Whats the difference between the Sunni and Shia forms of Islam?
The differences between the two sects go deeper than we can describe here, so we recommend you visit the sites listed in the Islam and Shia’ism categories of the Yahoo! Directory. That said, here is a simplified explanation. Up to 90% of all Muslims follow the Sunni tradition, making it the largest branch of Islam. The name Sunni comes from the Arabic sunnah, meaning the custom or example of the prophet Muhammad. By the 10th century, Muslim theology was codified into the Sunni tradition. But even before that time, there were splinter groups, and the largest of these was the Shia tradition. “Shia” comes from the Arabic phrase
