Distribution of Shia and Sunni Muslims

Shades of Islam

Let's talk about Islam and some of its many beliefs, terms and groups within Islam.

The two main branches of Islam consist of Sunni and Shia Muslims, which also contain different schools of thought. These schools or madh'habs exist because they differ in how they derive their rulings from the Quran and hadith.

Within the Sunni branch for example exist four main schools of thought, the Hanafi school and the Shafi'i school.

Sunni and Shi’a Muslims do not differ in the fundamental Islamic beliefs and practices. They both accept the same sacred text, the Qur'an, and the recorded oral tradition, or Hadith, have the same holidays, etc. The true split/difference took place because there was the question of who would take over after Prophet Muhammad's death. Whether it be an elected Caliph or an Imam which refers to being a direct descendant of the house of the Prophet.

Sufism

"A Sufi is someone who purifies the self from anything which distracts from the remembrance of God." (Ibn Taymiya 14th century)

There are common misconceptions about Islam such as:
Sufism is not a sect of Islam or "New Age Islam". Some people refer to to Sufis as not being real Muslims which is also incorrect.

Sufism is made up of morals and pureness in a sense. Its goal is to become one with God.

https://shadowsofthedivine.wordpress.com/tag/sufism/