[link|http://islamicity.com/education/ihame/default.asp?Destination=/education/ihame/3.asp|Early history of Islam]

Below is an extract from page 3 that explains the head cutting ritual I mentioned in an earlier post. The split between Sunni & Shia starts very early in Islamic history when Ali had become the 4th Calif after the 3rd calif, Uthman was assassinated. Ali was Muhammad's cousin & son-in-law and one of his earliest followers.

When he became Calif there were muslims who believed he wasn't the legitimate choice and this begat the scism. Ali did become calif but was accused of not finding the killers of his predecessor Uthman. Later, Ali got murdered by one of his own followers which resulted in two califs being appointed by the two main factions, one was Ali's son Husayn and the other was Muiawiyah of the Umayyad dynasty.

Ali's son Husayn was killed in a battle with the Umayyads while trying to win back the role of calif of all muslims from the Umayyads. It is this killing of Husayn that is remembered each year by many Shi'ite muslims and to this day the Shia dispute the acendancy recognised by the Sunnis. Theris lies the original basis their hostility to each other.

Doug Marker

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extract .....

The majority of Muslims support the elective principle which led to the choice of Abu Bakr as the first caliph. This group is known as ahl alsunnah wa-l-jama'ah, "the people of custom and community," or Sunnis, who consider the caliph to be Muhammad's successor only in his capacity as ruler of the community. The main body of the Shi'is, on the other hand, believes that the caliphate - which they call the imamate or "leadership" - is nonelective. The caliphate, they say, must remain within the family of the Prophet - with 'Ali the first valid caliph. And while Sunnis consider the caliph a guardian of the shari'ah, the religious law, the Shi'is see the imam as a trustee inheriting and interpreting the Prophet's spiritual knowledge.

After the battle of Siffin, 'Ali - whose chief strength was in Iraq, with his capital at Kufa - began to lose the support of many of his more uncompromising followers and in 661 he was murdered by a former supporter. His son Hasayn was proclaimed caliph at Kufa but soon afterward deferred to Muiawiyah, who had already been proclaimed caliph in Jerusalem in the previous year and who now was recognized and accepted as caliph in all the Muslim territories - thus inaugurating the Umayyad dynasty which would rule for the next ninety years.

The division between the Sunnis and the Shi'is continued to develop, however, and was widened in 680 when 'Ali's son Husayn tried to win the caliphate from the Umayyads and, with his followers, was killed at Karbala in Iraq. His death is still mourned each year by the Shi'is.