History of Islam

[chb03c]

Hello,

I was wondering if some of our Muslim guests could explain how the different schools of thought in Islam,that were mentioned in another thread, came to be. Are these sects seperated? How similar are they from the original Islam? Why is there several schools of thought? Hopefully this will get us started.

 

[chb03c]

No one has anything to say about this topic?

 

[Cyber_Knight]

chb03c:

Hello,

I was wondering if some of our Muslim guests could explain how the different schools of thought in Islam,that were mentioned in another thread, came to be. Are these sects seperated? How similar are they from the original Islam? Why is there several schools of thought? Hopefully this will get us started.

Nothing much different with other denominations of christian.

PS: actually confused with your questions… school of thought???

 

[Muslim]

Cyber Knight:

Nothing much different with other denominations of christian.

PS: actually confused with your questions… school of thought???

yeah Islam has 4 schools of thoughts…
they are the:
Hanafi
Shafi
Malik
Hanbali

school of thoughts just mean how these ‘school of thoughts’ have some different rulings…such as the Sharia…they are not sects… and it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between the 4.

 

[George_Waters]

Muslim:

yeah Islam has 4 schools of thoughts…
they are the:
Hanafi
Shafi
Malik
Hanbali

school of thoughts just mean how these ‘school of thoughts’ have some different rulings…such as the Sharia…they are not sects… and it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between the 4.

Would you care to elaborate a bit, perhaps give an example? Thank you.

 

[chb03c]

Muslim:

yeah Islam has 4 schools of thoughts…
they are the:
Hanafi
Shafi
Malik
Hanbali

school of thoughts just mean how these ‘school of thoughts’ have some different rulings…such as the Sharia…they are not sects… and it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between the 4.

Also to add to George Waters post; can you give historical developement of these schools of thought.

 

[First_of_9]

Muslim:

yeah Islam has 4 schools of thoughts…
they are the:
Hanafi
Shafi
Malik
Hanbali

school of thoughts just mean how these ‘school of thoughts’ have some different rulings…such as the Sharia…they are not sects… and it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between the 4.

Then why has there been so much violence between Sunni and Shia?

 

[Contarini]

First of 9:

Then why has there been so much violence between Sunni and Shia?

The Sunni and Shia are different from the four schools. The four schools are all Sunni.

Edwin

 

[Muslim]

First of 9:

Then why has there been so much violence between Sunni and Shia?

same reason Protestants and Catholics have had violence in Ireland… stuff happens man… and its not really about religion as it is about ethnic cleansing… just like Rwanda and so many other countires… Shiites are usually of a different ethnicity…such as Persians than Sunnis who are mostly Arabs (in that part of the region)…then there are Kurdish who are pretty much the poor white folks in Iraq but does not have any land to call their own. Its all really a fight between politics and land ownership… it really has nothing to do with religion. that is just an excuse these people use…

 

[Muslim]

George Waters:

Would you care to elaborate a bit, perhaps give an example? Thank you.

sure no problem…
the hanafi school which has the most followers so to speak… does not have any punishment for blasphemy for apostasy…while the hanbali school does (all the crazy fundies belong to hanbali usually which is the root of Wahabi… Salafi and Wahabi are almost the same although Salafi people are generally more religious than political and Wahabi are more political than religious).
the difference between fourschools like I mentioned are almost nondistinguishable by most Muslims and non Muslims… its just that there are some stuff that they interpret differently but the core of itis still the same…
most Muslims out of the Arab world does not really even belong to any of these ‘school of thoughts’ because they just live the life according to what they believe in the Qu’ran… to be honest I did not even know anything about these school of thoughts until recently.
also shias have a school of thought called “jafari” but i dont know much about it… a lot of shias are just downright crazy and have no basis in Islam… if you ever seen pictures (i am sure you have, if not go to any anti Islamic site and you will see them. im sure they have been posted here as well) of people who cut themselves or looks like they are bleeding, its because they are some crazy shias who do self flaggelation just like some Christian sects do as well… it is strictly prohibited because we are not supposed to harm our body in anyway (people smoke but technically you are not supposed to). they also pretty much worship Ali more than Allah sometimes.
the historical aspect of the 4 school of thoughts is that in Islam there is a thingcalled ‘itjihad’ which means free thinking… basically there are some things which are open to interpretation as it says in the Qu’ran…the others are very clear… so the thingsthat are open to interpretation are things like status of dhimmi (protected ones… or non muslims)… all the school believes that they are to be protected,etc… hanbali believes they are second class citizens while the other believes that they have the same rights as a Muslim… so there were four Imams who pretty much interpretated with other scholars and stufff and therefore the four school were born… i think Hanafi is actually comprised of few diff other schools… anyways, i hope this clears up some stuff… i dont even know the entire history of it as I am still learning the religion…
the more you know about the entire Islamic history and the Qu’ran and everything, the more you know that Islam is not as barbaric as it seems… Muslims? some of them, yes… Islam? not so much…
so i encourage all of you to learn about it from a non biased persepctive rather than from people who has hatred for Islam.
we are all brothers in faith…
thanks for reading and God bless.

 

[George_Waters]

Muslim:

sure no problem…
the hanafi school which has the most followers so to speak… does not have any punishment for blasphemy for apostasy…while the hanbali school does (all the crazy fundies belong to hanbali usually which is the root of Wahabi… Salafi and Wahabi are almost the same although Salafi people are generally more religious than political and Wahabi are more political than religious).
the difference between fourschools like I mentioned are almost nondistinguishable by most Muslims and non Muslims… its just that there are some stuff that they interpret differently but the core of itis still the same…
most Muslims out of the Arab world does not really even belong to any of these ‘school of thoughts’ because they just live the life according to what they believe in the Qu’ran… to be honest I did not even know anything about these school of thoughts until recently.
also shias have a school of thought called “jafari” but i dont know much about it… a lot of shias are just downright crazy and have no basis in Islam… if you ever seen pictures (i am sure you have, if not go to any anti Islamic site and you will see them. im sure they have been posted here as well) of people who cut themselves or looks like they are bleeding, its because they are some crazy shias who do self flaggelation just like some Christian sects do as well… it is strictly prohibited because we are not supposed to harm our body in anyway (people smoke but technically you are not supposed to). they also pretty much worship Ali more than Allah sometimes.
the historical aspect of the 4 school of thoughts is that in Islam there is a thingcalled ‘itjihad’ which means free thinking… basically there are some things which are open to interpretation as it says in the Qu’ran…the others are very clear… so the thingsthat are open to interpretation are things like status of dhimmi (protected ones… or non muslims)… all the school believes that they are to be protected,etc… hanbali believes they are second class citizens while the other believes that they have the same rights as a Muslim… so there were four Imams who pretty much interpretated with other scholars and stufff and therefore the four school were born… i think Hanafi is actually comprised of few diff other schools… anyways, i hope this clears up some stuff… i dont even know the entire history of it as I am still learning the religion…
the more you know about the entire Islamic history and the Qu’ran and everything, the more you know that Islam is not as barbaric as it seems… Muslims? some of them, yes… Islam? not so much…
so i encourage all of you to learn about it from a non biased persepctive rather than from people who has hatred for Islam.
we are all brothers in faith…
thanks for reading and God bless.

Thank you for posting this Muslim! I do appreciate it!

 

[chb03c]

Thank you Muslim for posting this it was very helpful. I do have a question. Who is Ali and how does Ali differ from Allah.

 

[Faith101]

chb03c:

Thank you Muslim for posting this it was very helpful. I do have a question. Who is Ali and how does Ali differ from Allah.

Ali, may God be please with him, was the cousin of Prophet Mohamed and the fouth calipha (leader of the Muslims). He was also married to the Prophet’s daughter, fatima. He was a companion of the Prophet and among the most pious of Muslims.

Allah is God. Ali is a human being. The difference between them is like the difference between chb03C and God

 

[Faith101]

Muslim:

sure no problem…
the hanafi school which has the most followers so to speak… does not have any punishment for blasphemy for apostasy…while the hanbali school does (all the crazy fundies belong to hanbali usually which is the root of Wahabi… Salafi and Wahabi are almost the same although Salafi people are generally more religious than political and Wahabi are more political than religious).
the difference between fourschools like I mentioned are almost nondistinguishable by most Muslims and non Muslims… its just that there are some stuff that they interpret differently but the core of itis still the same…
most Muslims out of the Arab world does not really even belong to any of these ‘school of thoughts’ because they just live the life according to what they believe in the Qu’ran… to be honest I did not even know anything about these school of thoughts until recently.
also shias have a school of thought called “jafari” but i dont know much about it… a lot of shias are just downright crazy and have no basis in Islam… if you ever seen pictures (i am sure you have, if not go to any anti Islamic site and you will see them. im sure they have been posted here as well) of people who cut themselves or looks like they are bleeding, its because they are some crazy shias who do self flaggelation just like some Christian sects do as well… it is strictly prohibited because we are not supposed to harm our body in anyway (people smoke but technically you are not supposed to). they also pretty much worship Ali more than Allah sometimes.
the historical aspect of the 4 school of thoughts is that in Islam there is a thingcalled ‘itjihad’ which means free thinking… basically there are some things which are open to interpretation as it says in the Qu’ran…the others are very clear… so the thingsthat are open to interpretation are things like status of dhimmi (protected ones… or non muslims)… all the school believes that they are to be protected,etc… hanbali believes they are second class citizens while the other believes that they have the same rights as a Muslim… so there were four Imams who pretty much interpretated with other scholars and stufff and therefore the four school were born… i think Hanafi is actually comprised of few diff other schools… anyways, i hope this clears up some stuff… i dont even know the entire history of it as I am still learning the religion…
the more you know about the entire Islamic history and the Qu’ran and everything, the more you know that Islam is not as barbaric as it seems… Muslims? some of them, yes… Islam? not so much…
so i encourage all of you to learn about it from a non biased persepctive rather than from people who has hatred for Islam.
we are all brothers in faith…
thanks for reading and God bless.

May Allah reward you Muslim for your good intentions.

Shia, while having some differences, are still Muslim and our brothers in faith. The 5 pillars, including believing that there is no diety worthy of worship but Allah and Mohamed was His messenger, are still the same between Shia and Sunni. To say that they worship Ali more then Allah is not true.

 

[chb03c]

As it was mentioned in Muslim’s post above some Muslims worship Ali. According to the Koran this is an illegal practice. If that is true why is it that some of these Muslims worship Ali?

 

[Faith101]

chb03c:

As it was mentioned in Muslim’s post above some Muslims worship Ali. According to the Koran this is an illegal practice. If that is true why is it that some of these Muslims worship Ali?

I dont think they worship Ali. They exalt him to a high status, yes…but not to the status of Allah.

All Muslims, including Shia, believe that only Allah is worthy of worship.

 

[Contarini]

Muslim:

sure no problem…
the hanafi school which has the most followers so to speak… does not have any punishment for blasphemy for apostasy…

I’d like to see some backup for this claim. I know that Wikipedia is not a terribly reliable source, but for what it’s worth the Wikipedia article on apostasy in Islam says that all four schools of fiqh support the death penalty, though they differ on the circumstances under which it should be administered. That concurs with what I thought was the case.

I know it’s cheeky of me to challenge you on your own religion, but when I hear conflicting things I honestly want to know what is correct. And I know that people do make mistakes about their own religion sometimes. Please don’t be offended!

Edwin

 

[Muslim]

Faith101:

I dont think they worship Ali. They exalt him to a high status, yes…but not to the status of Allah.

All Muslims, including Shia, believe that only Allah is worthy of worship.

thats why i said some do…
and they have pictures in the Mosque too!

 

[Muslim]

Faith101:

May Allah reward you Muslim for your good intentions.

Shia, while having some differences, are still Muslim and our brothers in faith. The 5 pillars, including believing that there is no diety worthy of worship but Allah and Mohamed was His messenger, are still the same between Shia and Sunni. To say that they worship Ali more then Allah is not true.

most shia’s dont but some do… they dont worship him in the sense that they think he is God… they hold him at a higher esteem than Prophet Muhammad (not all but some do… the really hardcore ones)
but yes other than that most Shias are Muslim as well…

 

[Contarini]

Muslim:

also shias have a school of thought called “jafari” but i dont know much about it… a lot of shias are just downright crazy and have no basis in Islam… if you ever seen pictures (i am sure you have, if not go to any anti Islamic site and you will see them. im sure they have been posted here as well) of people who cut themselves or looks like they are bleeding, its because they are some crazy shias who do self flaggelation just like some Christian sects do as well… it is strictly prohibited because we are not supposed to harm our body in anyway (people smoke but technically you are not supposed to). they also pretty much worship Ali more than Allah sometimes.

I would ask all Catholics to bear in mind that the foregoing is equivalent to a Protestant description of Catholicism. “They worship Ali more than Allah” is much like “Catholics worship Mary.” The Shiites have more room for veneration of saints than the Sunnis do (though the Sufis do venerate saints, and contrary to what you will hear people claim Sufism is historically a central part of mainstream Islam). But they worship only God, just like the Sunnis.

I have recently read in Marshall Hodgson’s history of Islam that Iran (and parts of Iraq) became Shiite only in the 16th century.
The Safavid dynasty basically forced everyone to become Shiite and created a state-sponsored Shiism that has dominated the region ever since.

the historical aspect of the 4 school of thoughts is that in Islam there is a thingcalled ‘itjihad’ which means free thinking…

And if I’m not mistaken (again I’m relying on Hodgson) the “gates of ijtihad” were closed about a thousand years ago, so that Muslims were expected to follow one of the established schools rather than starting their own traditions. But some Muslims rejected this, if I remember correctly.

Edwin