Читать книгу The Atlas of Religion - Joanne O'Brien - Страница 24

The two main traditions within Islam are Sunni and Shi’a. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, leadership of the Muslim community passed to a succession of caliphs (‘deputies’). In the mid-7th century under the caliphate of Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, some came to believe that leadership of the Muslim community should be hereditary; these became known as the Shi’a (partisans of Ali). The majority held that the caliphs should be democratically chosen, according to the Sunna, the sayings and customs of the Prophet Muhammad. These are known as Sunni. They number more than 1.1 billion, and are in the majority in most Islamic countries. The Shi’a number 192 million and are in the majority in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Yemen. Within Sunni and Shi’a there are various schools of law and traditions. The Sunni schools of law are widespread, such as the Maliki school that is dominant throughout most of Muslim Africa. In Shi’a Islam there are more localized traditions, such as the Alawite and Druze in Syria and Lebanon. The Ibadiyyah tradition originated in the decades immediately after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, before the split between Sunni and Shi’a. Small numbers of Ibadites, who are predominantly Bedouin Arabs, are found in the deserts of Arabia, Iraq and North Africa.

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