In addition to Karbala, the NPR podcast Throughline identified three key milestones that would sharpen Sunni-Shia divisions by the end of the 20th century. First came the rise of the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century, which transformed Iran through force from a Sunni center into the Shia stronghold of the Middle East. In the early 20th century, the victorious Allies divided the territory held by the former Ottoman Empire after World War I , cutting through centuries-old religious and ethnic communities in the process.
Finally, in , the Islamic Revolution in Iran produced a radical brand of Shia Islam that would clash violently with Sunni conservatives in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the decades to follow. Amid the increasing politicization of Islam and the rise of fundamentalists on both sides of the divide, sectarian tensions intensified in the early 21st century, especially amid the upheavals caused by two Persian Gulf Wars, the chaos that followed the U.
Sunni-Shia divisions would fuel a long-running civil war in Syria , fighting in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere, and terrorist violence on both sides. They provide a biographical sketch of the prophet, context to Quranic verses, and are used by Muslims in the application of Islamic law to daily life.
Shias and Sunnis differ over prayer as well. All Sunni Muslims believe they are required to pray five times a day, but Shias can condense those into three. During the Hajj — the pilgrimage to Mecca, held annually and obligatory for all Muslims once in a lifetime — it may seem that these differences are masked, as both Sunnis and Shias gather in the holy city for rituals that reenact the holiest narratives of their faith.
And yet, with Saudi authorities overseeing the Hajj, there have been tensions with Shia governments such as Iran over claims of discrimination. And when it comes to leadership, the Shia have a more hierarchical structure of political and religious authority invested in formally trained clergy whose religious authority is transnational.
There is no such structure in Sunni Islam. The greatest splits today, however, come down to politics. Although the majority of Sunni and Shia are able to live peacefully together, the current global political landscape has brought polarization and sectarianism to new levels. Shia-Sunni conflicts are raging in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan and the divide is growing deeper across the Muslim world. In the Maghreb, where the Arab spring began so hopefully with the Tunisian uprising, sectarianism is not an issue, though extremism has spread back poisonously from the war in Syria and the growth of Isis.
In Libya, Morocco and Algeria, Berber rights and identity are important, but not the focus of a crisis. It is worth remembering that the Arab awakenings began everywhere with calls for secular reform.
As transitions appeared to be regressing, people increasingly chose to identify themselves along tribal or confessional lines, rather than political ones. Each subgroup brandishes its religious or ethnic identity to confront the other subgroup in a futile war, in which all will lose … In short, the fall of Arabism as a unifying identity will mark the start of a series of civil wars among brothers.
And once those wars start, nobody knows when or how they will end. Sunni v Shia: why the conflict is more political than religious. Sunni jihadist groups, including Islamic State IS , have meanwhile been targeting Shia and their places of worship in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. In January , the execution by Saudi Arabia of a prominent Shia cleric who supported mass anti-government protests triggered a diplomatic crisis with Iran and angry demonstrations across the Middle East.
Quick guide: Islam. Sunnis and Shia in the Middle East. Image source, AP. Pilgrimage to Mecca is one of many rituals that are shared by both sects.
Who are the Sunnis? Image source, Getty Images. Egypt is home to some of Sunni Islam's oldest centres of learning. Who are the Shia?
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