Model of Religious Schism with Application to Islam

This is a study of religious schism. The purpose of the research is to explore the nature and causes of religious segmentation and realignment. A model of religious schism is developed and illustrated with reference to many different religions. The model is then directly applied to Islamic history. Schism occurs because of innovations in dogma or practice. These innovations must appeal to demanders of the religious product. However, the innovations themselves may be driven by organizational conflicts within firms supplying religion. A special situation is created when schism occurs within a state-supported supplier of religion. Our study leads us to revisit the debate between Hume and Smith over the effect of state religion. We side with Smith.