Ahuli said:
What are the differences between the various islamic sects, and are any of those sects considered non-islam by muslims.
For instance ... there is a sect called hashashin, from which our word "assassin" originates. How is this sect different from the sunni or druze or alawi or wahhabi?
Or, perhaps the muslims here can, in just a few words, tell us the differences among all the sects?
Thank you.
To my knowledge, the hashieen were never nessecarily a sect, but rather a club. The use of hashish is actually forbidden in Islam, and I know of no sect who allows it. I have heard various stories about he hashisheen, they were around during the crusades, but never had a religious connotation.
Druze are actually lebonese christians.
Alawis are shia (kind of), both sunnis and shias dont consider them Muslim, they celbrate christmas and easter, and even have a trinity consisting of Muhamed(SAW), Ali(KA), and Salman Al Farsi(RA). They also beleive that the three men are incarnations of God. They are actually forbidden from telling outsiders about there religion, They were one of the first instituters of Taqqiyah.
Wahabis are more of a movement than a sect, they call themselves Salafi and first started in the 1700's, and then gained wide spread support in the 1900's until now funded by saudi petro dollars.
recently the have split into 3 different salafi groups, Jihadi Salfiyya (bin laden), Madhkali salafiyya(The Saudis) and Minhajul salafiyya.
In actuality there are only two sects in Islam Sunni and Shia - these two groups have major differences, much like protestants and catholics. now within Shiaism and within Sunnism, there are various movements and sub-sects which you could call denominations.
Now Im a sunni so I can only speak from a sunni perspective.
there are some denominations/subsects within shia islam which the sunnis consider Muslim, but misguided. The biggest shia denomination are called rafidhi aka twelvers, because of their belief in the 12 Imams. This group is considered kafir by sunnis, this also the group that currently rules Iran.
There are also cult like groups which have sprang up such as Bahai, Qadianis, Ahmadis, Nation of Islam, 5 % nation - these groups are definetly out of the fold of Islam, they ussually make some wild claim of reincarnation (which Islam does not teach) or prophethood or even saying that they are gods themselves. Theyre all pretty recognizeable as cults.
within sunni Islam there are 4 schools of thought (madhahib). These, to some, seem sectarian, but in actuality they are not. The 4 schools differ in opinion on various practices and legal rulings, but all agree on the tennets of belief. These 4 schools also accept one anothers rulings as valid, and all forbid malice towards any of the other 3 schools.
Now there are various movements throughout Islamic history which have risen and fallen overtime, these movements start off as an interpretation of some aspect of Islam and bloom into a full blown movement, only to be suffocated by the majority of orthodox Muslims and die out. I have a book on the various groups which have sprang up overtime written by Hadharat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani(RA) and its about 5 volumes, so its a complex issue.
I could probably answer your question better if you could be more specific on a particular group or ideaology.
