Muslim groupings - Clarification please?

Its a very long and complicated topic. To be honest i dont fully understand all the types my self. So here goes a summerised version of Islam's branches.

Ofcourse the majority of people know the main two: Sunni (Orthodox) and Shia.

Then many Sunni Muslim's try to follow the Sunnah (example) of the Prophet PBUH by the agreeing to a certain extent to the understanding of four main Imams:

-Hanafi

-Shafii

-Hanbali

-Maliki

The diffrence's are very minor between them four. Often the diffrences are all accepted as being 'Sahih' or correct. Since there are examples of the Prophet PBUH having diffrences. An example of this can be when the Prophet PBUH was praying the Salat, having his arms crossed at chest length (Shafi style) upon getting tired he lowerd his crossed arm to his stomach (Hanafi style) upon feeling more tired he simply put his hands to his (PBUH) side. Thus all methods are correct.

The Shia sect also has many diffrent sub-divisions, although i do not know of many. Except for perhaps the 'Alevi' of which the English translation i think is 'Alewite', there are the Ismaili's and i belive the majority are called the 'Itna Ashariya' or the Twelvers, simply because of their belief in the 12 Imams.

There are modern day divisions such as the Salafi's and the Wahabi's. They are often described as more hardliners. Bin Laden and many of his followers are from these school of thought. Although i must stress that i do not in anyway implying that this school of though teachs such extreme methods of Jihad.

On the whole the majority of Muslim nations are practice the Sunnah (Sunni) Islam. Only two countries are virtually completely Shi'a and these are Iran and Azerbaijan.

It is wrong to blindfully follow any Imam since as Imam Shafi has said " If you find a mistake from my teaching replace it with a more correct method"

I hope i have been helpful. I my self am more inclined to the Hanafi school of thought ( as is the majority of Turkey, TRNC, Pakistan etc), so i will know more about this area.

Regards,

OSMANLI

gcle2003 wrote: The current thread on whether non-Muslims can enter mosques has brought up disagreement among Malikis, Shafe'is, Hannibalis and Hanafis, and for all I know others. Could someone please explain what these groups are, and indeed what other major different groupings there are within Islam? I know about the origin of the difference between Sunni and Shiah, and I know something about Sufism, but that's as far as it goes.

 

the four groups me and Mira were talking about were the Sunnie Schools of Math'hab (Sectors).

they dont have much differences and they fully agree on the main principles of Sunnie Branch of islam.

Shafie reffered to people following Imam Al Shafei's way

Hanafi reffered to people following Imam Abu Haneefah.

Maliki refferet to people follwoing Imam Ibn Malik.

Hannibalis refferet to people following Imam Ibn Hannibal.

as i said the differences are small such as the "entering mosques"

there are no Major differences between them and Many sunnies dont know if they belong to which sector.

 

Salaamz,

Osmanli covered it all, masha'Allah.

I just would like to add that there's a hadith, considered by most to be weak, but I think it's quite relevant; "Differences in my Ummah are a mercy."

I'd like to add one more thing to Osmanli's post regarding the sub-divisions within the Shia sect.  The majority of Shia, as far as I know, are Ja'afaris, or Ithna Ashari (Twelvers), or Imamiyah as they are more widely known.  Other branches of Shiism includes, Zaydis, Ismailis (Nizaris and Musta'liyah), Druze and Alevites (Nusairis), Qadiyani, Ahmedis, Mu'tazila. 

I'm not sure about this, but I think I read that other "popular" Shia sects include the Saba'iya, Tawabun, Kaisaniya and Mughiriya.  I'm 95% sure about the information I'm sharing, but I could be wrong .. My memory's kinda rusty these days.

Maybe you are bektashi?

 

 The majority of shia are Imamiyah,and check your sources Mira cause you inserted many wrong sectors with shia like Qadiyani, Ahmedis, Mu'tazila and Saba'iya.

Mortaza wrote: Maybe you are bektashi?

bektashis are in albania i'd say bosna is predominately hanafi w/ sufi roots here and there - like turkiye

                                      The Ahmadiyya 'Qadiani'

Mirza Ghulam , the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Qadian, India,He also claimed that he is Son of god, and according to sayings of one of his friends, God once requested Mirza Qadyani to have sexual relations. He claimed that he once was Marry, he became pregnent, and gave birth to himself as "Jesus". Some of his members consider him to be a prophet.

Due to this, and other reasons, the unanimous consensus of Muslim scholars (both Sunni and Shia) vehemently denounces Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his followers as being outside the fold of Islam.

they were decleared non-muslims in 1973 in pakistan.

Ill be watching this thread aswell , coz i only roughly know the divisions.

I hear that there are differenses between turkish alawe and syrian alawe, does anyone know the spefics here

@Mira,
 i didnt think the Druze were considred muslim.

@Ahmed The Fighter,
 the Mu'tazili is what ive been looking for, i heard about it a not long ago  and asked here once before with no answer. They belive the Koran sits within time, you got any links that can help me?

Mila wrote: I don't really understand what the differences are either. I was told growing up I'm a Sunni Muslim with Hanafi and Sufi heritage and roots. Most people I've talked about Islam with have, after I've given my impression on a few things, all said, "Pfft...Ismaeli you are!" So, whatever that means.

You could impossible be ismaili, they are shii.

gcle2003 wrote: Ahmed The Fighter wrote:                                       The Ahmadiyya 'Qadiani' Mirza Ghulam , the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Qadian, India,He also claimed that he is Son of god, and according to sayings of one of his friends, God once requested Mirza Qadyani to have sexual relations. He claimed that he once was Marry, he became pregnent, and gave birth to himself as "Jesus". Some of his members consider him to be a prophet. Due to this, and other reasons, the unanimous consensus of Muslim scholars (both Sunni and Shia) vehemently denounces Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his followers as being outside the fold of Islam. they were decleared non-muslims in 1973 in pakistan. But there's certainly a branch at least pf the Ahmadiyya movement that denies Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ever claimed to be even a prophet, let alone the son of God. http://www.muslim.org/noclaim/intro.htm How much of what you wrote is in fact just anti-Ahmadiyya propaganda?

Nothing Dude,my sources are neutral,that is what they beleive,I wrote some of his members not all,therefore what you said above is right .