Islamic schools and branches


Islamic schools and branches have different understandings of Islam. There are many different sects or denominations, schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and schools of Islamic theology, or ʿaqīdah. Within Sunnī Islam, there may be differences, such as different orders within Sufism, different schools of theology and jurisprudence. Groups in Islam may be numerous, or relatively small in size.
Differences between the groups may not be well known to Muslims outside of scholarly circles, or may have induced enough passion to have resulted in political and religious violence. There are informal movements driven by ideas, as well as organized groups with governing bodies. Some of the Islamic sects and groups regard certain others as deviant or not being truly Muslim. Some Islamic sects and groups date back to the early history of Islam between the 7th and 9th centuries CE, whereas others have arisen much more recently, or even in the 20th century. Still others were influential historically, but are no longer in existence.
Muslims who do not belong to, do not self-identify with, or cannot be readily classified under one of the identifiable Islamic schools and branches are known as non-denominational Muslims.

Overview

The original schism between Kharijites, Sunnīs, and Shīʿas among Muslims was disputed over the political and religious succession to the guidance of the Muslim community after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. From their essentially political position, the Kharijites developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims. Shīʿas believe ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib is the true successor to Muhammad, while Sunnīs consider Abu Bakr to hold that position. The Kharijites broke away from both the Shīʿas and the Sunnīs during the First Fitna ; they were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to takfīr, whereby they declared both Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims to be either infidels or false Muslims, and therefore deemed them worthy of death for their perceived apostasy.
In addition, there are several differences within Sunnī and Shīʿa Islam: Sunnī Islam is separated into four main schools of jurisprudence, namely Mālikī, Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, and Ḥanbalī; these schools are named after their founders Mālik ibn Anas, Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān, Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, respectively. Shīʿa Islam, on the other hand, is separated into three major sects: Twelvers, Ismāʿīlīs, and Zaydīs. The vast majority of Shīʿa Muslims are Twelvers, to the extent that the term "Shīʿa" frequently refers to Twelvers by default. All mainstream Twelver and Ismāʿīlī Shīʿa Muslims follow the same school of thought, the Jaʽfari jurisprudence, named after Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, the sixth Shīʿīte Imam.
Zaydīs, also known as Fivers, follow the Zaydī school of thought. Ismāʿīlīsm is another offshoot of Shīʿa Islam that later split into Nizārī and Musta'lī, and the Musta'lī further divided into Ḥāfiẓi and Ṭayyibi. Ṭayyibi Ismāʿīlīs, also known as "Bohras", are split between Dawudi Bohras, Sulaymani Bohras, and Alavi Bohras.
Similarly, Kharijites were initially divided into five major branches: Sufris, Azariqa, Najdat, Adjarites, and Ibadis. Of these, Ibadi Muslims are the only surviving branch of Kharijites. In addition to the aforementioned groups, new schools of thought and movements like Ahmadi Muslims, Quranist Muslims, and African-American Muslims later emerged independently.
Muslims who do not belong to, do not self-identify with, or cannot be readily classified under one of the identifiable Islamic schools and branches are known as non-denominational Muslims.

Main branches or denominations

Sunnī Islam

, also known as Ahl as-Sunnah waʾl Jamāʾah or simply Ahl as-Sunnah, is by far the largest denomination of Islam, comprising around 87-90% of the Muslim population in the world. The term Sunnī comes from the word sunnah, which means the teachings, actions, and examples of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions.
Sunnīs believe that Muhammad did not specifically appoint a successor to lead the Muslim community before his death in 632 CE, however they approve of the private election of the first companion, Abū Bakr. Sunnī Muslims regard the first four caliphs—Abū Bakr, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib —as al-Khulafāʾ ur-Rāshidūn. Sunnīs also believe that the position of caliph may be attained democratically, on gaining a majority of the votes, but after the Rashidun, the position turned into a hereditary dynastic rule because of the divisions started by the Umayyads and others. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, there has never been another caliph as widely recognized in the Muslim world.
Followers of the classical Sunnī schools of jurisprudence and kalām on one hand, and Islamists and Salafists such as Wahhabis and Ahle Hadith, who follow a literalist reading of early Islamic sources, on the other, have laid competing claims to represent the "orthodox" Sunnī Islam. Anglophone Islamic currents of the former type are sometimes referred to as "traditional Islam". Islamic modernism is an offshoot of the Salafi movement that tried to integrate modernism into Islam by being partially influenced by modern-day attempts to revive the ideas of the Muʿtazila school by Islamic scholars such as Muhammad Abduh.

Shīʿa Islam

is the second-largest denomination of Islam, comprising around 10–13% of the total Muslim population. Although a minority in the Muslim world, Shīʿa Muslims constitute the majority of the Muslim populations in Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan, as well as significant minorities in Syria, Turkey, South Asia, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, as well as in other parts of the Persian Gulf.
In addition to believing in the supreme authority of the Quran and teachings of Muhammad, Shīʿa Muslims believe that Muhammad's family, the Ahl al-Bayt, including his descendants known as Imams, have distinguished spiritual and political authority over the community, and believe that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams and the rightful successor to Muhammad, and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three Rāshidūn caliphs.

Major sub-denominations

Shīʿīte groups and movements who either ascribe divine characteristics to some important figures in the history of Islam or hold beliefs deemed deviant by mainstream Shīʿa Muslims were designated as Ghulat.
  • The Alawites—a distinct Arab ethno-religious group—is the only ghulat sect still in existence today. Their movement was developed between the 9th and 10th centuries CE. Historically, Twelver Shīʿīte scholars such as Shaykh Tusi didn't consider Alawites as Shīʿa Muslims while condemning their beliefs, perceived as heretical. The medieval Sunnī Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyyah also pointed out that the Alawites were not Shīʿītes. However, the Sunni Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, issued a fatwa recognizing them as part of the Muslim community in the interest of Arab nationalism. And during the Syrian regime Hafez al-Assad and his son and successor Bashar al-Assad, Alawites have shown a tendency to move towards the regular Twelver Shīʿa Islam.

    Offshoots of Shīʿa Islam

  • The Ali-Illahis are a distinct syncretic religious movement which has been practiced in parts of the Luristan region in Iran which combines elements of Shīʿa Islam with older religions. It centers on the belief that there have been successive incarnations of the Deity throughout history, and Ali-Illahis reserve particular reverence for ʿAlī who is considered one such incarnation.
  • The Druze are a distinct monotheistic Abrahamic religion and ethno-religious group that developed in the 11th century CE, originally as an offshoot of Ismāʿīlīsm. The Druze faith further split from Ismāʿīlīsm as it developed its own unique doctrines, and finally separated from both Ismāʿīlīsm and Islam altogether; these include the belief that the Imam Al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh was God incarnate. Thus, the Druze don't identify themselves as Muslims, and aren't considered as such by Muslims either. According to the medieval Sunnī Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, the Druze were not Muslims, neither ′Ahl al-Kitāb, nor mushrikin ; rather, he labeled them as kuffār.
  • The Baháʼí Faith is a distinct monotheistic universal Abrahamic religion that developed in 19th-century Persia, originally derived as a splinter group from Bábism, another distinct monotheistic Abrahamic religion, itself derived from Twelver Shīʿīsm. Baháʼís believe in an utterly transcendent and inaccessible Supreme Creator of the universe, nevertheless seen as conscious of the creation, with a will and purpose that is expressed through messengers recognized in the Baháʼí Faith as the Manifestations of God. Baháʼís believe that God communicates his will and purpose to humanity through his intermediaries, the prophets and messengers who have founded various world religions from the beginning of humankind up to the present day, and will continue to do so in the future. Baháʼís and Bábis don't consider themselves as Muslims, since both of their religions have superseded Islam, and aren't considered as such by Muslims either; rather, they are seen as apostates from Islam. Since both Baháʼís and Bábis reject the Islamic dogma that Muhammad is the last prophet, they have suffered religious discrimination and persecution both in Iran and elsewhere in the Muslim world due to their beliefs..