The Sunnis and Shiites are still entangled in an endless conflict that is aimed at exploiting an Islamic conflict that has continued for so long. Both denominations of the Islam religion are rivals since they want to connect their political goals to their religious understanding. “The divide between Sunnis and Shia is the largest and the oldest in the history of Islam” (Ghazoul & Ferial 196). Islam was split into Sunni and Shia which was brought about by the fight over the right person who would succeed Prophet Mohammed (Ghazoul & Ferial 196).
When Mohammed died, no appointed official wound reach him thus his followers had an obligation of choosing another political and religious personnel to replace him. The Shiites believed that their prophet
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The Shiites are said to be more unified and the most arrogant population. However, the Sunnis are not united and consist of a vast number of different individuals in various groups. Despite being divided, both denominations share same similarities of the Islamic faith which consist of the five pillars of worship. They consist of fasting, praying, giving testimonies, and Alms-giving (Ghazoul & Ferial 205). “Despite being similar, the two sects differ in doctrine, ritual, law, theology and religious organization” (Ghazoul & Ferial 205). A slight difference between Sunni and Shia is their relationships concerning power. In line with Islamic religion, the Shiites have been most discriminated against since they are the minority group. The discrimination against them has resulted and shaped their theology which has been contributed significantly by the Sunnis. “In countries which have been governed by Sunnis, Shia tends to make up the poorest sections of society" (Ghazoul & Ferial 205). The division between the Sunnis and Shiites increased during the wars between the Sunni Ottoman temple and Shiite Shah. The wars have prolonged to the present Iran and Saudi Arabia (Totten &Michael 7). For instance, Iran supports non-Sunni people in the war between Syria and Yemen while Saudi people support the Sunni …show more content…
Muslims among the Shia community still believe that only individuals who descended from Ali's family had the right of being Muslim leaders in the present and the future. Instead, the Sunnis focused and believed in the way of their Prophet Mohammad which was known as Sunnah. Currently, the violence and conflicts between the Sunni population in Saudi Arabia and Shia people in Iran are continuously fueled by religion as well as politics (Totten & Michael 7). Both countries are involved in wars and conflicts in an attempt to gain more power to dominate and control the Middle East (Aras, Bülent &Richard 323)."The Arab Spring facilitated a series of norms that challenge existing structures of power and authority, in addition to highlighting trans-boundary patterns of loyalty in the region” (Aras, Bülent &Richard 322).Saudi Arabia and Iran are a home to natural gas and oil in large quantities allowing them to have a huge amount of money to support the military and war activities without directly oppressing the citizens by imposing high taxes (Hashim & Ahmed
The first is the sectarian conflict. The sectarian conflict was a conflict dealing with the race and religion of the sects. The two sects are Islam and Muslim. The conflict went nowhere because it is self perpetuating. The rate of casualties is too high, making it hard to tell how many people have been killed. This is partly caused by the death of civilians, which is 30% of the casualties. Also, there are people that are being forced to leave from their homes because of their government and just war in their area. The Sunni are dominating the other force, but are also hurting civilians, and the alawite heavy regime are holding up to them, but they are getting hurt
The Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 was the final and most destructive of the series of wars fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire of Persia. The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 was an eight year war between the republics of Iran and Iraq, making it the longest war in the 20th century. The Byzantine-Sassanid war and the Iran-Iraq war were fought over trade, because the warring governments handled the need for control over trade by fighting over the vital areas of the trade routes.
To say the cause of political friction in the Middle East is due to religious differences is too simplistic as well as unduly inflammatory. Other things come into play, such as protection of US interests involving energy production, and even control of the water supply by Israel and its neighboring countries. However, to say the violence has nothing to do with religious differences denies the past 4,000 years of history.
The fights among Sunni and Shia or Shiite Muslims has been a historical mastery that covered by political authorities. These authorities want to keep up the huge split among Muslims for politician reasons and minor disagreements of Islamic understanding. Therefore, the whole world notes the conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslim which have caused the death of millions sine the begging of the conflict.
In conclusion I would like to comment on a couple of things. First of all the Shiism makes up 10 percent and Sunnism makes up the other 90 percent of the Muslim religion. Second of all the Shiites and Sunnis both are closely related, but have many differences. The two religions are both very complicated and difficult to understand. I hope after reading this paper you have learned a little more about both.
Both Shia and Sunni are Muslims who practice five pillars of Islam and believe in the Quran. However, their main division is a political, and it began after the death of Prophet. Shia refused to accept the first three caliphs because they believe that Ali should have been recognized as the first legitimate caliph. Shia started to recognize and celebrate Ali as a Mohamed’s intended successor. They also believe prophet’s family members and their descendants should be caliphs. While Sunni is another branch of Islam who believe that Prophet did not appointed a successor who leads Muslim society after his death. In that case, Muslims elected Abu Bakr. Sunni members accepted all four caliphs as the rightful successors of Prophet Mohammed. Sunni Muslims believe that any Muslim man can be elected as long he is qualified for the job.
The division between Shia and Sunni dates back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the question of who was to take over the leadership of the Muslim nation. Sunni Muslims agree with the position taken by many of the Prophet's companions, that the new leader should be elected from among those capable of the job. This is what was done, and the Prophet Muhammad's close friend and advisor, Abu Bakr, bec...
Thesis: The Sunni and Shia ideology in terms of the concept of imamate, their believe on al-Quran and Hadith and the successor of the leadership after the death of the prophet Muhammad
Huda. "Shia and Sunni Muslims: What's the Difference?" Religion and Spirituality. Ask.com, n.d. Web. 01 May 2014. .
The Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam have been feuding for hundreds of years dating back to the beginning of the Islamic religion. The deity or god of the Sunnis is Allah. The Sunni branch of Islam is the larger of the two branches with over 80% of the Muslim population. The Sunni are the majority in most of the countries that have Islamic followers. There are a few different translations of what Sunna stands for, one of which is “Habitual Practice.” The differences between the two branches can be traced all the back to the 7th century CE when the disagreements as to who should succeed Muhammad. Sunnis believe that the Muslim community should maintain the right to select who the successor to Muhammad is going to be. The Shiite branch maintains the belief that Muhammad has selected his son-in-law to be the successor. Even though the two branches agree on most matters, the Sunni put more power behind god and his determination of fate, and are more inclusive about their definition of being Muslim. The Sunni place heavy belief in the role of religion in some aspects of life and a lot of weight is put on the Islamic law known as Shariah as the standard for a vast range of social issues including marriage and divorce. (Patheos.com)
It has been estimated that Sunnis make up approximately 85 percent of the world’s Muslim population, with Shi’as accounting for much of the rest. When people talk of sectarianism in Islam, these two names, which are rooted in the earliest days of the Islamic caliphate, are the most often mentioned. It may be tempting to make a passing comparison here with the great Protestant-Catholic divide in Christianity. However, whereas that division didn’t occur until well over a thousand years into the life of the church, the great Sunni-Shi’a break came within the lifetime of the surviving companions of the Prophet Muhammad and was not centered on doctrinal disputes. The main reason for the existence of the Shi’a sect is directly related to the election of Abu Bakr as the first caliph of the Muslim community in the year 632. The Prophet had just passed away, and the leaders of Medina gathered to choose a political successor to keep the fledgling Muslim nation united. There was no question about doing this because the Prophet had spoken about it so often. After a heated debate, Abu Bakr was chosen to lead. Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad (he was married to Muhammad’s favorite daughter, Fatimah), was not present at that meeting, and he later protested that he should have been given a fair shot at being selected the caliph. Although Ali refused to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr for a few months, eventually he caved in and both he and his supporters took the oath. The stage was set for bad blood, however; and as each new caliph was elected, Ali’s friends stood by in anger, watching other men being given the nod while their beloved leader was passed over. Finally, in 656 when Ali was elected the fourth caliph, his group felt vindicated...
Since the inception of an Israeli nation-state in 1948, violence and conflict has played a major role in Israel’s brief history. In the Sixty-One year’s Israel has been a recognized nation-state, they have fought in 6 interstate wars, 2 civil wars, and over 144 dyadic militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) with some display of military force against other states (Maoz 5). Israel has been involved in constant conflict throughout the past half century. Israel’s tension against other states within the Middle East has spurred vast economic, social, and political unity that has fostered a sense of nationalism and unity in Israel not seen in most other states. Over the next several pages I will try and dissect the reasons for why the nation state of Israel has been emerged in constant conflict and how this conflict has helped foster national unity and identity among the people of Israel.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a petrostate. It is a petrostate in the sense that the oil sector dominates the national economy and international exports. (Colgan 226) This is due to Saudi Arabia’s one crop economy, oil. (Ali 100) Oil accounts for 70-80% of the state revenue as well as roughly 95% of export revenues. Before the discovery of oil in the 1930s, the economy rested on Islamic pilgrims. Containing the Grand Mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram, Saudi Arabia gets a large influx of believers every year for the Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. During this time of year, income was made by food and shelter sold to the travelers. This was enough to support the state, but not enough to make it the monetary power it is today. What allowed for Saudi Arabia’s climb in the world economic ladder was oil. Oil has been a valuable industrial resource since the beginning of World War 1. Since then the demand for oil has progressively become higher and higher amongst industrial nations, allowing for oil rich states to receive large amounts of affluence. Among these oil rich states is Saudi Arabia, the region with the highest capacity for oil production out of the entire Middle East. From their remarkably high oil production, Saudi Arabia was able to gain considerable amounts of wealth and political significance. Oil in Saudi Arabia politically affected the Saudi government in both their foreign and domestic policy by providing economic power, the ability to fund wars, the ability to use economic diplomacy.
During the British rule in India the conflict had decreased to communities' level and the state was secular and chiefly unreliable and the use of sectarian was imperfect to the reason of self-identification Sunni-Shia conflict. The state was unbiased and had nonsectarian memo (Feyyaz 2011). In Sultanate rule in India (1206-1526), The Mughals were all Sunni affiliation except Humayun. During Humayun rule the influence of Shiaism spread drastically in the Southern India. The Muslims themselves only for worldly interest demoralized the Shia-Sunni variances in such a way that the 1300 years old quarrel was recalled (Iqbql
We may see Islam as one religion, but Muslims today are divided into many sects (Firqas). Each sect believes in different ideologies and practice the religion in many different ways. However, the two major sects are Sunni who is Orthodox and traditionalist branch of Islam and Shia who were political faction turned into a sect. Around 80% percent of the Muslim population identify themselves as Sunni’s whereas 15% of the Muslim population classify themselves as Shias and rest of the population belongs to various sects.