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What are the differences between Sunni and Shia prayers, and how did the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) pray?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The difference between the Shīʿa and Ahl al-Sunnah lies in the disparity of references and principles. The Shīʿa do not rely on Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and declare most of the Companions to be disbelievers, except for a few. Some of them even claim that the Qur’an is deficient or corrupted, whereas Ahl al-Sunnah rely on the Qur’an and Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Al-Shaʿbī warned against the Rāfiḍah and likened them to the Jews in several matters, including: restricting the imamate to a specific lineage, delaying jihād until the appearance of the Mahdī or the Antichrist (Dajjāl), delaying the Maghrib prayer, deviating from the Qiblah, swaying in prayer, deeming the shedding of Muslim blood lawful, not observing the waiting period (ʿiddah) for women, not considering triple divorce as valid, corrupting holy scriptures, and hating Gabriel. Among the aberrations of the Shīʿa is letting the hands hang down in prayer, whereas there is abundant evidence from the Prophetic Sunnah for the obligation of قبض (placing the right hand over the left), and the majority of the Companions and Successors agreed upon this.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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