Whats the difference between Sunni and Shiites?
One of the best books I’ve read about Islam is ‘Western Muslims and the Future of Islam’ by Tariq Ramadan. Basically it goes like this: Shi’a – Originating from followers of Ali, the ‘natural’ successor. They are sort of like the catholics. They hold to the original position of the faith – the pope (ali – although he is dead, he may come again) is the true successor (essentially the Qur’an is truth) and there shall be no interpretation. What is put forth in the Qur’an (bible) is taken as the word of god. Every person can access it as such and there is no need for intermediaries. Sunni – follow the prophetic traditions (Sunna). These are interpretations by the Imams (mostly religious hierarchy) and as such are believed (by the Shi’a) to be interpretive and corrupted. Like Protestants, believing that a certain amount of interpretation of god’s word that is required. It isn’t as simple as christianity in that there are many interpretations of the Qur’an and Shi’as cannot believe that we (
