Historical Shia-Sunni relations

Shia and Sunni are the two major branches of Islam. There are differences both in beliefs and practices. (see Historic background of the Sunni-Shi'a split for their origins)

Practical Differences Between Sunnis and Shias

On a practical level, the first difference and root cause of the two paths is the means to select a leader of the Muslims. Shias believe that only divinely appointed infallible direct descendents of Muhammad are allowed to be leader of all the Muslims. Hence they support Ali; Muhammad's son in-law, father of Muhammad's only two grandsons Hassan ibn Ali and Hussain ibn Ali, and their direct descendents as the only truly legitimate caliphs, regardless of any consensus or elections (Shurah). While Sunnis believe that majority consensus or shurah is the way to decide who should be caliph, hence Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Hassan ibn Ali and Hussain ibn Ali were all legitimate candidates for the caliphate.

The Sunnis claim to primarily follow the word of God in the Quran and the Prophet's way, while Shias add that Ali and his infallible descendents (Imams) also have legal precedence. The Shi'as accept some additional hadith narrated by the Ahl al-Bayt (the prophet's family through Ali), to further strengtehn their case. Because of Aisha's opposition to Ali, those narrated by Aisha count among the less favoured. A major rift still exists due to the some small Shia branches, cursing the first three Caliphs as well as Aisha (RA). Shias have an additional sentence in the call to prayer (Adhan), during prayer (Salah) they place their forehead onto a piece of naturally occuring material like clay instead of directly onto the prayer mat when prostrating, as the majority Sunni do. However the Shias do not see this as any different from the Sunnis, since they contend that praying on a mat is permissible as long as the mat is not made of synthetic material. And since most mats and carpets nowadays are made of semi or partially synthetic material, it is always preferred that the prostration be done on a tablet of clay, as did the prophet, when he prayed on pure soil or earth. Some Shia perform prayers back to back, sometimes worshipping two times consecutively (1+2+2) instead of five times separately.

Some Shia permit mutah - fixed-term temporary marriage - which is not acceptable within the Sunni community. Sunnis do not allow it due to the Prophet's ban of it, but according to Shia it was banned by Umar.

Abbasid era

The Umayyads were overthrown in 750 by a new dynasty, the Abbasids. The first Abbasid caliph, As-Saffah recruited Shiite support in his campaign against the Umayyads by emphasizing his blood relationship to the Prophet's household through descent from his uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The Shia also believe that he promised them that the Caliphate, or at least religious authority, would be vested in the Shiite Imam. As-Saffah assumed both the temporal and religious mantle of Caliph himself. He continued the Umayyad dynastic practice of succession, and his brother al-Mansur succeeded him in 754. The sixth Shi'a Imam died during al-Mansur's reign, and there were claims that he was murdered on the orders of the caliph..

However Abbasid persecution of Islamic lawyers was not restricted to the Shia. Even the Sunni scholar and founder of the biggest Sunni school of law, Abu Hanifah, was imprisoned by al-Mansur and tortured. Al-Mansur also had Ibn Hanbal, another one of the four major schools of Sunni law, flogged.

Shia sources further claim that by the orders of the tenth Abassid caliph, al-Mutawakkil, the tomb of the third Shia Imam Husayn ibn Ali in Karbala was completely demolished , and Shias were sometimes beheaded in groups, buried alive, or even placed alive within the walls of government buildings still under construction.

The Shia believe that they thus continued to live for the most part in hiding and followed their religious life secretly without external manifestations.

Fatwas

Main article: Sunni fatwas on Shi'as

Some Muslims of the new Wahabi or Salafi movement that attribute themselves to Sunni Islam, although rejected by many, have been known for producing Fatwas, legal edicts of Takfir or labelling other Muslims as infidels, on Shi'a with some even promoting and legalising their murder (declaring the spilling of Shia blood as "halal").

The spread of Shiism in the middle ages

The Buyids, who were Shi'a and had a significant influence not only in the provinces of Persia but also in the capital of the caliphate in Baghdad, and even upon the caliph himself, provided a unique opportunity for the spread and diffusion of Shi'a thought. This spread of Shiism to the inner circles of the government enabled Shias to withstand those who opposed them by relying upon the power of the caliphate.

Shah Muhammad Khudabandah, the famous builder of Soltaniyeh, was among the first of the Mongols to convert to Shi'aism, and his descendants ruled for many years in Persia and were instrumental in spreading Shia thought.

Mention must also be made of the kings of the Aq Qoynlu and Qara Qoynlu dynasties who ruled in Tabriz and whose domain extended to Fars and Kerman, as well as of the Fatimid government which was ruling in Egypt (al-Ka-mil of Ibn Athir, Cairo, 1348; Raudat al-safa'; and Habib al-siyar of Khwand Mir).

Shias claim that despite these advances, many Shi'as in Syria continued to be killed during this period merely for being Shi'a. One of these was Muhammad Ibn Makki called Shahid-i Awwal (the First Martyr), one of the great figures in Shi'a jurisprudence, who was killed in Damascus in 1384CE (al-Ka-mil of Ibn Athir, Cairo, 1348; Raudat al-safa'; and Habib al-siyar of Khwand Mir).

Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi was another eminent scholar, killed in Aleppo on charges of cultivating Batini teachings and philosophy (al-Ka-mil of Ibn Athir, Cairo, 1348; Raudat al-safa'; and Habib al-siyar of Khwand Mir).

The Sunni and Shia in modern times

Western scholars have more recently agreed that a realistic measure of Sunni Shia numbers is 80% Sunni, 15% Shia with the remaining 5% forming other groups.

Modern Shi'a-Sunni relations

File:Descrimination against the shia.jpg

In this letter purporting to be from the International Islamic University Malaysia, the university is denying employment to a person based on what it claims to be government policy "against employing staff from a particular denomination, Shiite". Other sources present similar accounts of discrimination in Malaysia. [41]

Shia statehood

Iran for the first thousand years of Islam was sunni, however in the 16th century AD it was transformed into a Shia country, with the rise of the Safavid empire, the Shi'as were finally able to establish a political state in which they were ascendant.

Relations between Sufis and the Shi'a establishment are also tense. In February 2006, Qom witnessed a violent standoff between the two groups in which many Sufis were arrested Sunnis claim to be heavily controlled and persecuted in Iran.

In addition to Iran, other Shi'a-dominated states have recently emerged however, such as Iraq when the Shi'a achieved political dominance in 2005, under American occupation.

The two communities have often remained separate, mingling regularly only during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. In some countries like Iraq, Syria, and Bahrain, some communities have mingled and intermarried. Shias are treated harshly in some countries dominated by Sunnis, especially in Wahabi Saudi Arabia.

Improving relations

Modern Shi'a and Sunni communities are becoming less confrontational. Scholars such as Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Allamah Mawdudi, Shaikh Muhammed Kashak, Allamah Sheikh Muhammed al Ghazali, Sheikh Muhmud Shaltut, Professor al Bahansawi, Altalmasani, Anwar al Jundi, Hassan Ayyub, Said Hawi, Fathi Yakun, Abu Zuhrah, Yusuf al Azm, Professor Rashid al Ghannachi among others have encouraged Sunni and Shi'a unity. Others have not. Yet within both sects, it has been stressed to seek unity among the faithful. Organizations such as the Shi'a Lebanese Hezbollah have been gaining respect among Sunnis and are seen as a credible resistance militia as well as a modern political party, often praised by all Lebanese sects, including Sunnis.

The renowned al-Azhar Theological school in Egypt, one of the main centers of Sunni scholarship in the world, announced the al-Azhar Shia Fatwa on July 6, 1959:

"The Shi'a is a school of thought that is religiously correct to follow in worship as are other Sunni schools of thought."

Al-Azhar later distanced itself from this position. Many Islamic groups also currently maintain this distance, regarding the Shia doctrine at best as fisq (transgression or severely deviated). Some, such as Mufti Afzal Hoosen Elias openly consider the Shia as "Kafir" .

The Shi'a in Kuwait have achieved higher levels of tolerance and integration than in other Sunni-majority Arab countries.

Shi'a Positions

The Birth of Shiaism in Iran

The fall of Tabriz in 1501 before the advancing forces of Shah Isma‘il Safawi marked the beginning of a new era in Iranian history. The land of Persia, whose population up to that time had been mainly Sunni, was now beginning to be transformed into a Shi‘ite homeland. Suppression of the Sunni Iranians was swift and merciless. The Sunni ‘ulama and Sufis were specifically targeted for persecution. Many preferred exile to certain death, and with the extermination and exodus of their ‘ulama the Ahl as-Sunnah in Iran lost the leadership capable of maintaining their ‘Aqidah as the dominant creed of the land. Thus the time-honoured Persian tradition of Sunni learning and spirituality that started with the likes of Ibrahim ibn Adham, ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak and Abu Dawud of Sijistan, and was sustained by men like al-Ghazali, ar-Razi and ‘Abd al-Qadir of Jilan, came to a horrendous end in the relentless persecution of the Safavids.

Divine Guidance - Ijthihad

While the Sunni Muslims believe that after the Prophet Muhammad the door for any new divine guidance has been closed for ever, Shia Muslims believe that guidance continued after the Prophet by 12 divinely appointed Imams who were infallible as the Prophet deemed them, they were designated by God to protect the Muslim nation to prevent them from straying from the path. Shias offer many qurranic proofs of this namely:

24:55 " Allah has promised those of you in the land who do good deeds and are righteous, that he will appoint them the inheritance of power and authority"

Shia clergy, mainly the Ayetollahs', have more room to maneuvere in interpreting the Qur'an and create new rulings that their Sunni counterparts don't have.

Attempted Conversions of Sunnis

While all devout Muslims are expected to do dawa or raise Islamic consciousness amongst people outside the fold, many Sunni accuse Shia clergy of tending to view missionary work among Sunnis to convert them to Shia Islam as a worthwhile religious endeavor.

Salafi or Wahabi Position

House of Saud

The House of Saud has made no secret of declaring the Shi'a as "not being Muslims", or "Kaafir". This is evident from the Shia minority in Saudia Arabia which has no political power or rights , and from outright edicts in which wahabi clerics have declared "Shia blood to be halal, i.e. permissible to be shed.". There are even claims that Wahabi tenents have declared paradise wajib for any muslim who kills 8 Shias.

According to a report by the Human Rights Watch:

"Shia Muslims, who constitute about eight percent of the Saudi population, faced discrimination in employment as well as limitations on religious practices. Shia jurisprudence books were banned, the traditional annual Shia mourning procession of Ashura was discouraged, and operating independent Islamic religious establishments remained illegal. At least seven Shi'a religious leaders-Abd al-Latif Muhammad Ali, Habib al-Hamid, Abd al-Latif al-Samin, Abdallah Ramadan, Sa'id al-Bahaar, Muhammad Abd al-Khidair, and Habib Hamdah Sayid Hashim al-Sadah-reportedly remained in prison for violating these restrictions."

And Amnesty International adds:

"Members of the Shi‘a Muslim community (estimated at between 7 and 10 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s population of about 19 million) suffer systematic political, social, cultural as well as religious discrimination."

The arresting of Shias for holding mourning ceremonies commemorating Ashura continued as of 2006. And in December 2006, amidst escalating tensions in Iraq, 38 high ranking Saudi clerics called on Sunni Muslims around the world to "mobilise against Shiites". In return, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi in 2007 responded:

"The Wahhabis ignore the occupation of Islam's first Qiblah by Israel, and instead focus on declaring Takfiring fatwas against Shias."

Saudi Arabia being an absolute monarchy generally recognizes no rights by law or plurality to any political participation outside the ruling family and its supporters. And being an absolute monarchy, the ruling elite have tried to portray a homogenous society in culture and religion. Since the religion of the rulers is Wahhabi, they have tried to create a uniform wahabi society thus leaving out Shi'as from the homogenous mainstream.

Internet

Many other Wahabis have waged a virtual war of information on the internet against the Shi'a, with the Salafis and Saudi Arabia as the major sponsors of this movement . Examples:

• It is the belief of all the Shias that... Allah often lies and does mistakes.
• Shi'ism and Islam are indeed different religions..
• Shiaism and Islam are indeed different religions. This sect has developed into what we now know as the Shia whose beliefs and thoughts are repugnant beyond belief.
• The religious beliefs and practices of SHI'AS differentiate and segregate them from the entire Muslim Ummah...Contrary to the universal and basic teachings of monotheistic religion, Shi'ism teaches...
• The protracted contrariety between Islam and Shi'ism is but a clear reflection of fundamental differences between the two. The only common denominator between Islam and Shi'ism is the Islamic Kalimah. The rest of Shi'ism has very little in common with mainstream Islam. The unbridgeable divide between the two is entrenched in some of the core fundamentals of this sect...
• Islam and Shi'ism are two parallel streams of thought that can never converge. They are as distinct from each other, as is Islam to the Ahlul-Kitaab.To ignore these differences is to ignore the stark reality.
• The often repeated hallowed call for "Muslim Unity" simply serves as a smokescreen, behind which Shi'a missionaries penetrate Muslim societies. Any attempt to resist this imposition is branded as "divisive". Would it be divisive to protect Islam from a sect that inherently debases the Qur'an, the Anbiyaa, and the Sahaaba?

In some cases, wahabis have dedicated entire websites like ansar.org with the single purpose of attacking the Shias. Shias have answered with sites like answering-ansar.org

Al Qaeda

Some wahabi groups, often labeled as extremists, such as the Taliban or Al Qaeda, have even advocated the persecution of the Shi'a as heretics Such groups have been responsible for violent attacks and suicide bombings at Shi'a gatherings at mosques and shrines, most notably in Iraq during the Ashura mourning ceremonies where hundreds of Shias were killed in coordinated suicide bombings , but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In various countries

Iraq

According to most sources, including The CIA World Factbook, the majority of Iraqis are Shi'ite Arab Muslims (around 60-65%), and Sunnis represent about 32-37% of the population. However, Sunni are split ethnically between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. Many Sunnis hotly dispute their minority status, including ex-Iraqi Ambassador Faruq Ziada , referring to American sources . They claim that many reports or sources only include Arab Sunnis as 'Sunni', missing out the Kurdish and Turkmen Sunnis. Some argue that the 2003 Iraq Census shows that Sunnis were a slight majority. Various monarchies, and secular regimes sourced mainly, but not exclusively, from Sunni areas, controlled the government for nearly a century until the 2003 Iraq War. The British, who, having put down a Shia rebellion against their rule in the 1920s, "confirmed their reliance on a corps of Sunni ex-officers of the collapsed Ottoman empire". It was when the Sunni and Shia united against colonial rule that it ended.

The Shia suffered indirect and direct persecution under independent Iraqi governments since 1932, especially that of Saddam Hussein. In 1969 when the son of Iraq's highest Shia Ayatollah Muhsin al-Hakim was arrested and allegedly tortured, during widespread persecution of Shia, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Badri, a Sunni Islamic lawyer (Alim), leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, criticised the regime, and was killed under torture. A Sunni leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir is thus seen as the first martyr for the rights of Shia in Iraq, against the old Baathist regime [42]. This party has also called for Sunni, Shia, Arab and Kurdish citizens to unite in Iraq.[43] Shia religious leaders were particularly targeted. "Between 1970 and 1985 the Baathist regime executed at least 41 clerics" , and Shia opposition to the government following the first Gulf War was reportedly suppressed.

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi has quoted Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab on various occasions in statements he made, especially the infamous statement that urged his followers to kill Shi'a of Iraq , calling the Shias "snakes". Wahabi suicide bombers continue to attack Iraqi Shia civilians, and the Shia ulema have in response declared suicide bombing as haram:

"حتي كساني كه با انتحار مي‌‏آيند و مي‌‏زنند عده‌‏اي را مي‌‏كشند، آن هم به عنوان عمليات انتحاري، اينها در قعر جهنم هستند"
"Even those who kill people with suicide bombing, these shall meet the flames of hell."

However this seems to contradict the policy of some Shia such as "what some say" the Hizbullah suicide bombing of the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut , according to Tel Aviv University analyst Yoram Schweitzer.

It has been reported by Channel 4's flagship program Dispatches that Shia "death squads", have been targetting Sunnis physically, or through intimidation. These death squads, primarily led by the government's Interior Ministry and the Badr Organization have allegedly been forcing the mainly Sunni intelligentsia to leave their posts, jobs and neighbourhoods. Shias in Iraq have traditionally been from the poorer south, the death squads have targetted educated Sunni's, to replace the posts they hold with Shias. The documentary said:

"Over the last eighteen months these commandos - who are almost exclusively Shia Muslims - have been implicated in rounding up and killing thousands of ordinary Sunni civilians"[44]

The report also showed that many Sunnis register themselves as Shia for identification cards to avoid being targetted by the 'death squads'. These groups however are rivaled by Sunni militant organizations such as what the US state department describes as the "terrorists" Ansar al-Islam, as well as radical groups like Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, Jeish al-Taiifa al-Mansoura, Jeish Muhammad, and Black Banner Organization. According to the report released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism of the U.S. State Department, Sunni groups form the largest of the terrorist organisations operating in Iraq.

However according to George Monbiot in The Guardian newspaper, up until before the Al Askari Mosque bombing;

"The media are minimising US and British war crimes in Iraq...The reporting of the Iraqi death toll - both in its scale and account of who is doing the killing - is profoundly dishonest...twice as many Iraqis - and most of them civilians - are being killed by US and UK forces" compared to those killed by insurgents."

After the Al-Askari Mosque bombing, relations between the Sunnis and the Shia severely declined, sparking off a wave of 'revenge' killings against Sunnis (with alleged Sunni responsibility), more people were killed in April of 2006 by the death squads, compared to terrorist bombings Many Sunnis and Shia have argued that this was a planned sectarian division to help continue the US occupation (see Al Askari Mosque bombing)

Pakistan

Pakistan has seen serious Shia-Sunni discord. Almost 80% of Pakistan's population is Sunni, with 15-20% being Shia. However, because of Pakistan's large population, the minority Shia constitute 30 million people, more than the number of Shia in Iraq. [45] In the last two decades, "as many as 4,000 people are estimated to have died in sectarian fighting in Pakistan", 300 in 2006. Amongst the culprits blamed for the killing are Al Qaeda working "with local sectarian groups" to kill what they percieve as Shi'a apostates, and "foreign powers ... trying to sow discord."

Iran

On the opposite side, Iran's shia regime, leaves little place for Sunnis to reach important positions in the administration . For instance, sunni Yusuf al-Qaradawi while calling for unity with Iranian shia Rafsanjani complained that no ministers in Iran have been Sunni for a long time, even in the provinces with majority of Sunni population (such as Kurdistan, or Balochistan). Sunnis claim to be heavily persecuted, claim they were regarded as second class citizens under the Shah of Iran, suffered arrest, torture and execution and after the 1979 revolution, claim that currently there is not a single Sunni mosque in the capital of Iran Tehran, despite having Christian churches, and that their mosques and schools have been demolished by the current regime, despite constituting a third of the population and initially supporting the revolution of Khomeini in 1979.

Soon after the 1979 revolution Sunni leaders from Kurdistan, Balouchistan, and Khorassan, set up a new party known as Shami, which is short for Shora-ye Markaz-e al Sunaat, to unite Sunnis and lobby for their rights. But six months after that, they were closed down, bank accounts suspended, and had their leaders arrested by the government on charges that they were backed by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

A UN human rights report states that

...information indicates Sunnis, along with other religious minorities, are denied by law or practice access to such government positions as cabinet minister, ambassador, provincial governor, mayor and the like, Sunni schools and mosques have been destroyed, and Sunni leaders have been imprisoned, executed and assassinated. The report notes that while some of the information received may be difficult to corroborate there is a clear impression that the right of freedom of religion is not being respected with regard to the Sunni minority.

Members of the 'Balochistan Peoples Front' claim that Sunnis are systematically discriminated against educationally by denial of places at universities, politically by not allowing sunnis to be army generals, ambassadors, ministers, prime minister, or president, religiously insulting sunnis the media, not allowing the one million Sunnis in the capital Tehran to build a mosque or pray Jumuah (friday prayers in congregation), economic discrimination by not giving import or export licenses for sunni businesses while the majority of sunnis are left unemployed.

Members of extremist Sunni groups in Iran however have been active in terrorist activities throughout Iranian cities. Balochi Sunni leaders such as AbdulMalek Rigi (عبدالمالک ريگی) continue to declare the Shia as Kafir and Mushrik, and have waged "terrorist" attacks against civilian centers, including a girl's school. The "shadowy Sunni militant group Jundullah" has reportedly been receiving weaponry from the United States for these attacks. The United Nations and many countries worldwide have condemned the bombings (See 2007 Zahedan bombings for more information)

Non-Sunni Iranian opposition parties, and Shia like Ayatollah Jalal Gange’i have also criticised the regimes treatment of Sunnis, and confirmed many of the things sunnis complain of.

Yemen

See Human rights in Yemen article.

During and after the US-led invasion of Iraq, members of the Zaidi-Shia community protestsed after Friday prayers every week outside mosques, particularly the Grand Mosque in Sana’a, during which they shouted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans, and criticised the government's close ties to America . These protests were led by ex-parliament member and Imam, Bader Eddine al-Houthi [46]. In response the Yemeni government has implemented an aggressive campaign to crush "the Zaidi-Shia rebellion" by using the Yemenese army in what human rights groups claim has led to much ill-treatemnet, arrest without trial, and torture. Yemen's president in 2007 ordered the Yemenese army to extinguish all dissident forces by all means necessary. Many have been sentenced to death for allegedly "having Terror Links to Iran".. These latest measures come as the government also faces a Sunni rebellion for similar reasons to the Zaydi discontent, the Iraq war, Israel, and the government's alliegiance to the USA. , with Yeminis of all sects suffering at the hands of the government even journalists . Sunnis form the majority in Yemen, and Yemen's constitution states that the source of laws is the Shariah, although the Sunni & Shia groups criticise the government for not abiding by this, and of being led by Americans.

Bahrain

Similar to Saddam era Iraq, Bahrain has a Shia majority that continues to be ruled by a Sunni minority.

References

Further reading

• The Arab Shia: The Forgotten Muslims, by Graham E. Fuller and Rend Rahim Francke. New York: Saint Martin's Press, 1999, ISBN 0-312-23956-4
• Shi'a Islam, by Tabatabaei and Nasr, SUNY Press, 1979.

See also

• Status of religious freedom in Iran
• Status of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia
• Misconceptions about the Shi'a
• Succession to Muhammad
• Historic background of the Sunni-Shi'a split
• Shiites in the Arab world

External links

• http://www.alburhan.com/
• http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH28Ak03.html
• http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/religion-shia-sunni.htm
• http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_151_200/are_shias_kaafirs.htm
• http://soundvision.com/info/muslims/shiasunni.asp
• http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/4578030.html - short history of sunni-shia split, and religious practice differences