The Shia-Sunni split is not a recent phenomenon. The root of this division can be traced to just a few days after the death of our Prophet (pbuh&hp;). Shi'as believe that the Prophet within his lifetime unambiguously appointed Imam Ali bin Abi Talib as his successor, and the caliph of the Muslim ummah (nation) after his death. However, Sunnis believe that the Prophet did not decicively fix the choice of the caliph after him, nor did he fix or proscribe any method of selection of this next ca
The Shia-Sunni split is not a recent phenomenon. The root of this division can be traced to just a few days after the death of our Prophet (pbuh&hp). Shi'as believe that the Prophet within his lifetime unambiguously appointed Imam Ali bin Abi Talib as his successor, and the caliph of the Muslim ummah (nation) after his death.
However, Sunnis believe that the Prophet did not decicively fix the choice of the caliph after him, nor did he fix or proscribe any method of selection of this next caliph. As a result, Sunnis accept Imam Ali (a.s.) to be the fourth caliph, not the first (the first three recorded in their histories are Abu Bakr, Umar al-Farook and Uthman bin Affan).
source : sibtayn
