Shiites and Sunnis
With the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632, a difference of opinion arose between Shias and Sunnis as to who should lead them now. The Sunnis believed that this should be the most able man among the followers. The Shiites saw Muhammad’s son-in-law and nephew Ali as the most suitable, the husband of Fatimah.
The Sunnis elected Abu Bakr as caliph and political and religious leader of Islam. The divisions led to countless wars in the centuries that followed and continues to play a defining role in the Islamic world and politics to this day.
Shiites and Sunnis also have differing views about Fatimah. In the Shia view, she was killed in an attack six months after her father’s death, but Sunnis oppose that.
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