Sunni-Shia Divide
- Shia
- 15%
- Iran
- Divine Bloodline
- Sunni
- 85%
- Saudi Arabia
- Qualified
Maps of branches and religious geography
These are Izady’s geographic reconstructions and estimates, not a uniform census series or maps of political allegiance. Dates and classifications belong to each image; religious affiliation does not establish support for a government or armed group.
Branches and denominations across the Islamic world
A geographic map of branches, denominations, and Sunni legal schools across the broader Islamic world. Read the legend as Izady’s scheme, especially for groups whose theological classification is contested.
Map source: Dr. Michael Izady, Gulf/2000, Columbia University. Original map · Collection. Personal reference use; copyright remains with the author.
Branches and denominations in the Middle East
The regional companion gives more detail for the Sunni schools, Shiʿa traditions, Ibadi communities, and other groups discussed in the image. This is a map of attributed religious distribution, not a lineage chart or map of political alliances.
Map source: Dr. Michael Izady, Gulf/2000, Columbia University. Original map · Collection. Personal reference use; copyright remains with the author.
Source and interpretation: Gulf2000 map collection.
Salafism
- founded in the late 19th century
- Sunni Islamic revival movement that seeks to return to the original practices of Islam as taught by the Prophet Muhammad and his first three generations of followers
- ISIS
- Quran taken literally
- Sharia Law
Wahhabism
- Sunni
- named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab
- followed primarily in Saudi Arabia and Qatar
- For more than two centuries, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s teachings were championed as the official creed in the three Saudi States. As of 2017, changes to Saudi religious policy by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have led to widespread crackdowns on Islamists in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world. By 2021, the waning power of the religious clerics brought about by the social, economic, political changes, and the Saudi government’s promotion of a nationalist narrative that emphasizes non-Islamic components, led to what has been described as the “post-Wahhabi era” of Saudi Arabia.
- Jihad