The difference between Shia and Sunni
It seems like every week we hear about a humiliated intelligence official who is forced to admit that he or she doesn’t know the difference between a Shia and a Sunni. Neatorama has published a quick outline that hopefully a lot of people will read just so they can get a grasp on some of the actual facts regarding the war:
Like Christianity, Islam is home to a spectrum of sects espousing different beliefs and practices. And just as Christianity can be divided into two large groups - Catholic and Protestant - from which other subsects have emerged, so too with Islam: Shia and Sunni.
Unlike Christianity, whose major split wouldn’t occur for nearly sixteen centuries, Islam split almost immediately after the death of its founder, the Prophet Muhammad (circa 570 - 632 CE). The rift stems from a disagreement among Muslims over who was the rightful successor to Muhammad.
