Islam

Jihad

The literal meaning of Jihad is struggle or effort, and it means much more than holy war.

Muslims use the word Jihad to describe three different kinds of struggle:

• a believer's internal struggle to live out the Muslim faith as well as possible
• the struggle to build a good Muslim society
• holy war: the struggle to defend Islam, with force if necessary

Sunnis & Shiites

• sunnis - adheres to the Sunni branch of Islam
• shiites - adheres to the Shia branch of Islam

The group now known as Sunnis chose Abu Bakr, the prophet's adviser, to become the first successor, or caliph, to lead the Muslim state. Shiites favored Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. Ali and his successors are called imams, who not only lead the Shiites but are considered to be descendants of Muhammad

A Shiite is a Muslim who follows specific religious traditions. Shiites are the second-largest branch of Islam, after Sunnis. A Shiite believes that Mohammed's son-in-law, Ali, was his legitimate successor as political and religious leader and prophet