![]() Following the Rashidun, the Ummayad and Abbasid caliphs provided the Sunni Muslims with leadership. Therefore, the Muslims at Medina took the initiative and chose from their ranks the Rashidun caliphs. The Sunnis believe that the Prophet Muhammad died without saying anything about who should take his place as leader of the Muslims. Where the two branches differ is over the question of who should hold the political leadership ( Imamate) of the Islamic community. ![]() Both communities believe in God (Allah) and his prophet Muhammad each regards the Qur’an as the exact word of God and each upholds the obligations to pray, fast, dispense charity, and perform the hajj at Mecca. In terms of beliefs and religious practices, Sunnis and Shia have much in common. Subgroups within the Shia include the Zaydis, who exist mostly in Yemen and the Ismailis, who live mainly in India, in East Africa and in scattered communities in North America and Western Europe. Numerically significant Twelver Shia communities also exist in the Arab Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, and northeastern Saudi Arabia), Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The largest concentrations of Shia Muslims are found in the Islamic Republic of Iran, where they make up 89 percent of the country’s total population Iraq, where they comprise 63 percent of the country’s total and Lebanon, where they are 41 percent of the total population. ![]() The most important group within the Shia is the “Twelvers,” so called for the 12 Imams, or leaders, they venerate. Today, the Shia comprise about 10 percent of the total population of Muslims in the world. Shiism is the second-largest denomination of Islam, after Sunni Islam. ![]()
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