21SPCMP World Civilization
Student Name
Professor’s Name
Institution Name
Course Name
Date
21SPCMP World Civilization
According to Scheckler & Morina (2011), the Shi’ite and the Sunni are the main Islamic factions. The two groups agreed on most Islamic practices and beliefs; however, their differences go back to the 14th century when there was a bitter split between them. The Shiites form the second largest group of Islam. They are guided by the religious teachings of Muhammad and the guidance he showed his descendants or family, whom they are regarded as Shia Imams. On the other hand, the Sunni is the Islam branch with the most significant number of followers, nearly 85% of the total Muslim (Scheckler & Morina, 2011). The name Sunni was derived from the reference to Muhammad’s behaviour. Therefore, this paper will discuss the reasons for the split.
The split between the two factions can be traced back to the 632 A.D, and it was because of the succession of Muhammad. Their differences immediately started after Prophet Muhammad died. There were conflicts on who would take his place. Most of his followers believed that a successor had to come from the elite group of the Islamic community, and smaller groups believed that a successor would only come from Muhammad’s family, for example, his son-in-law or even cousin. The smaller group was referred to like Ali’s followers; in Arabic, it was Shia. Therefore, it was due to the political divide that Shi’ite and the Sunni split began. Being the majority faction, the Sunnis’ quest prevailed, and they finally chose a successor who became the first caliph. Ali was the fourth caliph; however, it was until violence broke out. The two earliest caliphs were killed. In 661 A.D, war erupted, and Ali was murdered near Kufa, a place found in present-day Iraq. The war intensified, forming a rift, forming two branches of Islam, the Shi’ite and the Sunni. It was a split that lasted to the present time. Political powers between the two factions also fueled the split. In the following centuries, the two religious groups conflicted with the European Crusaders (Gail, 2019).
There were some differences and similarities in the teachings and beliefs of the two groups. Both groups believed a one true God named Allah, and He had his messenger called Prophet Muhammad. Also, both branches read the Quran and considered it as the holy book, followed and respected the five tenets of Islam, pledged to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, fasted during the holy month of Ramadan, gave charity to the poor, practised prayer rituals that entailed five prayers in a day, and pledged themselves to the Islam faith. The significant difference was in their beliefs on the rightful successor. The Shiites believed and held that it had to be someone from Muhammad’s bloodline, while Sunni believed that only pious people could take over. Another difference is in the interpretations of Islam’s school of law. Compared to the Shiites, Sunni’s religious hierarchy was less elaborate. Shiites gave Quran’s prophets an exalted status as they gave to human beings, something that the Sunnis did not do. , the divide was not because of religious doctrines but somewhat over political leadership (Jin et al., 2017).
The split between the two branches of Islam continued to the 21st century. Instead of unifying and being one religious group, the drift between the two continued to widen. Jin et al. (2017) attribute the sharpening of the divide to two significant milestones. First is the rise of the Safavid dynasty during the 16th century, which transformed Iran into a Shia stronghold from a Sunni centre. Second, there have been several upheavals such as the mass uprising due to the Arab Spring in 2011 and the Persian Gulf Wars resulting from the US-backed ouster and killing of Sadam Hussein. The conflicts in the present day are evident with Sunni-Shia divisions that have fueled the fighting in Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and elsewhere, the long-running war in Syria, and terrorist violence spread across the globe. There is a common element in all these conflicts: the ongoing war between the two branches of Islam. The Shias from Iran and Sunnis from Saudi Arabia have influenced the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and the surrounding areas. The two groups have been in conflicts for centuries, but they have managed to co-exist in relative peace, which suggests that the deepening split in the modern days has nothing to do with religion but everything to do with power and wealth.
The Shiites and Sunnis are majorly located in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the heart of Sunni Islam, while Iran is Shiites. Since 1979, Iran has been led by a supreme leader from the Shiite group. The tensions in the Middle East are significantly caused by the power players of the two nations. Other countries in the Middle East have a large number of Islamic sectarian minorities. In details, Iraq had Shia majority, Syria with Shia minority, Lebanon with Christians majority followed by Shiites and Sunni, Egypt by Sunni majority, Jordan by the Sunni majority, Turkey by Shiites minority, Bahrain by Shia majority, and Sunni majority in Kuwait, Afghanistan, Qatar, Pakistan, and Yemen.
It is significant to note that terrorism in the 21st century is fueled partly by the Sunni-Shiite split. These factions believe in Jihad, an anchoring foundation of terrorism. For example, the Islamic State Group originated from Iraq that has a majority of Sunnis. The people believe that they have a right to kill all the non-Sunnis (Gail, 2019).
References
Gail Radley. (2019). Understanding Islam. Essential Library.
Jin, Y., Ho, W.-Y., & Chan, A. C. (2017). Islam. Brill.
Scheckler, L. P., & Morina, J. L. (2011). Modern Islam: Traditions and Concerns. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?
Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.
Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.
Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.
Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!
While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.
Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.
In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.
Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.
We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!
We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.
Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.
We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.
Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.
There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.
Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.
We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.
You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.
We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.
You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.
Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.
You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.
The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.
GET A PERFECT SCORE!!! 
Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
Read moreYour email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.
Read moreBy sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.
Read more