Sunni vs Shia split: was it over Muhammads succession?

Copyright 2006 by Vali Nasr. With permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Co. ... The original split between Sunnis and Shiites occurred soon after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, in the year 632.

وذكرت في المقال الأول أنّ هناك غلو شيعي بسبب اتباع المذهب الصفوي الذي لا يمثل الشيعة المعتدلين وفي المقابل غلو سني بسبب اتباع المذهب الوهابي الذي لا يمثل أهل السنّة المعتدلين...

The split was over who was the rightful heir of Muhammad, who was the true Caliph (successor) {the term, which means simply “successor,” eventually came to designate the religious and political leader of the Islamic community}, and there were rival claims to that position.

The rift indeed began shortly after the death of Prophet Mohammad and was centered on the question of rightful succession. Yet, linking the past to today begs a simple question: are Muslims in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon still fighting the ...

Another group held that Muhammad did not appoint a successor, leaving the choice of leadership to the community. This group asserts that Abu Bakr, Muhammad's closest friend and father-in-law, succeeded him through a legitimate process of election at the Saqifa. The two Muslim groups came to be known as Shia and Sunni...

Such a cause, however, was not the case. Instead, the split solidified after the massacre of seventy-five of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad and their supporters at Karbala, Iraq, in 680 CE.

نشأة الإنقسام السني ... الخلاصة يُنظر على نطاق واسع إلى خلافة الإمام علي بن أبي طالب (ع) للنبي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم على أنها سبب الانقسام السني الشيعي....

Much of the division between Sunnis and Shias emerged from political struggles-caliphate succession, dynastic rivalries-not from fundamental theological discord.

Even as Sunnis triumphed politically ... and religious leaders. Even within the Shia community, however, there arose differences over the proper line of succession....

الخلاف السني الشيعي هو خلافٌ دينيٌّ تاريخيٌّ بين أكبر طائفتين إسلاميتين: أهل السنةِ والجماعة والشيعة. يرتكزُ الخلافُ على عدة محاور: منها العقدي، ومنها الفقهي.

The roots of the Sunni-Shia divide can be traced all the way back to the seventh century, soon after the death of the prophet Muhammad in A.D. 632. While most of Muhammad’s followers thought that the other elite members of the Islamic community ...

The Sunni-Shia conflict represents a major historical and theological divide within Islam, stemming from a dispute over the rightful succession to the Prophet Muhammad after his death in 632 CE.