Islamic schools and branches

There are three traditional types of schools in Islam: schools of jurisprudence, Sufi orders, and schools of theology. Other types of Islamic denominations and movements have arisen in the modern era.
Overview.
The original difference between Sunnis and Shias is over who the true first successor to Muhammad is. Shias believe Ali ibn Abi Talib is the true successor to Muhammad, while Sunnis consider Abu Bakr to hold that position. The Khawarij broke away from both the Shias and Sunnis during the First Fitna (the first Islamic Civil War) and subsequently opposed both the Shias and the Sunnis, often violently.
In addition, there are several differences within Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. Sunni Islam is separated into four main schools of jurisprudence, namely, Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali. These schools are named after Abu Hanifa, Malik ibn Anas, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, respectively.
Shia Islam, on the other hand, is separated into three major sects: Twelvers, Ismailis, and Zaydis. The vast majority of Shias are Twelvers (a 2012 estimate puts the figure as 85% of Shias being Twelvers) to the extent that the term "Shia" frequently refers to Twelvers by default. All mainstream Twelver Shia Muslims follow the same school of thought, the Jafari school of thought (named after Jafar as-Sadiq, the sixth Shia Imam). All four founders of the Sunni schools of thought gained knowledge, either directly or indirectly, through Jafar as-Sadiq.
Zaydis, also known as Fivers, follow the Zayidi school of thought (named after Zayd ibn Ali). Isma'ilism is another offshoot of Shia Islam that later split into Nizari Ismaili and Musta’li Ismaili, and then Mustaali was divided into Hafizi and Taiyabi Ismailis. Tayyibi Ismailis, also known as "Bohras", are split between Da'udi Bohras, Sulaymani Bohras, and Alavi Bohras.
Similarly, Kharijites were initially divided into five major branches: Sufris, Azariqa, Najdat, Adjarites and Ibadis. Of these, Ibadis are the only surviving branch of Kharijites.
In addition to the aforementioned groups, new schools of thought and movements like Quranist Muslims, and African American Muslims later emerged independently.
Sectarian divisions.
Sunni Islam.
Sunni Islam, also known as "Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l-Jamā'h" or simply "Ahl as-Sunnah", is by far the largest denomination of Islam comprising around 90% of the Muslim Population in the world. The word "Sunni" comes from the word "sunnah", which means the teachings and actions or examples of the "Sahaba" and the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.
The Sunnis believe that Muhammad did not specifically appoint a successor to lead the Muslim "ummah" (community) before his death, however they approve of the private election of the first companion, Abu Bakr. Sunni Muslims regard the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib) as "al-Khulafā'ur-Rāshidūn" or "The Rightly Guided Caliphs." Sunnis also believe that the position of caliph may be attained democratically, on gaining a majority of the votes, but after the Rashidun, the position turned into a hereditary dynastic rule because of the divisions started by the Umayyads and others. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, there has never been another caliph as widely recognized in the Muslim world.
In recent times, followers of the classical Sunni schools of jurisprudence and "kalam" (rationalistic theology) on one hand and Islamists and Salafis such as Wahhabis and Ahle Hadith, who follow a literalist reading of early Islamic sources, on the other, have laid competing claims to represent orthodox Sunni Islam. Anglophone Islamic currents of the former type are sometimes referred to as "traditional Islam". Islamic Modernism is an offshoot of the Salafi movement that tried to integrate modernism into Islam by being partially influenced by modern-day attempts to revive the ideas of the Mu'tazila school by scholars such as Muhammad Abduh.
Shia Islam.
Shia Islam is the second-largest denomination of Islam, comprising around 10% of the total Muslim population. Although a minority in the Muslim world, Shia Muslims constitute the majority of the Muslim populations in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain and Azerbaijan as well as significant minorities in Syria, Turkey, eastern Africa, south Asia, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Persian Gulf.
In addition to believing in the authority of the Quran and teachings of Muhammad, Shia believe that Muhammad's family, the Ahl al-Bayt (the "People of the House"), including his descendants known as Imams, have special spiritual and political authority over the community and believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams and was the rightful successor to Muhammad, and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three Rashidun caliphs.
The Shia Islamic faith is broad and includes many different groups. There are various Shia theological beliefs, schools of jurisprudence, philosophical beliefs, and spiritual movements.
Ghulat movements in history.
Muslim groups who either ascribe divine characteristics to some figures of Islamic history (usually a member of Muhammad's family, Ahl al-Bayt) or hold beliefs deemed deviant by mainstream Shi'i theology were called "Ghulat".
Kharijite Islam.
Kharijite (literally, "those who seceded") is a general term embracing a variety of Muslim sects which, while originally supporting the Caliphate of Ali, later on fought against him and eventually succeeded in his martyrdom while he was praying in the mosque of Kufa. While there are few remaining Kharijite or Kharijite-related groups, the term is sometimes used to denote Muslims who refuse to compromise with those with whom they disagree.
The major Kharijite sub-sect today is the Ibadi. The sect developed out of the 7th century Islamic sect of the Kharijites. While Ibadi Muslims maintain most of the beliefs of the original Kharijites, they have rejected the more aggressive methods.
A number of Kharijite groups went extinct in the past:
Sufi orders.
Sufism is Islam's mystical-ascetic dimension and is represented by schools or orders known as "Tasawwufī-Ṭarīqah." It is seen as that aspect of Islamic teaching that deals with the purification of inner self. By focusing on the more spiritual aspects of religion, Sufis strive to obtain direct experience of God by making use of "intuitive and emotional faculties" that one must be trained to use.
The following list contains some notable Sufi orders:
Schools of jurisprudence.
Islamic schools of jurisprudence, known as "madhhabs", differ in the methodology they use to derive their rulings from the Quran and hadith.
Sunni.
In terms of religious jurisprudence ("fiqh"), Sunnism contains several schools of thought ("madhhab") such as:
The Salafi movement, is a reform branch or revivalist movement in Sunni Islam that does not believe in strictly following one particular madhhab. They include the Wahhabi movement, an Islamic doctrine and religious movement founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the Ahle Hadith movement whose followers call themselves Ahl al-Hadith while others consider them to be a branch of the Salafi or Wahhabi movement.
Shia.
The major Shia school of jurisprudence is the Ja'fari or Imāmī school. It is further divided into two branches, the Usuli school, which favors the exercise of ijtihad, and the Akhbari school, which holds the traditions ("aḵbār") of the Imams to be the main source of religious knowledge. Minor schools include the Ismāʿīlī school (Mustaʿlī-Fāṭimid Ṭayyibi Ismāʿīlīyah), and the Zaydī school, which have closer affinity to Sunni jurisprudence.
Ibadi.
The fiqh or jurisprudence of Ibadis is relatively simple. Absolute authority is given to the Qur'an and hadith; new innovations accepted on the basis of qiyas (analogical reasoning) were rejected as bid'ah (heresy) by the Ibadis. That differs from the majority of Sunnis but agrees with most Shi'ites and the Zahiri and early Hanbali schools of Sunnism.
Schools of Islamic theology.
"Aqidah" is an Islamic term meaning "creed", doctrine, or article of faith. There have existed many schools of Islamic theology, not all of which survive to the present day. Major themes of theological controversies in Islam have included predestination and free will, the nature of the Quran, the nature of the divine attributes, apparent and esoteric meaning of scripture, and the role of dialectical reasoning in the Islamic doctrine.
Sunni.
Classical.
"Kalām" is the Islamic philosophy of seeking theological principles through dialectic. In Arabic, the word literally means "speech/words". A scholar of "kalām" is referred to as a "mutakallim" (Muslim theologian; plural "mutakallimūn"). There are many schools of Kalam, the main ones being the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools in Sunni Islam.
Ash'ari.
[Ash'arism] is a school of theology founded in the 10th century by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari. The Asharite view was that comprehension of the unique nature and characteristics of God were beyond human capability.
Maturidi.
Maturidism is a school of theology founded by Abu Mansur Al Maturidi, which is a close variant of the Ash'ari school. Points which differ are the nature of belief and the place of human reason. The Maturidis state that belief ("iman") does not increase nor decrease but remains static; it is piety ("taqwa") which increases and decreases. The Ash'aris say that belief does in fact increase and decrease. The Maturidis say that the unaided human mind is able to find out that some of the more major sins such as alcohol or murder are evil without the help of revelation. The Ash'aris say that the unaided human mind is unable to know if something is good or evil, lawful or unlawful, without divine revelation.
Traditionalist theology.
Traditionalist theology, sometimes referred to as the Athari school, derives its name from the word "tradition" as a translation of the Arabic word "hadith" or from the Arabic word "athar", meaning "narrations". The traditionalist creed is to avoid delving into extensive theological speculation. They rely on the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and sayings of the Sahaba, seeing this as the middle path where the attributes of Allah are accepted without questioning their nature ("bi la kayf"). Ahmad ibn Hanbal is regarded as the leader of the traditionalist school of creed. The modern Salafi movement associates itself with the Atharis.
Mu'tazila.
Mu'tazila theology originated in the 8th century in al-Basrah when Wasil ibn Ata left the teaching lessons of Hasan al-Basri after a theological dispute. He and his followers expanded on the logic and rationalism of Greek philosophy, seeking to combine them with Islamic doctrines and show that the two were inherently compatible. The Mu'tazili debated philosophical questions such as whether the Qur'an was created or eternal, whether evil was created by God, the issue of predestination versus free will, whether God's attributes in the Qur'an were to be interpreted allegorically or literally, and whether sinning believers would have eternal punishment in hell.
Murji'ah.
Murji'ah was a name for an early politico-religious movement which came to refer to all those who identified faith ("iman") with belief to the exclusion of acts.
Qadariyyah.
Qadariyyah is an originally derogatory term designating early Islamic theologians who asserted that humans possess free will, whose exercise makes them responsible for their actions, justifying divine punishment and absolving God of responsibility for evil in the world. Some of their doctrines were later adopted by the Mu'tazilis and rejected by the Ash'aris.
Jahmiyyah.
Jahmis were the alleged followers of the early Islamic theologian Jahm bin Safwan who associate himself with Al-Harith ibn Surayj. He was an exponent of extreme determinism according to which a man acts only metaphorically in the same way in which the sun acts or does something when it sets.
Bāṭeniyyah.
The "Batiniyyah" is a name given to an allegoristic type of scriptural interpretation developed among some Shia groups, stressing the "bāṭin" (inward, esoteric) meaning of texts. It has been retained by all branches of Isma'ilism and its Druze offshoot. Alevism, Bektashism and folk religion, Hurufis and Alawites practice a similar system of interpretation.
Later movements.
African-American movements.
Many slaves brought from Africa to the Western hemisphere were Muslim. Although it is thought that the Islam of slaves did not survive past 1920, the early twentieth century saw the rise of distinct Islamic movements within the African-American community, such as the Moorish Science Temple of America and the Nation of Islam. They sought to ascribe Islamic heritage to African-Americans, thereby giving much emphasis on racial aspects (see "Black nationalism"). These Black Muslim movements often differed greatly in doctrine from mainstream. They included:
Ahmadiyya Movement In Islam.
The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam was founded in India in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, who claimed to be the Promised Messiah ("Second Coming of Christ"), the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims as well as a "subordinate" prophet to the Prophet Muhammad. Ahmadis believed that it was Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's job restore the original Sharia given to Muhammad by guiding Ummah back to the "true" Islam and defeat the attacks on Islam by other religions. Ahmadis claim to practice the pristine form of Islam as followed by Muhammad and his Earliest Followers.
There are a wide variety of distinct teaching of Ahmadis compared to "most other" Muslims which include the interpretation of the term of Khatam an Nabiyyin, Interpretation of the Messiah's Second Coming, complete Rejection of  Abrogation/cancellation of Quranic verses, belief that Jesus has died, conditions of the Jihad of the Sword are no longer met, belief that revelation (as long as no new Shariat) will never end, belief in cyclical nature of history until Muhammad, and belief in the implausibility of a contradiction between Islam and science. These deviations from normative Islamic thought have resulted in severe persecution of Ahmadis in some Muslim countries particularly Pakistan where they have been branded as Non-Muslims and their Islamic religious practices are punishable by the Ahmadi-Specific laws in the penal code.
The followers are divided into two groups the first being the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, currently the dominant group, and the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam. The larger group takes a literalist view believing that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a Ummati Nabi subservient to Muhammad while the latter believing that he was only a Religious Reformer and a Prophet only in an allegorical sense. Both groups are active in Tabligh or Islamic missionary work and have produced vasts amounts of Islamic literature, translations of the Quran, Hadith translations and tafsir, Comparative religion works, Quranic Tafsirs, and a multitude of Seerahs of Muhammad among others. As such their influence far exceeds their numbers. Muslims from more Orthodox sects of Islam have adopted many Ahmadi polemics and understandings of other religions, along with the Ahmadiyya approach to reconciling Islamic and western education as well as establishing Islamic School systems particularly in Africa.
The Barelvi / Deobandi split.
Sunni Muslims of the Indian subcontinent comprising present day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh who are overwhelmingly Hanafi by fiqh have split into two schools or movements, the Barelvi and the Deobandi. While the Deobandi is revivalist in nature, the Barelvi are more traditional and inclined towards Sufism.
Gülen / Hizmet movement.
The Gülen movement, usually referred to as the Hizmet movement, established in the 1970s as an offshoot of the Nur Movement and led by the Turkish Islamic scholar and preacher Fethullah Gülen in Turkey, Central Asia, and in other parts of the world, is active in education, with private schools and universities in over 180 countries as well as with many American charter schools operated by followers. It has initiated forums for interfaith dialogue. The Cemaat movement's structure has been described as a flexible organizational network. Movement schools and businesses organize locally and link themselves into informal networks. Estimates of the number of schools and educational institutions vary widely; it appears there are about 300 [[Gülen movement schools]] in Turkey and over 1,000 schools worldwide.
Islamic Modernism.
[[Islamic Modernism]], also sometimes referred to as [[Modernist Salafism]], is a movement that has been described as "the first Muslim ideological response" attempting to reconcile Islamic faith with modern Western values such as [[nationalism]], [[democracy]], [[civil rights]], [[rationality]], [[Egalitarianism|equality]], and [[Social progress|progress]].
Islamism.
[[Islamism]] is a set of political [[Ideology|ideologies]], derived from various [[Islamic fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] views, which hold that Islam is not only a religion but a [[political system]] that should govern the legal, economic and social imperatives of the state. Many Islamists do not refer to themselves as such and it is not a single particular movement. Religious views and ideologies of its adherents vary, and they may be Sunni Islamists or Shia Islamists depending upon their beliefs. Islamist groups include groups such as [[Al-Qaeda]], the organizer of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] and perhaps the most prominent; and the [[Muslim Brotherhood]], the largest and perhaps the oldest. Although violence is often employed by some organizations, most Islamist movements are nonviolent.
Muslim Brotherhood.
The "Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun" (with [[Ikhwan]] brethren) or [[Muslim Brotherhood]], is an organisation that was founded by Egyptian scholar [[Hassan al-Banna]], a graduate of [[Dar al-Ulum]]. With its various branches, it is the largest Sunni movement in the Arab world, and an affiliate is often the largest opposition party in many Arab nations. The Muslim Brotherhood is not concerned with theological differences, accepting Muslims of any of the four Sunni schools of thought. It is the world's oldest and largest [[Islamist]] group. Its aims are to re-establish the [[Caliphate]] and in the meantime, push for more Islamisation of society. The Brotherhood's stated goal is to instill the Qur'an and "sunnah" as the "sole reference point for... ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community... and state".
Jamaat-e-Islami.
[[File:Abul ala maududi.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Abul Ala Maududi]] (with alternative spellings of last name Maudoodi), the founder of [[Jamaat-e-Islami]]]]
The "[[Jamaat-e-Islami]]" (or JI) is an Islamist political party in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It was founded in Lahore, British India, by [[Abul A'la Maududi|Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi]] (with alternative spellings of last name Maudoodi) in 1941 and is [[Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan|the oldest religious party in Pakistan]]. Today, sister organizations with similar objectives and ideological approaches exist in [[India]] ([[Jamaat-e-Islami Hind]]), [[Bangladesh]] ([[Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh]]), [[Kashmir]] ([[Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir]]), and [[Sri Lanka]], and there are "close brotherly relations" with the Islamist movements and missions "working in different continents and countries", particularly those affiliated with the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] (Akhwan-al-Muslimeen). The JI envisions an Islamic government in Pakistan and Bangladesh governing by Islamic law. It opposes Westernization—including secularization, capitalism, socialism, or such practices as interest based banking, and favours an Islamic economic order and [[Caliphate]]. 
Hizb ut-Tahrir.
"Hizb ut-Tahrir" () (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamist]] political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah ([[Caliphate]]) to resume Islamic ways of life in the Muslim world. The caliphate would unite the Muslim community ("[[Ummah]]") upon their Islamic creed and implement the [[Shariah]], so as to then carry the [[Da'wah|proselytizing]] of Islam to the rest of the world.
Liberal Muslims.
Liberal and [[progressivism|progressive]] movements have in common a religious outlook which depends mainly on [[Ijtihad]] or re-interpretations of [[scripture]]s. [[Liberal Muslims]] at thought have led to the birth of certain small denominations from primarily unaffiliated followers who believe in greater autonomy of the individual in interpretation of scripture, a critical examination of [[religious text]]s, gender equality, human rights, LGBT rights and a modern view of culture, tradition, and other ritualistic practices in Islam.
Mahdavia.
[[Mahdavia]], or Mahdavism, is a [[Mahdiist]] sect founded in late 15th century [[India]] by [[Syed Muhammad Jaunpuri]], who declared himself to be the [[Muhammad al-Mahdi|Hidden Twelfth Imam]] of the Twelver Shia tradition. They follow many aspects of the Sunni doctrine. Zikri Mahdavis, or [[Zikris]], are an offshoot of the Mahdavi movement.
Non-denominational Islam.
[[Non-denominational Muslims]] is an [[umbrella term]] that has been used for and by Muslims who do not belong to or do not self-identify with a specific Islamic denomination. A quarter of the world's Muslims are non-denominational Muslims.
Tolu-e-Islam.
[[Tolu-e-Islam]] ("Resurgence of Islam") is a [[non-denominational Muslim]] organization based in Pakistan, with members throughout the world. The movement was initiated by [[Ghulam Ahmed Pervez]].
Quranism.
[[Quranism]] () is an Islamic branch that holds the [[Quran]] to be the only canonical text in [[Islam]], as opposed to [[hadith]] and often [[sunnah]] collections. This is in contrast to orthodox Muslims, who consider hadiths essential to the Islamic faith. Quranistic movements include Abdullah Chakralawi's [[Ahle Qur'an]] and [[Rashad Khalifa]]'s [[United Submitters International]].
Salafism and Wahhabism.
Ahl-i Hadith.
[[Ahl-i Hadith]] is a movement which emerged in the [[Indian subcontinent]] in the mid-19th century. Followers call themselves Ahl-i Hadith or [[Salafi]], while others consider them to be a branch of the Salafi or [[Wahhabi]] movement.
Salafi movement.
The [[Salafi]] group is a sect that emerged from the eastern Arabian region of Najd. After the Arab revolt by the Wahabis against the Ottoman Empire (with the support of the British), the Wahabis and therefore their idelogical discendents, the Salafis came to power in Arabia. Most of the ancient remnants and heritage of the Prophet and his companions ([[Sahaba]]) was demolished by them. The [[Salafi movement]] is an ultra-conservative reform movement within [[Sunni Islam]] that emerged in the second half of the 19th century and claimed to advocate a return to the traditions of the "devout ancestors" (the [[salaf]]). A vast majority of the Muslim scholars consider them to be outside the fold of Sunni Islam and thus representing the third major sect,the other two being Sunni and Shia. They claim to be Sunnis however this is rejected by the traditional Sunni scholars. They claim to follow a doctrine that can be summed up as taking "a [[fundamentalist]] approach to [[Islam]], emulating the Prophet [[Muhammad]] and his earliest followers—"al-salaf al-salih", the 'pious forefathers'...However in practise they are staunch followers of the Saudi Ulema of Najd mixed with almost a blind following of Ibn Taymiyyah and Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab of Najd. The level of extremism in this group is disproportionately high as compared to the other groups of Muslims. They claim to reject anything that is new as religious innovation, or [[bid'ah]], and support the implementation of salafi interpretation of [[sharia]] (Islamic law)." The members of the terrorist group ISIS are stauch followers of the Salafi ideology. The movement is often divided into three categories: the largest group are the purists (or [[Political quietism in Islam#Salafists|quietists]]), who avoid politics; the second largest group are the [[Islamism|activists]], who get involved in politics; the smallest group are the [[Salafi jihadism|jihadists]], who form a small (yet infamous) minority. Most of the violent Islamist groups come from the Salafi movement and their subgroups. In recent years, the Salafi doctrine has often been correlated with the jihad of terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and those groups in favor of killing innocent civilians.< The Salafi movement is often described as being synonymous with [[Wahhabism]], but Salafists consider the term "Wahhabi" derogatory.
Wahhabism.
The [[Wahhabi movement]] was created by [[Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab]] in the Arabian peninsula, and was instrumental in the rise of the [[House of Saud]] to power. It is a strict orthodox form and a branch of sunni Islam, with fundamentalist views, believing in a strict literal interpretation of the Quran. The terms [[Wahhabism]] and [[Salafism]] are often used interchangeably, although the word [[Wahhabi]] is specific for followers of Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab. Wahhabism has been accused of being "a source of global terrorism" and causing disunity in Muslim communities, and criticized for its followers' destruction of historic sites.
External links.
[[Category:Islamic branches| ]]
[[Category:Religious denominations]]
[[Category:Shia Islam]]
[[Category:Twelvers]]