What is the difference between Sunni and Shiite Islam?

Sunnism and Shiism are two different visions of religious and political authority in Islam.When the Prophet Muhammad died in 632, the Muslim community was faced with the crisis of who would define Islamic faith and practice and who would lead the Muslim community.A group of Muhammad's followers believed that it was his family that should inherit this authority, in particular his son-in-law and cousin Ali.This group developed into Shiite Islam, which itself is divided according to which branches of Muhammad's family should hold religious authority.Most Shiites belong to the ‘Twelver,' or Imami branch, which assigned religious leadership to a series of twelve male descendents (called imams) of the Prophet, starting with Ali and proceeding through his descendents until the last imam disappeared into mystical seclusion in 874 CE, waiting to return as a messianic figure at the end of time.These imams were infallible religious authorities, although within a century and a half of Muhammad's ...  more

Sunnism and Shiism are two different visions of religious and political authority in Islam. When the Prophet Muhammad died in 632, the Muslim community was faced with the crisis of who would define Islamic faith and practice and who would lead the Muslim community. A group of Muhammad's followers believed that it was his family that should inherit this authority, in particular his son-in-law and cousin Ali. This group developed into Shiite Islam, which itself is divided according to which branches of Muhammad's family should hold religious authority. Most Shiites belong to the ‘Twelver,' or Imami branch, which assigned religious leadership to a series of twelve male descendents (called imams) of the Prophet, starting with Ali and proceeding through his descendents until the last imam disappeared into mystical seclusion in 874 CE, waiting to return as a messianic figure at the end of time. These imams were infallible religious authorities, although within a century and a half of ...  more