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Article: Dispute over Muhammad's successor sparked Shiite-Sunni rift.
- Article from:
- The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA)
- Article date:
- February 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Andrew Maykuth
PHILADELPHIA _ The schism between Shiite and Sunni Muslims began almost 1,400 years ago, when disagreements arose over who would succeed the Prophet Muhammad as Islam's leader, or caliph.
Though events of centuries ago may seem distant today, many took place in Iraq in locations currently in the news _ places such as Karbala and Samarra, the site of Wednesday's bombing of a famous mosque, one of the holiest Shiite sites.
The rift began when the prophet died in A.D. 632. Sunni Muslims, who make up about 85 percent of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, believe that leadership passed to Abu Bakr, one of Muhammad's trusted ...