Muslim denominations

Muslim denominations, As of 2015, over 1.7 billion or about 23.4% of the world population are Muslims. By the percentage of the total population in a region considering themselves Muslim, 24.8% in Asia-Oceania do, 91.2% in the Middle East-North Africa, 29.6% in Sub-Saharan Africa, around 6.0% in Europe, and 0.6% in the Americas.

Further information: Muslim world

Political denominations of muslims

Further information: Denominations of Islam and madhhabs

Historically, Islam was divided into three major sects. These religious denominations are well known as Sunni, Khawarij and Shī‘ah. Each sect developed several distinct jurisprudence system reflecting their own understanding of the Islamic law during the course of the History of Islam. For instance, Sunnis are separated into five sub-sects, namely, Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbalites and Ẓāhirī. Shi'a, on the other hand, was first developed Kaysanites and in turn divided into three major sects known as Fivers, Seveners and Twelvers. Qarmatians, Ismailis, Fatimids, Assassins of Alamut and Druses were all emerged from the Seveners. Isma'ilism later split into Nizari Ismaili and Musta’li Ismaili, and then Mustaali was divided into Hafizi and Taiyabi Ismailis. Moreover, Imami-Shi'a later brought into existence Ja'fari jurisprudence. Akhbarism, Alevism, Bektashism, Nusayrism, Shaykhism and Usulism were all developed from Ithna'asharis. Similarly, Khawarij was initially divided into five major branches as Sufris, Azariqa, Najdat, Adjarites and Ibadis. Among these numerous sects, only Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Imamiyyah-Ja'fari-Usuli, Nizārī Ismā'īlī, Alevi, Zaydi, Ibadi, Zahiri, Alawite, Druze and Taiyabi communities have survived. In addition, some new schools of thought and movements like Quranist Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims and African American Muslims were later emerged independently.

See also: Amman Message

Political sub-denominations of muslims around the world.

Population of the denominations

In the modern era, Sunnis constitute more than 85% of the overall Muslim population while the Shi'as are slightly more than 12%.

Today, many of the Shia sects are extinct. The major surviving Imamah-Muslim Sects are Usulism (with nearly more than 10%), Nizari Ismailism (with nearly more than 1%) and Alevism (with slightly more than 0.5% but less than 1%). The other existing groups include Zaydi Shi'a of Yemen whose population is nearly more than 0.5% of the world's Muslim population, Musta’li Ismaili (with nearly 0.1% whose Taiyabi adherents reside in Gujarat state in India and Karachi city in Pakistan. There are also significant diaspora populations in Europe, North America, the Far East and East Africa), and Ibadis from the Kharijites whose population has diminished to a level below 0.15%. On the other hand, new Muslim sects like African American Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims (with nearly around 1%), non-denominational Muslims, Quranist Muslims and Wahhabis (with nearly around 1-2% of the world's total Muslim population) were later independently developed.

World Muslim population by percentage (Pew Research Center, 2014).

According to the Pew Research Center in 2010, there were 50 Muslim-majority countries. Around 62% of the world's Muslims live in South and Southeast Asia, with over 1 billion adherents. The largest Muslim population in a country is in Indonesia, a nation home to 12.7% of the world's Muslims, followed by Pakistan (11.0%), India (10.9%), and Bangladesh (9.2%). About 20% of Muslims live in Arab countries. In the Middle East, the non-Arab countries of Turkey and Iran are the largest Muslim-majority countries; in Africa, Egypt and Nigeria have the most populous Muslim communities. The study found more Muslims in the United Kingdom than in Lebanon and more in China than in Syria.

Further information: Islamic denominations and History of Islam

External links

• Online Fatwa Site - Questions and Answers
• The Four Sunni Schools of Thought
• Online Islamic Learning
• Sufism - Islamic Science of Spirituality