 Save 10% with my code Bobby10 on raw, organic, grass-fed and grass-finished, freeze-dried organ meats from grassland nutrition. Link in the description box. Alright guys, welcome back to the channel. If you're new, my name is Bobby. Guys, today we're going to react to Muslim schism, how Islam split into the Sunni and Shia branches by kings and generals. I personally am not much of a history buff. What attracted me to Islam in the first place was the timeless message, the timeless message of one God, the Tawhid that we can find within Islam. Reading the Quran, what I found extremely attractive, was that the Quran said that there should be no sects within Islam. I come from the Orthodox Christian sect, if you will, and looking into the schism between Christian Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and then further into Protestantism etc. etc. I was and still am very opposed to sects. Nevertheless, Sunnis and Shias reached out to me and both parties want to explain their position. I personally do not know enough about it to say who is right or wrong. So I hope that this video today will clarify it a little bit. Let's have a look. Today there are more than 1.5 billion Muslims living across the globe, with Muslim majority countries spreading from Morocco to Indonesia. But just like virtually all other religions, Islam is not united and has branches interpreting the Quran and matters related to political events in the history of Islam in a different way. The two main denominations of Islam are Sunnism and Shiaism, with Sunnis making up 85-90% of the Muslim population. But how did the split in the Muslim world happen? In today's video we are going to talk about the schism in Islam, the emergence of Sunni and Shia Islam and the effects it had on the Caliphate and beyond. We need to start our story with Ali ibn Abi Talib, one of the most important people in the history of Islam. Ali was born in Mecca in the powerful Hashimi clan and was a cousin of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. They had a strong bond, as Ali's father had raised Muhammad when he became orphaned and later Ali would live in Muhammad's household. When in 610 AD Muhammad proclaimed his prophethood, Ali was one of the first people to accept Islam and recognize Muhammad as the prophet. But Muhammad's proselytizing was not initially popular among the polytheistic and he and the early Muslims had been oppressed. The rumors of a plot against Muhammad were spreading, forcing him to leave Mecca for Medina with the majority of his followers in 622, which was called Hidra, the migration, an event so momentous that the new Islamic calendar starts with that day. Initially Ali stayed behind to return people the possessions they had entrusted upon the prophet for safekeeping, but very soon he joined other Muslims in Medina and in 623 married Muhammad's daughter Fatima Zahra becoming one of the most trusted companions of Muhammad. Known in the Muslim community for wisdom and fairness, he earned the nickname Asad Allah, the Lion of God for his military exploits and courage on the battlefield. By 631, the Islamic community, the Ummah, had been able to assert control over Mecca and large swaths of the Arabian Peninsula and was already a formidable force, but who was going to succeed aging Muhammad? And this is the root of the split in Islam. As one would expect, Sunni and Shia sources offer different interpretations. As far as I know Shias believe that Ali is the rightful successor in the even curse the other four rightly guided caliphs. His last pilgrimage, Muhammad gave a sermon at the Ghadir Qum Oasis, took Ali by his hand and proclaimed that anyone who has me as his Mola has Ali as his Mola. Shia theology believes that in Ghadir Qum, the prophet designated Ali as his successor by calling him Mola, a Polissimus Arabian. Please let me know in the comment section what this is based upon, this comment here, anyone who has me as his Mola has Ali as his Mola. Is this an authentic Hadith? Is this historically accurate? Please let me know. Word with several meanings, one of which is leader or master. Sunnis believe that the Ghadir Qum episode was merely a proclamation of affinity of the prophet to his loyal companion and son-in-law and interpret the word Mola using its second definition a friend. Another important episode in the succession dispute between the Sunni and Shia theologies is connected to the so-called pen and paper episode. This is considered a genuine Hadith as both Sunni and Shia theologians accept it but interpret it differently. In Islam, a Hadith is a story on the life of Muhammad with religious and legal messages for the Muslim community and according to this one, a few days before his death, Muhammad asked his companions to bring him pen and paper so that he could write a statement in order to prevent the Umar from going astray after his death. But one of Muhammad's closest companions, Umar said, the prophet is seriously ill and we have got Allah's book with us and that is sufficient for us. This led to a loud dispute in the room in the presence of Muhammad who got unhappy and called everyone to leave. It is still unclear what the prophet wanted to write. Shia's claim that he intended to designate Ali as his successor but there's no way to determine this. According to Sunnis, the prophet did not explicitly designate a successor and left it for the Islamic community to decide. There are other events which Sunnis and Shia base their claims on regarding the succession but in short, following Muhammad's death in 632, the Umar did not have a consensus on a new leader. While Ali took charge of the arrangement Man, with this pen and paper incident, it makes the story even more complicated. How would we really know we would have to trust those sources either way? And this is why I said in the beginning, I'm not much of a history buff myself. Sure, it is interesting to hear such stories but we will never truly know because we weren't there. I didn't live in that time frame therefore I cannot truly know what has happened, who is truly right or wrong. This is why when it comes down to statements of faith they cannot be based in the past. From a Christian perspective we believe in the resurrection of Christ and this determines all of our belief system. So only if we truly believe that Jesus was crucified and rose again we can consider ourselves believers. We can consider ourselves Christians but this is an event that happened in the past. So we cannot truly know but I am of the firm conviction that we can truly know within that there is only one God and this is what is so attractive of the message of Islam yet again not so much the historical claims for me personally. While Ali took charge of the arrangements of the funeral, a meeting to decide the successor took place in Medina. Ali and two other prominent companions of the Prophet Abu Bakr and Umar were not present and deliberations took place without them. In fact the majority of those present were the Muslims residing in Medina who welcomed Muhammad or were converted later, while very few of those who went on a hijra from Mecca to Medina with Muhammad were there. Abu Bakr and Umar rushed to the meeting and took charge of the process in Ali's absence. The former was one of the first converts to Islam, Muhammad's father-in-law through his daughter Aisha. Deeply respected by modern Sunnis, he was very rich and contributed a lot to the cause of Islam and was arguably one of the main contenders for leadership. Umar was also a close companion of Muhammad, also his father-in-law through his daughter Hafsa, known for his zealous protection of the Prophet. He is known as a just, intelligent and wise person in the Sunni tradition. After a heated debate, Umar was able to persuade those present to choose Abu Bakr as the successor, the Khalif, a ruler of the Muslim Umar. It's very strange to me that they excluded Abu Bakr and Umar from that meeting, that sounds really fishy to me. He was later presented with the fact of succession and along with a number of other companions initially refused to accept the decision as it was taken without him while he was one of the strongest candidates. Umar embarked on the process of persuading or forcing the companions to offer fealty to Abu Bakr. He personally came to Ali's house to persuade him. The events which followed have been the subject of much dispute as the Sunnis believe that Umar was able to peacefully persuade Ali to recognize Abu Bakr's caliphate. According to Shia sources, Umar forced Ali to concede by breaking into the house and slamming the door, which broke Ali's wife, Fatima Zahra's ribs, eventually leading to the miscarriage of their child. Ali himself was tied with a rope to force his allegiance. It is impossible to verify what really happened, but eventually Ali accepted Abu Bakr and his successor Umar as caliphs and retired from public life. He was often consulted in matters of state. Ali accepted the selection of Umar as caliph and even gave one of his daughters, Um Kulfim, to him in marriage. After the death of Umar in- So as the commentator said, it is really impossible for us to know, but if it is true that Ali then gave his daughter in to marriage, then I couldn't believe that Umar kicked in the door and broke the ribs of his wife. Ali was considered for the position, but eventually another companion of Muhammad, Uthman of the Banyu Umia clan, became the new caliph. Again Ali recognized the new caliph, but very soon discontent in the caliphate grew. Again the sources do not agree on the reasons, but many claimed that Uthman's nepotism and leniency towards tribal rivalries were the cause of the opposition against him. Rebels offered to support Ali as an alternative to Uthman, but Ali refused and even sent his sons Hassan and his same to protect Uthman's house, where eventually despite all the protection Uthman was assassinated by rebels from Egypt in 656. Finally Ali's turn to become a caliph came and he became the fourth and last of the Rashidun caliphs. Honestly yet again I have to repeat myself, I cannot possibly know what has happened in the past nor am I a historian or some sort of scholar, but from this video from what I heard here the Sunni side makes more sense to me. His election was not smooth and he became a caliph amidst very tumultuous times. The prophet's wife Aisha and Uthman's relatives from the Banyu Umia clan, including the governor of Syria Muawiyah, demanded that Ali punish the plotters of Uthman's death, but since some of them were Ali's supporters the new caliph rejected this and soon the first Muslim civil war, called Fitna, started. In December 656 Ali's army defeated the rebels at the Battle of Kamal near Basra, but Muawiyah still refused to accept Ali as a new caliph and the anti-Ali opposition gathered around him. Ali was willing to not repeat Uthman's mistakes and carried out measures to centralize the caliphate and decrease the power of governors. The two men assembled their armies and confronted each other at Sifin on the Euphrates in 657. Neither side was keen to commit to a major battle, but after three months of occasional skirmishes when serious fighting finally broke out Muawiyah's followers called for an arbitration, apparently riding out with copies of the Quran on their lances to bring the conflict to a stop. Ali was forced to agree, but some of his followers objected and abandoned him. They became known as the Karijis from the Arabic verb Karajah to leave because they left Ali's army. According to the arbitration, which took place at Adru in 658 or 659, it was ruled that both Ali and Muawiyah should relinquish their claims and the Muslim Ummah should have a chance to choose their own ruler. Ali rejected this ruling and the stalemate continued as Muawiyah's supporters proclaimed him a caliph in Damascus in 660. The following year Ali was assassinated by the Karijis while praying in the mosque at Kuffa. Ali's son Hassan was proclaimed a new caliph in Kuffa. Okay, this is new to me as well that Ali has been assassinated by the Karijis. The way that I understood it listening to Shias is that there was some sort of plot from Abu Bakr and Aisha and they actually assassinated Ali. Please let me know in the comment section what you guys think. This became the capital during Ali's short reign. But Muawiyah had a far stronger army. Thus Hassan stepped down as a caliph in order to avoid further bloodshed and a treaty between the sides was signed. According to the treaty, Hassan accepted Muawiyah as a caliph under the condition that he would act in accordance with Islam. Muawiyah would not appoint a successor and a new caliph should be elected by the electoral council Shura. Muawiyah would abandon cursing Ali and persecuting Ali's family and supporters. But Muawiyah would not stay true to his pledges and towards the end of his reign he designated his son Yazid as a successor. This would be breaking off the tradition of the Islamic caliphate as a state which elected its leader through consultation or election to a monarchy. Muawiyah summoned the Shura in Damascus, the new capital of the caliphate and through persuasion and bribery was able to secure support for Yazid. This development caused significant opposition in different quarters and this opposition started gathering around Muhammad's grandson and Ali's son Hussein who replaced Hassan who passed away in 670 as the leader. Despite the opposition, Muawiyah was able to secure the support of Mecca and Medina for Yazid. Ali's capital Kufa was the potential stronghold of the opposition and the death of Muawiyah in 680 put events which would further divide the Islamic world into action. Following Muawiyah's death, Yazid became the new caliph and immediately demanded allegiance of Hussein. Yazid's envoy could not persuade Hussein to do this and was afraid of killing him since Hussein was the prophet's grandson. Around the same time, the people of the city of Kufa started sending letters to Hussein informing him about their opposition to the Umayyad rule, their support for him and intention to remove Yazid from power and install him instead. The Kufa and sided with Ali during the first fitna continued to support his family by backing his son and were unhappy when he abdicated in favor of Muawiyah. Hussein accepted this call and sent his cousin Muslim Ibn Aqil to Kufa to assess the situation and gather support. Initially, Muslim Ibn Aqil was very successful and he informed Hussein of his progress. Yazid was forced to change the governor of Kufa to defeat the opposition in the city and the new governor succeeded in doing just that. With support I didn't expect this video to continue. I thought they're gonna wrap it up at the assassination of Ali. I thought that this is the only real dispute between Shias and Sunnis. Muslim Ibn Aqil decided to carry out a revolt before Hussein's arrival but it was defeated. Hussein did not know about this and in September of 680 started his journey towards Kufa with around 50 men and his family members. On the way, Hussein received information about the death of Muslim Ibn Aqil and the defeat of the revolt in Kufa. He called on those who joined him on the way to leave, understanding the futility of his attempt to challenge Yazid. Very soon Yazid's forces confronted Hussein and an envoy of Kufa's new governor told Hussein to come with him or turn back and go anywhere but Medina. Hussein refused and continued on his path with the envoy's forces accompanying him. On the 2nd of October, Hussein reached Karbala and set camp there. On the following day, Yazid sent an additional 4,000 men to confront Hussein. The Umayyad army had orders to prevent Hussein's men from accessing the Euphrates River in order to force them to concede due to lack of water. But three days later, Hussein's group was able to access water, creating a stalemate. For over a week, Yazid's officials had tried to persuade Hussein to accept his fate and pledge allegiance to Yazid since they understood the consequences of attacking the Prophet's grandson. Ultimately, Hussein refused the offers of Yazid and on the 10th of October, the Umayyad army approached Hussein's camp and both sides took their battle positions. Hussein's companions fought valiantly, but the forces were extremely uneven. He and his men were massacred. This included seven sons of Ali, including Hussein himself, two of Hussein's sons, three sons of his brother Hassan, and the other grandchildren of Ali. Many from the Prophet's family were killed. This was a final straw, completing the schism in the Islamic world, and dividing it into Sunni and Shia, the process which started with the dispute over succession to Muhammad. This is exactly what I heard previously, that Ali was assassinated first and then the rest of the family was massacred too. And if this is historically accurate, then of course the question arises, why was the family of the Prophet massacred? Why would so-called believers, Muslims, kill the family of the Prophet and continued with the killing of Ali and Hussein, caused the split of Islam with Shi'at Ali, Ali's party, first becoming a political movement within Islam and later transforming into a branch of Islam, offering alternative interpretation of the Quran and Hadiths, its own view on Islamic jurisprudence, on state and some religious practices, venerating the people of the house, Muhammad's direct descendants as his righteous successors. The Sunni, also known as the people of the Sunnah and the community, ala Sunnah wa al-Jama, remained the majority in Islam and although naturally there has been some transformation in Sunni Islam in comparison with early Islam, coming with new times and different interpretations of holy texts by Sunni scholars, the main distinctions between the two largest branches of Islam go back to the events we have described above. And while Sunni theology respects the Al-Al-Bait as well, it rejects the premise that the Islamic Umar should be ruled by the Al-Al-Bait. The killing of Ali, the massacre of Hussein, his family members and companions, strengthened the sense of injustice against the Prophet's family among the Shi'a Muslims and turned martyrdom into one of its main pillars. Ali's martyrdom during the prayer, Hussein's martyrdom during the struggle against the perceived tyrant and usurper, turned into a powerful symbol of Shi'a Islam. The first month of the Muslim calendar, Muharram, is the annual period of mourning for the Shi'a Muslims. With the 10th of Muharram, known as Ashura, the day of the battle of Kabbalah becoming the peak day of mourning ceremonies. Millions of devoted Shi'as make the Arba'een pilgrimage on foot to the holy shrine of Imam Hussein in Kabbalah every year. The Shi'a defeat in the battle of Kabbalah did not stop the supporters of the Al-Al-Bait from opposing the existing state of affairs in the Islamic world. Decenters to the existing state of affairs in Islam would take up the flag of the party of Ali and challenge the rule of the Caliphate. Numerous powerful states and dynasties, such as the Fatimids, Boyids, Nazaris, Safavids and others, emerged throughout the Islamic world, armed with the powerful idea of Shi'a Islam. In our episode on the Hashashans, link to which is in the description and pinned comment, you can learn about some of the events that followed the Muslim schism. And we're planning more episodes on the topic, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button to see the next video in the series. Alright, this is it for today's video long enough. As it is man, I have to say, listening to this video halfway through, I was on the Sunni side, but then listening till the end, I have to say that the Shi'a side has some good arguments as well. In the end, ultimately, I'm left with the same conclusion as in the beginning yet again. I really do not know. So guys, let me know in the comment section what you guys think. Who is right? Shi'as or Sunnis? Discuss it, but please stay respectful. Alright guys, but this is it for today's video. If you liked it, leave the thumbs up. If you haven't subscribed already, guys, please do so. Over 70% of you guys are not subscribed. 70% of my views come from unsubscribed viewers. Please subscribe and hit the bell notification button as well. Alright, but this is it. As always, may God bless you all. Much love and peace.