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Portrait of Sunni and Shia

General knowledge · Religion & belief

Sunni and Shia

the division dates from the succession dispute of 632 CE

Islam — the two main branches and how they parted

The two principal branches of Islam, divided originally over who should lead the community after the death of Muhammad in 632. The majority accepted Abu Bakr, chosen by the elders, as the first caliph; a minority held that leadership belonged by designation to Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law. From that dispute grew two distinct traditions of authority, law and commemoration. Roughly 85 to 90 per cent of Muslims are Sunni, with the remainder mostly Shia.

How to spot them

  • ▸The split is about succession and authority, not about the Quran or the Five Pillars
  • ▸Shi'at Ali, 'the party of Ali'; Sunni from ahl al-sunna, 'the people of the custom'
  • ▸Karbala, 680, and the mourning of Ashura on the tenth of Muharram
  • ▸Majorities in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain; minorities almost everywhere else

Key facts

The quarrel of 632: should the community choose its leader, or had the Prophet already designated his cousin and son-in-law? (632)

Abu Bakr was chosen as caliph; the partisans of Ali ibn Abi Talib disagreed

Mourning processions on the tenth of Muharram for a grandson of the Prophet killed on a plain in Iraq (680)

Ashura, commemorating Husayn's death at Karbala at the hands of Yazid's forces

Twelvers, Ismailis and Zaydis — groups that count a different number of imams

Twelve, seven and five respectively; Twelvers are much the largest

An imam hidden since 874 and expected to return at the end of time

Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam, in occultation

Four schools of law on one side — Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali — and the Ja'fari on the other

The madhhabs; the Ja'fari school is named for the sixth imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq

Shrines at Najaf and Karbala draw millions of pilgrims a year

The tombs of Ali and of his son Husayn

A hereditary imamate whose holder is styled His Highness, and which passed to Prince Rahim in February 2025 (2025)

The Aga Khan, leader of the Nizari Ismailis; Aga Khan IV died on 4 February 2025 and his son became Aga Khan V

Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain are the states where the smaller branch is in the majority

Iran has been officially Twelver since the Safavids made it the state religion in 1501

Key ideas

  • Both branches share the Quran, the Five Pillars and the direction of prayer. The lasting difference is over religious authority: Sunni Islam locates it in scholarly consensus and the four schools of law, Shia Islam in the imams descended from Ali and, in modern Iran, in the senior clergy.

Quick-fire facts

  • •The division began with the dispute over succession to Muhammad in 632; Abu Bakr became the first caliph
  • •Sunni derives from ahl al-sunna wa'l-jama'a, 'the people of the custom and the community'; Shia from shi'at Ali, 'the party of Ali'
  • •Ali was the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs, ruling 656–661, and was assassinated at Kufa
  • •His son Husayn was killed at Karbala on 10 Muharram 680; the day is mourned as Ashura
  • •Shia Muslims make up roughly 10 to 13 per cent of the world's Muslims
  • •The largest Shia group are the Twelvers or Ithna Ashari; the Ismailis (Seveners) and Zaydis (Fivers) are smaller
  • •Twelvers hold that the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, went into occultation in 874 and will return
  • •Sunni jurisprudence has four surviving schools — Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali; Twelver Shia follow the Ja'fari school
  • •The Nizari Ismailis are led by the Aga Khan; Aga Khan IV died on 4 February 2025 and was succeeded by his son Prince Rahim as Aga Khan V, the 50th hereditary imam
  • •Shia-majority countries include Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain; Iran became officially Twelver under Shah Ismail I in 1501

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Sources