How many distinct denominations or sects exist in Islam?

dj168

Well the 2 really main ones are Shia(Shiite) and Sunni. Also you could say there's 4 main ones, Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiyya, and Sufism. They come from afar back when Muhammad was the messenger. After his death there were conflicts about who should succeed Muhammad. The Sunni believe it should be a bloodline of Muhammad. The Shia believed the power could also be to other people outside the bloodline. http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/sects.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni-Shia_relations Mar 31 08, 12:50 AM

triviapaul

That is not easy to quantify, the relevant wikipedia article states that "This page attempts to record and summarize them." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisions_of_Islam This figure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Divisions_of_Islam.png counts 21 sects. The full content list shows about 40. However, it seems to be a given fact in the islamic community that there are 72 sects since most islamic websites agree on that number. This one says there are 73 divisions. http://www.alislam.org/library/73divisions/index.html and so does this one (with a neat list summarizing the differences) http://www.real-islam.org/73_8.htm This one states with some authority that there are "about 72" http://www.readingislam.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1123996015588&pagename=IslamOnline-English-AAbout_Islam/AskAboutIslamE/AskAboutIslamE Mar 31 08, 12:52 AM