In 632 CE, a crack was formed in Islam that has still not recovered to this day; in 632, the prophet Muhammad died without appointing a successor. After the death of the prophet disputes arose over who should lead the young religion; the majority of Muslims believed that the next leader should have been chosen elected and others believed that only the prophet’s relatives should have ruled and they eventually broke off creating the Sunni-Shia split that we see today. These two different ideas over how the faith should be lead, by consensus or blood, is the most basic debate between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims. A key difference between the Sunnis and the Shiites is that the Sunni Muslims believe that being the caliph (religious
