What is the differnces between shite and sunni?
Sunni Islam claims to be the continuation of the Islam as it was defined through the revelations given to Muhammad and his life, a claim which is substantiated through the fact that Shi’i Islam for a number of decades had very little following and had no real, formal organization. As for the theology, Sunni Islam represents no more of a continuation of Islam than the other orientations. So you should be careful about thinking of Sunni Islam as mainstream Islam, and don’t refrain from calling it “orthodox”. None of the 3 orientations of Islam coming out of the schisms of the 7th century, can do no less than trace their origins back to the very first Muslim societies, and for the bystander none of the orientations must be deemed as inferior to the others. Sunni Islam has its name from its identification with the importance of the Sunna (the examples from the hadiths, which earlier than in Shi’i Islam was established as a central element in Islam, and central to understanding the full tru
