Islamic schools and branches

Based on Wikipedia: Islamic schools and branches

In 656 CE, the third caliph of Islam was assassinated while reading the Quran in his home. The murder of Uthman ibn Affan triggered a civil war that would fracture the young Muslim community into branches that persist to this day—over 1,400 years later. What began as a dispute over political succession evolved into profound theological differences about the very nature of religious authority, the interpretation of scripture, and who has the right to guide the faithful.

To understand Islam today—practiced by nearly two billion people across the globe—you need to understand this story of division and diversity. It's a story that explains everything from the sectarian tensions in modern Iraq to the theological debates happening in mosques from Jakarta to Detroit.

The Question That Split a Faith

When the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 CE in the city of Medina, he left behind a rapidly expanding religious community but no clear instructions about who should lead it. This wasn't an oversight—it was a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Three main answers emerged to the question of succession, and each answer created a different branch of Islam.

The majority believed that the community should choose its own leader through consultation and consensus. They supported Abu Bakr, one of Muhammad's closest companions and his father-in-law, as the first caliph—a word meaning "successor" or "representative." This group became known as the Sunnis, from the Arabic word sunnah, meaning the teachings and practices of Muhammad. Today, Sunni Muslims comprise roughly 87 to 90 percent of the world's Muslim population.

A minority believed that leadership should remain within Muhammad's family. They supported Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was both Muhammad's cousin and his son-in-law through marriage to Fatimah. This group became known as the Shia, from the phrase Shi'at Ali—"the party of Ali." They constitute about 10 to 13 percent of Muslims worldwide, though they form majorities in Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan.

Then there were the Kharijites.

The Radicals Who Walked Out

The Kharijites—literally "those who seceded"—took a third position that was more extreme than either the Sunnis or the Shia. They believed that any pious Muslim could be the leader, regardless of tribal affiliation or family lineage. More dangerously, they believed that Muslims who committed serious sins were no longer Muslims at all.

This doctrine of takfir—declaring other Muslims to be infidels—made the Kharijites willing to kill fellow believers they deemed insufficiently devout. They assassinated Ali himself in 661 CE while he was praying in a mosque, viewing him as having compromised his principles.

The Kharijites eventually splintered into multiple sub-sects: the Sufris, the Azariqa, the Najdat, the Adjarites, and the Ibadis. All but the last have vanished from history. The Ibadis survive today primarily in Oman, where they constitute the majority of the Muslim population, and in small communities across North Africa. Over the centuries, Ibadi Islam has moderated considerably from its Kharijite origins and now shows, as scholars note, "a strong tendency to move towards the Sunni mainstream."

The term "Kharijite" itself has become something of an insult in Islamic discourse—applied to any Muslim group seen as too extreme or too willing to denounce other Muslims as apostates.

The Sunni World: One Faith, Many Schools

Calling Sunni Islam a single denomination is a bit like calling Christianity a single church. Within Sunni Islam, there are multiple schools of legal thought, different theological traditions, and various spiritual movements—all of which consider themselves authentically Sunni.

The most important distinction involves the four major schools of jurisprudence, known as madhhabs. These aren't sects in the way that Methodists and Baptists are different Protestant denominations. Instead, think of them as different legal methodologies for deriving Islamic law from the Quran and the recorded sayings and actions of Muhammad.

The Hanafi school, founded in the 8th century by Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man, is the most widespread and tends to be the most flexible in its legal reasoning. It dominates in Turkey, Central Asia, South Asia, and much of the Arab world.

The Maliki school, named after Malik ibn Anas, gives particular weight to the practices of the early Muslim community in Medina. It predominates in North and West Africa.

The Shafi'i school, founded by Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, developed a systematic methodology for legal reasoning that influenced all subsequent Islamic jurisprudence. It's prevalent in East Africa, Southeast Asia, and parts of the Middle East.

The Hanbali school, founded by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, adheres most strictly to the literal texts of the Quran and prophetic traditions. It's the smallest of the four schools but has gained outsized influence through its association with Saudi Arabia.

A Sunni Muslim following the Hanafi school and one following the Hanbali school might reach different conclusions about whether a particular action is permissible, but neither would consider the other to be outside the fold of Islam. The schools recognize each other's legitimacy, and Muslims have historically been free to follow whichever school predominates in their region or to switch between them.

Theology: Three Schools of Thought

Beyond legal methodology, Sunni Islam also contains different schools of theology—approaches to understanding God's nature, human free will, and how to interpret scripture.

The Athari school emerged in the late 8th century and takes the most literalist approach. When the Quran describes God as having a "hand" or "face," Athari theologians accept these descriptions without attempting to interpret them metaphorically. They're suspicious of using Greek-influenced philosophical reasoning to understand divine matters.

The Ash'ari school, founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari in the 10th century, represents a middle position. It uses philosophical reasoning to defend traditional Islamic beliefs while maintaining that God's attributes are real but unlike anything in human experience.

The Maturidi school, founded by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi around the same time, is similar to the Ash'ari school but gives greater scope to human reason. It's particularly influential among Hanafi Muslims in Turkey and Central Asia.

These theological differences might seem abstract, but they have real-world implications. Debates about whether the Quran is the eternal, uncreated word of God or whether it was created at a specific point in time led to political persecution and even executions in early Islamic history.

Sufism: The Mystical Dimension

Cutting across all these schools is Sufism—the mystical and spiritual dimension of Islam. Sufis seek direct personal experience of the divine through practices like rhythmic chanting, meditation, and devotion to spiritual masters.

Sufism isn't a separate sect but rather a spiritual orientation that exists within both Sunni and Shia Islam. However, it's organized into various orders, called tariqas, each with its own lineage of teachers, distinctive practices, and spiritual exercises. Famous orders include the Qadiriyya, the Naqshbandiyya, and the Mevlevi—the last being the famous "whirling dervishes" of Turkey.

The relationship between Sufism and more literalist forms of Islam has often been tense. Sufi practices like visiting the shrines of dead saints, venerating spiritual masters, and seeking mystical union with God strike some Muslims as dangerously close to the polytheism that Islam categorically rejects.

The Shia: Twelve Imams and Their Descendants

If Sunni Islam is defined by its acceptance of the first four caliphs, Shia Islam is defined by its rejection of the first three. For Shia Muslims, Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman were usurpers who denied Ali his rightful position as Muhammad's successor.

But Shia Islam goes beyond mere political disagreement. It developed a distinctive theology centered on the concept of the Imam—a divinely appointed leader who possesses special spiritual authority and knowledge. This isn't the same as the Sunni use of "imam" to mean simply the person leading prayers. In Shia theology, the Imam with a capital I is a cosmic figure, infallible in matters of religion and the rightful guide of the Muslim community.

The majority of Shia Muslims are Twelvers—so named because they believe in a succession of twelve Imams beginning with Ali and ending with Muhammad al-Mahdi, who they believe went into "occultation" (a state of supernatural hiding) in 874 CE and will return at the end of time. The Twelvers constitute about 85 percent of the Shia population and dominate in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Bahrain.

The Ismailis diverged from the Twelver majority over the question of the seventh Imam. They followed Isma'il ibn Ja'far rather than his brother Musa, whom the Twelvers accepted. Ismaili thought was heavily influenced by Neoplatonism—the philosophical tradition derived from Plato—giving it a more esoteric and mystical character. The Ismailis themselves later split into multiple branches, including the Nizaris (whose leader, the Aga Khan, is a prominent international figure) and several groups of Bohras concentrated in South Asia.

The Zaydis, sometimes called Fivers, represent yet another branch. They followed Zayd ibn Ali, a grandson of the martyred Imam Husayn, and developed legal and theological positions that are notably closer to Sunni Islam than other Shia groups. Today, Zaydis survive primarily in northern Yemen, where they have been embroiled in the country's devastating civil war.

The Ghulat: Beyond the Boundaries

On the fringes of Shia Islam are groups that mainstream Shia and Sunni Muslims alike have historically considered heretical. These are the Ghulat—a term meaning "extremists" or "those who exaggerate"—groups that ascribe divine or quasi-divine characteristics to Ali and other members of Muhammad's family.

The most significant surviving Ghulat group is the Alawites of Syria. Developing between the 9th and 10th centuries, Alawite beliefs have traditionally included elements that mainstream Muslims find deeply problematic, including reportedly a belief in the divine nature of Ali. Medieval scholars from both Sunni and Shia traditions explicitly stated that Alawites were not Muslims.

Yet politics complicates theology. When the Assad family—themselves Alawites—took power in Syria, various Muslim authorities issued rulings recognizing Alawites as Muslims. Arab nationalist politics in the mid-20th century also motivated some Sunni leaders to embrace Alawites as fellow Muslims. More recently, Alawites have shown a tendency to align themselves more closely with mainstream Twelver Shia Islam.

Other groups that emerged from the Islamic milieu have definitively separated from it. The Druze, who began as an Ismaili offshoot in the 11th century, developed such distinctive beliefs—including the divinity of the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim—that they no longer consider themselves Muslims, and Muslims don't consider them Muslim either. The Baha'i Faith, which emerged from Shia Islam in 19th-century Persia, claims to supersede Islam entirely through a new prophet, placing its adherents outside the Islamic community by definition.

Modern Movements: Reform, Revival, and Revolution

The schools and sects described so far are largely historical—formations that crystallized centuries ago and have been transmitted through tradition. But Islam, like all living religions, continues to generate new movements.

The Salafi movement represents one powerful current in contemporary Sunni Islam. Salafis seek to return to the practices of the salaf—the "pious predecessors," meaning the first three generations of Muslims. They reject the traditional schools of jurisprudence as unnecessary accretions, arguing that Muslims should derive their practices directly from the Quran and authentic prophetic traditions.

Wahhabism is a specific manifestation of Salafi thought, founded in 18th-century Arabia by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. His alliance with the House of Saud gave Wahhabism state backing, and Saudi oil wealth in the 20th century allowed Wahhabi interpretations to spread globally through funded mosques, schools, and publications. Wahhabism is notably puritanical, rejecting Sufism, the veneration of saints, and many practices it considers innovations.

The Ahl al-Hadith movement, prominent in South Asia, shares the Salafi rejection of traditional legal schools and emphasis on returning to foundational texts. These movements exist in sometimes tense relationship with traditional Sunni Islam—each side questioning whether the other represents authentic orthodoxy.

Islamic modernism emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries as Muslim intellectuals grappled with European colonialism and technological superiority. Thinkers like Muhammad Abduh in Egypt argued that Islam was compatible with modern science and rationality, and that Muslims had fallen behind because they had abandoned true Islamic principles, not because Islam itself was deficient. Some modernists sought to revive the rationalist theology of the Mu'tazila—an early Islamic school that had emphasized reason and human free will before being suppressed in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Islamism—the political movement seeking to organize society around Islamic principles—is distinct from these theological movements, though it often intersects with them. Islamist movements range from those seeking to work within democratic systems to revolutionary groups aiming to overthrow existing governments.

Islam in America

Some of the most distinctive modern Islamic movements emerged in the African American community. The Nation of Islam, founded in 1930, developed doctrines that mainstream Muslims considered heretical, including the belief that its founder, W.D. Fard, was God incarnate and that Black people were the original humans from whom white people were a later creation.

Under Warith Deen Mohammed, son of longtime Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, a significant portion of the movement transitioned toward mainstream Sunni Islam in the 1970s and 1980s. Louis Farrakhan maintained the original Nation of Islam teachings for those who didn't make this transition.

The Ahmadiyya movement, founded in British India in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, claims that its founder was the promised messiah and a prophet. This claim puts Ahmadis in conflict with the Islamic doctrine that Muhammad was the final prophet. Mainstream Sunni and Shia authorities generally consider Ahmadis to be outside the fold of Islam, and Ahmadis face persecution in many Muslim-majority countries, particularly Pakistan.

Living With Difference

What does it mean that Islam contains such diversity? For some Muslims, the existence of multiple schools within Sunni Islam is a mercy—a recognition that human beings can reasonably disagree about how to implement divine guidance. The traditional Sunni position accepts all four schools of jurisprudence as valid, and scholars were expected to respect methodologies different from their own.

But the boundaries between acceptable diversity and unacceptable deviation have often been contested, sometimes violently. The history of Islam includes periods of relative tolerance between Sunnis and Shias, and periods of sectarian warfare. Today, sectarian tensions fuel conflicts from Iraq to Yemen to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, many Muslims—perhaps a growing number—don't identify strongly with any particular school or sect. They simply practice Islam as they understand it, without worrying much about whether their approach to prayer follows Hanafi or Shafi'i methodology. These "non-denominational Muslims" represent perhaps the oldest approach of all: faith practiced without excessive concern for labels.

Understanding Islam's internal diversity is essential for understanding the Muslim world today. The Sunni-Shia divide shapes geopolitics from the Persian Gulf to Lebanon. Debates between Salafis and traditional scholars influence everything from mosque architecture to women's dress. Sufi orders continue to draw seekers looking for spiritual depth beyond mere legal observance.

What began with a disputed succession in 7th-century Arabia has become a tapestry of tremendous complexity—schools and branches, movements and orders, each with its own answer to the perennial questions: How should we live? Who has authority to guide us? What does God require?

These questions drove the original split between Sunnis and Shias. Fourteen centuries later, Muslims are still debating the answers.