Leadership was appointed, not chosen.
Shia Islam holds that God designated Ali, and through him a line of Imams: the imamate is an article of faith, not a political arrangement. Sunni Islam holds that the community chose, and chose rightly. Nearly everything else that separates the two follows from this one disagreement.
Imamate is the actual dividing line, and describing Shia Islam as Sunni Islam plus mourning for Husayn gets it exactly backwards. For Twelvers the Imam is not merely a ruler but a divinely appointed, sinless guide who carries the authoritative interpretation of the Quran — which means Shia law, hadith, theology and prayer all rest on a different foundation, not merely a different opinion. Sunni Islam holds that prophecy ended and left the community, its scholars, and its consensus in charge, and that the caliphate was a practical office that could be well or badly filled. Zaydi Shia hold a lighter version: the Imam must be a qualified descendant who claims the office openly. Ibadi Muslims, mostly in Oman, reject the whole framework and elect their imam. The Amman Message of 2005 got scholars from all of these to sign a document recognizing each other as Muslims, which was not a small thing.
The same ground, other faiths
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