 Much like Christianity, Islam is the main religion that stems out to a
large group of people, all with different beliefs and practices. And
just as Christianity, which can be divided into two large groups -
Catholic and Protestant - so can Islam: Shi’a and Sunni. However unlike
Christianity, whose major split wouldn’t occur for nearly sixteen
centuries later, Islam split almost immediately after the death of its
founder, the Prophet Muhammad, on June 8, 632. And also unlike
Christianity, there isn’t just one God or follower for Islam. There are
two, which is what the war that we see today stems from; a disagreement
among Muslims over who was the rightful successor to Muhammad; Abu Bakr
or Ali ibn Abi Talib.
After Muhammad’s death there was a gathering of his followers that met in Medina. At this meeting the follows voted and proclaimed that Abu Bakr, who was a kinsman, companion, and early convert of Muhammad, to be their new caliph, or political leader. This decision came from his close relationship with Muhammad, and the fact that Muhammad had asked Abu Bakr to lead prayers when he was too ill to do so himself. Those who recognize Abu Bakr and his three immediate successors, called the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs, are referred to as Sunni Muslims and today almost 90 percent of Muslims worldwide fall into this category.
When the group of followers met in Medina, there was a small group of them who did not agree and refused to accept Abu Bakr. These Rafidi, or refusers, supported the claim of Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. This claim is based completely on a sermon the Prophet had given at Ghadir Khum, in which Muhammad referred to Ali as mawla, which some people believe to translate as "master." Ali’s supporters called themselves Shiat Ali (the Party of Ali); though today they are known as simply Shi’a. Ali did eventually ascend as the fourth caliph. To Sunni, he is the last of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs. But to a Shi’a, he is the first caliph and, more important, the first Imam - a word Shi’a Muslims use to refer to the person chosen leader of all the faithful.
While the Shi’a and the Sunnis both follow the knowledge in the Koran, they accept different hadiths, or oral traditions, so their laws are different. For example, many Shias will allow temporary marriage. Shias also recognize esteemed imams as supreme expert on Islamic law, called Ayatollahs or, for the really big guys, Grand Ayatollahs. As for the locations where Shias have a significant Muslim majority, there are really only two: Iraq and Iran, while the Sunnis cover more countries, such as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia, Mauritania, 36% of Iraq, and 10% of Iran.
Today, much violence has come from the differences between these two religious groups. However, almost all the violence between them in the past 50 years has been caused, directly or indirectly, by Saddam Hussein - a nominal Sunni who by his own admission was never very religious. Though, some of the worst violence in the past 5 years hasn’t been a direct cause of Saddam or his followers; many people blame the American invasion and the Iraq War, which has been steadily going since 2003. According to world leaders, the only way they believe the Iraq War and the prevention of the decline of the entire Arab world is for peace to come between the Shi’a and the Sunni, and the only way that will ever be achieved is if these people put aside their religion for just a few moments, and take a step back and look at the state of their home countries, their civil rights, the economic changes happening around them, and the place of the Arab countries in the modern world. And really, only time will tell what the future holds for these two societies.
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