Islam has many divisions and sects. The first was born over the question of who should succeed Muhammad: a democratically elected leader, or one descended from Muhammad's family.

The Sunnis, nicknamed from following the Quran and the Sunnah (the model behavior of Muhammad), chose the democratic route. Their locus of authority is in the written sources, the Quran and the Hadith (written traditions about Muhammad). Their sect is characterized by Shariah Law which covers every aspect of life.

The Shias (Shia means party, or faction) are those who believe that Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali and his descendants are the only rightful successors. Their locus of authority is in a person, their Iman, and after the cessation of that line, in the present Ayatollahs. They believe divine light has resided in every one of their leaders from Muhammad to the late Ayatollah Khomeini. They are largely a protest movement, glory in martyrdom, and believe their hero (Husayn, Ali's son) died for them and intercedes for them. For a Shia, the word of a living Ayatollah is Law.

The Sufis (Mystics) are those who want direct contact with God. They are not necessarily opposed to Law, but they cannot live with the dryness of sterile laws. They have founded many schools of discipline whereby a devotee can achieve "union with God." They love religious music, poetry, even dancing. They function in all kinds of social settings. Sufism makes religious experience immediately accessible to common people. The worship is done in the vernacular. Ecstasy in experience is the norm.

Folk Islam is a broad term used by non-Muslims for Muslims all across the Muslim world who practice local forms of animistic or spiritistic religions under an Islamic cover. These people acknowledge the reality of angels, jinn, spirits and satans everywhere. Their goal is to appease them, contain them, or employ them either to keep evil away or bring it about. These "folk Muslims" are not standardized across the world, but take on local religious practices, whatever they might be.

Secularized Muslims, as one could imagine, are those who have compromised their seventh century Arabic faith with twentieth century ideas from the West. They would still consider themselves Muslims, but they cover a whole spectrum from those who claim Muhammad foresaw all the developments of the West and spoke of them in the Quran, to Socialists who are disgusted with all present Muslim rules and have set out to reform the Muslim world according to socialistic theory.

The Ahmadis are named after their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who, at the end of the nineteenth century, claimed that he was a prophet sent to purify Islam. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ and even of the Indian god, Krishna. The Ahmadis technically are not Muslims and are very anti-Christian. Even though they are small in number, they are very visible everywhere in the Muslim world except in the Middle East. They are very clever in arguments and debates with those of other religions, especially Christians.

Islamic Militants is a catchall phrase to describe a growing movement of Muslims disenchanted with most modern Muslim rulers. Islam militants want to bring Islam back to its seventh century roots and impose Islamic Law on their countries and eventually on the whole world. They are not confined to any one country. They are characterized by similar thinking but are not necessarily in collusion with one another; they are rather spontaneously formed at local levels and long to restore Islam to its former position of world domination.

Black Muslims. This movement is the result of social conflict in the United States. It basically assumes that God is black and the white man is the devil. The movement started in 1913 with Timothy Drew. It's current leader is Louis Farrakahn. It results in radical re-interpretation of the Bible and believes Armeggedon will be fought in America between blacks and whites.

(Taken from Now You Can Know What Muslims Believe: A Muslim World Overview by Don McCurry. Used by permission.)