Sunni-Shia Conflict
The Sunni-Shia conflict represents a major historical and theological divide within Islam, stemming from a dispute over the rightful succession to the Prophet Muhammad after his death in 632 CE. Sunnis, who constitute about 87% of the global Muslim population, believe that Muhammad's community should choose its leader through consensus, leading to the selection of Abu Bakr as the first caliph. In contrast, Shia Muslims, making up around 13% of Muslims globally, hold that Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was divinely appointed as his true successor. This foundational disagreement has led to various political, social, and military conflicts throughout Islamic history, including significant events like the Battle of Karbalāʾ, which is especially pivotal for Shia identity.
The implications of this sectarian divide have been particularly pronounced in the Middle East, especially following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, which intensified struggles for power among Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish factions. Tensions have also escalated in recent conflicts, such as the Syrian Civil War and the rise of extremist groups like ISIS, which have targeted both Sunni and Shia populations. While doctrinal differences exist, including the role of religious leaders and practices, the conflict is often exacerbated by political power struggles, regional influences, and ethnic identities. Despite these challenges, there are instances of inter-sect cooperation and coexistence, highlighting the complexity of Sunni and Shia relations in contemporary society.
Sunni-Shia Conflict
The Muslim faith has seen several factions develop over the course of its history. The most enduring faction is the Shia, or Shiites. The Shiites are the minority in Islam, constituting about 15 percent of the global Muslim population, compared to the majority, known as Sunnis, who make up about 85 percent of the population. However, Shiites are in the majority in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan. There are also significant numbers of Shiites in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen.
This divide within the Islamic community dates back to the years immediately after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, specifically to a quarrel over whether Muhammad's father-in-law Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (the father of his wife Aisha) or his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib (the husband of his daughter Fatima) was Muhammad's true successor as head of the Islamic faith. Shiites believe that Ali was the true successor, and in fact the name "Shia" is derived from the phrase shiat Ali, or "party of Ali."
Both sects agree on the five core beliefs, or pillars, of Islam. The first of these is the shahada, or testimony of faith: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God." (The word Muslims use to refer to God, Allah, is simply Arabic for "the god," al ilah.) To this, Shiites add: "Ali is the friend of God, the successor of the messenger of God, and his first caliph." This sentence refers to events in the three decades following Muhammad's death in 632 CE.
Sunnis believe that Muhammad wanted the Muslim community to come together after his death and choose his successor by consensus. When the community did so, they chose Abu Bakr to be caliph. ("Caliph" comes from the Arabic word khalifah, or "successor," meaning one who succeeds Muhammad as leader.) Shiites, in contrast, believe that Muhammad specifically chose Ali to succeed him after his death. Sunnis view Ali as the fourth and last "rightly-guided caliph," following Abu Bakr, the first caliph; Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second; and Uthman ibn Affan, the third.
Uthman was assassinated while at prayer in 656 CE. When Ali claimed the mantle of caliph, Abu Bakr's daughter Aisha opposed him on grounds he had failed to bring Uthman's murderers to justice. She gathered an army to confront Ali, who was leading his own army. Ali's forces defeated Aisha's at the Battle of the Camel in 656, after which Aisha retired to Medina. But Uthman's cousin Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria, took up Aisha's cause and refused to pledge allegiance to Ali. Fighting continued between various groups until early 661, when Ali was attacked and poisoned while praying. He died several days later.
After Ali's death, Muawiyah declared himself to be caliph instead of Ali's elder son, Hasan. Ali's younger son, Husayn, agreed to postpone his own claim to be caliph until Muawiyah's death, which came in 680. At that time, Muawiyah's son Yazid declared himself caliph and defeated an army led by Husayn at the Battle of Karbalāʾ, in modern-day Iraq. Although Hussein was killed and his army defeated, his infant son, Ali ibn Hussein, survived. The massacre of Husayn's followers at Karbalā' is a defining element of the Shia faith. The event itself is a religious observance and the place a Shia holy shrine.
The largest branch of Shia Islam is known as Twelver Shia, a reference to the Twelve Imams who form a direct line of descent from Ali, the first imam. Each of the twelve is the son of the preceding imam, except for Husayn, the third imam, who succeeded his brother, Hasan. The last Shiite leader with a hereditary link to Ali (and by extension, to Muhammad) was Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Mahdi, the twelfth imam, referred to by Twelvers simply as the Mahdi; in Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is a messianic figure, although different sects disagree on the Mahdi's actual identity. Muhammad al-Mahdi is believed to have been born around 868 or 869 CE, though whether or not he existed is a matter of some historical debate. He disappeared at age four or five in the city of Samarra, now in Iraq. According to Twelver theology, Muhammad al-Mahdi is not dead but rather is hidden by God, an event known as the Occultation, and will one day reemerge.
Essentially, the division between Sunni Islam and Shiite Islam reflects differences in Muslim leadership rather than underlying differences in religious beliefs. Nor do the differences between the two branches necessarily reflect ethnic, tribal, or racial divisions. Some writers have drawn parallels between the differences between Shiites and Sunnis and the differences that separate Christian Protestants and Roman Catholics: an initial struggle over church leadership that later evolved into more complex differences in beliefs and practices.
Doctrinal Differences
For Shiites, their imams are religious leaders who cannot err because they are guided by the same divine light that guided Muhammad. Sunnis do not imbue clerics with these attributes. Shiites also focus strongly on what they regard as the martyrdom of Muhammad's son-in-law Ali and his son Husayn.
There are also some minor differences in practices (e.g., the number of times per day a devout Shia is expected to pray compared to a devout Sunni), but overall differences are relatively minor, and it is not uncommon for members of one side to convert to the other, or for married couples to belong to opposite sects. One frequent cause of conversion relates to differences in religious rules governing inheritance. Among Shiites, if a father dies with no sons, his daughters inherit the entire estate; among Sunnis, the deceased's brothers also have a claim.
An estimated 90 to 93 percent of Muslims belong to the Sunni tradition, but the distribution of Sunnis and Shiites is not even. Shiites are concentrated particularly in Iran, eastern and southern Iraq, and Azerbaijan. The predominance of Shiites in Iraq provides Shiite-dominated Iran with a significant opportunity to influence affairs in Iraq.
Manifestations in the Middle East after 2003
After the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as a result of the US invasion in 2003, a three-way struggle ensued for political power and influence in Iraq. There are three main groups involved in the Iraqi power struggle: the Sunnis, the Shiites, and the Kurds. The Kurds are non-Arabs who generally follow the Sunni tradition. The Shiites are the most populous group, making up about 60 to 65 percent of Iraq's population, and are concentrated in southern and eastern Iraq. The Sunnis are mostly located in the center of Iraq, around Baghdad; Sunnis constituted the political and economic elite under Hussein, who was himself a Sunni.
The political strife in Iraq subsequent to the US invasion, often described in terms of Sunnis versus Shiites, was in fact more complex and reflected differences in various other areas as well, including ethnicity (Kurds versus Arabs), prewar political alignments, tribal allegiances, and economic interests. In addition, political and religious leaders in neighboring Iran, a country dominated by Shiites, have exerted political influence on Iraq by calling on Iraqi Shiites to heed instructions from Iranian Shiite religious leaders, thus inserting religious considerations into what might otherwise be regarded as regional political and economic conflicts. Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish leaders came together in 2005, however, with a signed statement demanding a specific time frame for the pullout of foreign troops.
The Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011 with large opposition to the government of Bashar al-Assad and later developed into a multi-sided sectarian war, pitted the ruling minority, which is comprised of mainly Shiites, against the Sunni majority. Despite several ceasefire attempts, fighting escalated in the region and continued into the late 2010s, with sporadic fighting continuing into the 2020s. By the end of 2021, the UN estimated that roughly 350,000 people had been killed in the conflict.
The conflict between Sunnis and Shiites also escalated with the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al Qaeda splinter group, in the early 2010s. The group, which followed elements of the Salafi branch of Sunni Islam and espoused many extremist views rejected by most Muslim clerics and scholars, has targeted both Shiites and Sunnis who oppose them. In retaliation, the ruling Shiites in Iraq, Iran, and Syria continued to persecute Sunnis, only a small portion of whom affiliate with ISIS. In 2018, it was reported that the Iranian government in particular had increased its persecution of religious minorities in the country, executing Sunnis and others for not practicing religion as the government directed.
While ISIS's influence had waned significantly by the start of the 2020s, flareups of violence between Sunnis and Shias continued to occur. By January 2022 Iraq, which had struggled with political stagnation and sectarian violence for decades, faced renewed fighting between Sunni and Shia factions, with some Shiite groups eventually clashing with each other in the worst violence the country had seen in years. Open fighting continued until the end of August 2022, renewing fears of an all-out civil war between Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites.
While primarily concentrated in the Middle East, at times tension between Sunnis and Shias has flared in other Muslim communities around the world. For example, between November 2021 and August 2022, four Shiite men were murdered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A Sunni man was eventually arrested and charged with the murders. While the suspect denied his own involvement and many community members claimed the murders were motivated by personal rather than religious reasons, the killings raised concerns that relations between Sunnis and Shiites, who comprise a minority of Muslims in the US, could worsen.
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