The Religions Book

338

T

he most recently founded of the three great monotheistic religions,

Islam spread quickly from its roots in the Middle East and has

been hugely influential in scholarship and politics all over the

world. The most significant division within Islam is that between Sunni

and Shi‘a, two branches that developed when the early Muslim community

disagreed over who was to succeed their first leader, Muhammad. Later

conflicts over leadership led to further subdivisions, but there are also

groups within Islam that are set apart by doctrinal differences: Sufism, or

mystical Islam, for example, is vigorously opposed by some more orthodox

Muslim groups that consider its practices un-Islamic.

BRANCHES OF ISLAM

SUNNI ISLAM

7th century CE, Arabian Peninsula

More than 85 percent of the Muslim

population of the world is Sunni. In

most Islamic countries, the majority

of Muslims are Sunni, with the

exception of Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan,

and Yemen, as well as some of the

Gulf States. The founders of this

form of Islam were the group of

Muslims who believed that Abu

Bakr, Companion and father-in-law

of Muhammad, should succeed

the Prophet as the first leader or

caliph (literally, successor). Sunni

Muslims take the Sunna, or tradition

of Muhammad, as the model for

Muslim conduct and have a further

allegiance to one of four schools

that interpret Islamic law, or shari‘a

(p.273): Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali,

and Shafi’i.

SHI‘A ISLAM

7th century CE, Arabian Peninsula

Shi‘a Islam is named after the Shi‘a

‘Ali, or Party of ‘Ali, the group within

the early Muslim community that

claimed that Muhammad had

should be inherited, but rather that

it should be won by election. The

sect gained a reputation for their

extreme militancy and opposition

to established authority; however,

some Islamic scholars have

interpreted their actions as an

attempt to uphold justice. The

Kharijites maintained a literal and

unswerving observance of the

Qur’an, lived puritanical lives

strictly according to Islamic

rule, and held that anyone who

committed a major sin could not

remain a Muslim. The early

Kharijites were almost wiped out

in their frequent uprisings, but

members of a more moderate

group survive today in North

Africa, Oman, and Zanzibar.

ISMAILISM

7th century CE, Arabian Peninsula

Ismailism is a sect of Shi‘a Islam and

itself has numerous subsects,

including the Druze (see opposite).

The movement has its origins in

the late 7th century CE, following

a conflict within Shi‘a Islam over

who should succeed Jaafar

al-Sadiq as the sixth imam.

nominated his cousin ‘Ali to

lead the faith as his successor.

Its largest branch identifies ‘Ali

and a continuous line of 11

descendants as the imams, or

spiritual leaders, of Islam, whose

authority is divinely sanctioned.

This branch is known as Twelve-

Imam Shi‘a, or the Twelvers.

Another group of Shi‘a Muslims,

the Seveners, does not recognize

the last five imams in this lineage.

Both groups also have doctrinal

differences with Sunni Islam: for

example, they hold that God may

change his decisions (a concept

called bada’).

KHARIJITES

7th century CE, Middle East

The assassination of the third

caliph, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan, in

656 CE sparked a bitter conflict

that split the Islamic world. At

its center was a group of rebel

Muslims responsible for the

assassination, who later became

known as the Kharijites, a name

deriving from the Arabic for “to

leave” or “exit.” They did not

believe that the position of caliph