>>508076435Two reasons : 1. Historic ; 2. Metaphysic
1.
The split began the moment Prophet Muhammad died. The question: Who leads the ummah now? Sunnis went with Abu Bakr, a respected elder and father-in-law of the Prophet. Shia, on the other hand, believed leadership was divinely ordained and should stay within the Prophet's bloodline, specifically to Ali, his cousin and son-in-law.
Things got bloody fast. Ali was eventually made caliph, but only after a couple of others held the role. Then came the chaos. Ali was assassinated, and his son Hussein was slaughtered at Karbala along with his small band of followers. To Shia Muslims, this wasn’t just political; it was martyrdom. Cosmic injustice. The murder of sacred legitimacy. Now here’s the part most people gloss over: the early Sunni establishment allegedly collected and standardized the Quran while eliminating verses that referred to Ali’s divine appointment. Shia sources claim that references to Ali were stripped out or never included in the official Uthmanic codex. Whether you believe it or not, the implication is nuclear: One side is holding a redacted divine book. When you see Shia Muslims publicly slapping or beating themselves in the streets, especially during Ashura, they’re not just performing some random act of grief. They’re recreating and embodying the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, Ali’s son, who was brutally killed at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.