Before the Safavid era Shi'i manuscripts were mainly written in Iraq, with the establishment of the Safavid rule these manuscripts were transferred to Iran.[63]. Most adherents to the Islamic religious tradition belong to the Sunni branch, making up 90% of the world's Muslims. More important in the long run than these sects were the Sufi orders which spread in Persia at this time and aided in the preparing the ground for the Shiite movement of Safavids. Shia make up the majority of the citizen population in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan, as well as being a minority in Pakistan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Chad and Kuwait.[13][14]. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. [64], Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi was another eminent scholar, killed in Aleppo on charges of cultivating Batini teachings and philosophy. In addition to the destruction of the caliphate there was no official Sunni school of law. On the other hand, the Ismaili dawah ("missionary institution") sent missionaries (dut, sg. [120] Sunni suicide bombers have targeted not only thousands of civilians,[121] but mosques, shrines,[122] wedding and funeral processions,[123] markets, hospitals, offices, and streets. Historically, the inner rifts within Islamic ideology were to be hidden from the public sphere, while the new violent outbreaks highlight said rift in an obvious manner and is nourished by the two extremes of their mutual rivalry which will strongly affect both globally and regionally. Before his death Zarqawi was one to quote Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, especially his infamous statement urging followers to kill the Shia of Iraq,[127] and calling the Shias "snakes". (See 2007 Zahedan bombings for more information), Non-Sunni Iranian opposition parties, and Shia like Ayatollah Jalal Gangei have criticised the regime's treatment of Sunnis and confirmed many Sunni complaints. The Sunni hegemony did not undercut the Shia presence in Iran. [213], Anti-Shia groups in Pakistan include the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, offshoots of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). Shia Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi is reported to have responded: The Wahhabis ignore the occupation of Islam's first Qiblah by Israel, and instead focus on declaring Takfiring fatwas against Shias. [152], Following the 2005 elections, much of the leadership of Iran has been described as more "staunchly committed to core Shia values" and lacking Ayatollah Khomeini's commitment to ShiaSunni unity. They form a hardcore of Islamic activists, ever-ready to carry out a similar Taliban-style Islamic revolution in Pakistan. The historical split occurred 1400 years ago, following the death of Muhammad in Medina, in modern day Saudi Arabia. In many other areas the population of Shias and Sunni was mixed. This website uses cookies. Until the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the Shia never governed a modern Arab state. [222], Assisting the Taliban in the murder of Iranian diplomatic and intelligence officials at the Iranian Consulate in Mazar were "several Pakistani militants of the anti-Shia, Sipah-e-Sahaba party. "[168], Forced into exile in the 1970s, Saudi Shia leader Hassan al-Saffar is said to have been "powerfully influenced" by the works of Sunni Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami and by their call for Islamic revolution and an Islamic state. There were many between 1904 and 1908. After which from the 12th-13th centuries, the Zaidis of Daylaman, Gilan and Tabaristan then acknowledge the Zaidi Imams of Yemen or rival Zaidi Imams within Iran.[62]. How much of the conflict was sparked by Sunni versus Shia divisions and how much by Islamism versus secular-Arab-nationalism, is in question, but according to scholar Vali Nasr the failure of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran to support the Muslim Brotherhood against the Baathists "earned [Khomeini] the Brotherhood's lasting contempt." Some Sunni scholars emphasize covering of all body including the face in public whereas some scholars exclude the face from hijab. [108] [56], Many Shia Iranians migrated to what is now Iraq in the 16th century. Mutah is not the same as Misyar marriage or 'Arfi marriage, which has no date of expiration and is permitted by some Sunnis. [55], The Shia believe that their community continued to live for the most part in hiding and followed their religious life secretly without external manifestations. "[35] Twelvers believe the Mahdi will be Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Imam returned from the Occultation, where he has been hidden by Allah since 874. Several top Pakistani military and political figures such as General Muhammad Musa, and Pakistan's President Yahya Khan[citation needed] were Shia, as well as Former President Asif Ali Zardari; in addition, the founder of modern Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was a Shia. However, nothing can be done about this as Iraq's Shiite government were democratically elected. [211], Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization that followed was resisted by Shia who saw it as "Sunnification" as the laws and regulations were based on Sunni fiqh. SunniShia clashes also occurred occasionally in the 20th century in India. ShiaSunni strife inside of Afghanistan has mainly been a function of the puritanical Sunni Taliban's clashes with Shia Afghans, primarily the Hazara ethnic group. Roughly forty years later the state was revived in Gilan (north-western Iran) and survived under Hasanid leaders until 1126. Those who followed the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law ('Ali) became known as Shi'a (the followers of the Party of 'Ali - Shi'atu Ali). Nizaris used this fortress until the Mongols finally seized and destroyed it in 1256. European Pressphoto Agency After Ali also was assassinated, with a poison-laced sword at the mosque in Kufa, in what is now Iraq, his sons Hasan and then Hussein claimed the title. [119], According to one estimate, as of early 2008, 1,121 suicide bombers have blown themselves up in Iraq. [97], Marc Lynch in his book The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East, argues that as old regimes or political forces sought to control "the revolutionary upsurge" of the Arab Spring, sectarianism became a key weapon to undermine unity among the anti-regime masses. 2. Taliban commander and governor Mullah Niazi banned prayer at Shia mosques[221] and expressed takfir of the Shia in a declaration from Mazar's central mosque: Last year you rebelled against us and killed us. Sectarianism based on this historic dispute intensified greatly after the Battle of Karbala, in which Husayn ibn Ali and some of his close partisans, including members of his household, were killed by the ruling Umayyad Caliph YazidI, and the outcry for revenge divided the early Islamic community, albeit disproportionately, into two groups, the Sunni and the Shia. This is the nature of monarchy, which is rejected by Islam. The Majority of Saudi Shia belong to the sect of the Twelvers. The US-led invasion also tilted the regional balance of power decisively" in favor of Shia Iran, alarming Sunni and leading to talk of a Shia Crescent. Pakistan's citizens have had serious Shia-Sunni discord. jasmine and dawoud shia or sunni. In recent decades the late leading Saudi cleric, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz, issued fatwa denouncing Shia as apostates, and according to Shia scholar Vali Nasr "Abdul-Rahman al-Jibrin, a member of the Higher Council of Ulama, even sanctioned the killing of Shias,[162] a call that was reiterated by Wahhabi religious literature as late as 2002. 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What is Ashura and how do Shia and Sunni Muslims observe it? [154] Sunni mosques are not allowed in the capital city of Tehran, and a number of Sunni mosques in other cities have been demolished,[155] Sunni literature and teachings are banned in public schools and construction of new Sunni mosques and schools are banned.
Iraq War Deepens Sunni-Shia Divide : NPR