a diverse group, they generally hold fast to a shared set of tenets. According to the Sunnīs, the Qurʾān is the unchanged word of God. As such it is considered to be the highest authority for providing guidance to Muslims. The 'sound six' (al-Ṣiḥāḥ al-Sitta) compilations of Prophet Muḥammad's utterances (aḥadīth) and traditions (sunna) are the second highest authority in Sunnī Islam. Among these Bukhārī is considered to be the most authentic. The need for specialists to interpret Qurʾān and ḥadīth to guide various life decision for individual believers as well as for communities of believers arose early in Islamic history. Sunnīs accept rulings by one of the four schools of jurisprudence: Ḥanafī, Ḥanbalī, Mālikī, and Shāfiʿī (Hallaq 1997). While Sunnī mosques around the world usually do have a prayer leader, any Sunnī Muslim male can lead a ritual prayer, perform marriages, lead funeral rites. This section consists of seven chapters describing various Sunnī sects, movements, and themes, some of which are locational and specific to particular countries and communities, while others are widespread, and international in scope. We open with a general overview of sectarianism within Sunnī Islam, before looking at Tablīghī Jamāʿat, the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey's Gülen Movement, Nahdlatul Ulama and Islam Nusantara, both focused in Indonesia, and finally a discussion of women in Islamic movements.