SUNNIS AND SHIITES

SUNNIS AND SHIITES
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It’s not hard to find stereotypes, caricatures and outright bigotry when talk in the Middle East turns to to the tensions between Islam’s two main sects. Shiites are described as devious, power hungry corruptors of Islam. Sunnis are called extremist, intolerant oppressors. Hard line clerics and politicians on both sides in the region have added fuel, depicting the fight as essentially a war of survival of their sect. But among the public, views are complex. Some sincerely see the other side as wrong – whether on matters of faith or politics. Others see the divisions as purely political, created for cynical aims. Even some who view the other sect negatively fear sectarian flames are burning dangerously out of control. There are those who wish for a return to the days, only a decade or two ago, when the differences did not seem so important and the sects got along better, even intermarried.

Associated Press correspondents spoke to Shiites and Sunnis across the region. Amid the variety of viewpoints, they found a public struggling with anger that is increasingly curdling into hatred.

The bitter disputes of early Islam still resonate. Even secular-minded Shiite parents would never name their child after the resented Abu Bakr, Omar or Othman, or Aisha, a wife of Muhammad, who helped raise a revolt against Ali during his Caliphate. But only the most hard-core would say those differences are reason enough to hate each other. For that, politics is needed.

[LMU NOTE: The above is a short excerpt from an article which can be found atwww.bigstory.ap.org/article/hatreds-between-sunnis-shiites-abound-mideast In an endeavour to create an understanding of the fundamental differences between these two Islamic sects, and hopefully through understanding create a bit more tolerance, the following article represents an overview regarding the Beliefs and Practices of each sect.]

The majority of the world’s Muslim population follows the Sunni branch of Islam, and approximately 10-15% of all Muslims follow the Shite branch. Shite populations constitutes a majority in Iran, Irag, Bahrain and Azerbeijan. There are also significant Shite populations in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. Sunnis and Shites share most basic religious tenets. However, their differences have sometimes been the basis for religious intolerance, political infighting ad sectarian violence.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The differences between the Sunni and Shiite Islamic sects are rooted in disagreements over the succession to the Prophet Muhammad, who died in 632 AD, and over the nature of leadership in the Muslim community. The historic debate centered on whether to award leadership to a qualified, pious individual who would follow the customs of the Prophet or to transmit leadership exclusively through the Prophet’s bloodline. The question was settled initially when community leaders elected a companion of the Prophet’s named Abu Bakr to become the first Caliph(Arabic for “successor”). Although most muslims accepted this decision, some supported the candidacy of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in law, husband of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima.

Those who supported Ali’s ascendancy became later known as Shi a, a word stemming the term “Shi a Ali” meaning supported or helpers of Ali. Others respected and accepted the legitimacy of his caliphate but opposed political succession based on bloodline to the Prophet. This group, who constituted the majority, came to be known in time as “Sunni” meaning “followers of the Prophet”s customs(sunnah)

The caliphate declined as a religious and political institution after the thirteenth century, although the term “caliph” continued to be used by some Muslim leaders until it was abolished in 1924 by Turkey’s first President Mustafa Kamal Ataturk. The decline and abolition of the caliphate became a powerful religious and political symbol to some Sunni Islamic activists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These activists argued that leaders in the Islamic world undermined the Caliphate by abandoning the “true path” of Islam.

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

Islamic theology and sectarian considerations are rarely sufficient explanations for instances of terrorism and political violence in the contemporary Muslim world. Political, social, and economic factors often determine whether a given dispute reflects sectarian identities or transcends them. Sunni and Shiite organizations and governments are known to collaborate when they perceive that their interests overlap. In other instances, theological differences can directly fuel sectarian hatred and violence.

SECTARIAN VIOLENCE IN IRAQ

In Iraq, Sunni-Shiite relations have been complicated by the dramatic shift in power dynamics that accompanied the removal of the Sunni-dominated Saddam Husein regime, which ended centuries of Sunni political dominance. Lingering Shiite resentment and Sunni fears associated with this shift have helped transform local and individual political or economic disputes into broader sectarian confrontations in some cases. Both Sunni and Shiite insurgent groups and militias have conducted attacks on coalition and Iraqi government forces and civilians since 2003. Although major Shiite political factions largely abandoned violent tactics in favour of political participation during 2005 and 2006, intra-Shiite political rivalries have led to outbreaks of violence, particularly in southern Iraq. Similarly, From 2006 through 2008 Sunni Iraqis in Baghdad, Al Anbar province, and other areas fought against predominantly Sunni insurgent groups, foreign fighters, and Al Qaeda operatives, whom tey held responsible for ongoing violence in their communities.

CORE BELIEFS AND SHARED PRACTICES

Although there are considerable differences between Sunni and Shiite Islam, the two Islamic sects share common traditions, beliefs, and doctrines.

The basic sources for Islamic jurisprudence, be it Sunni or Shiite, are the Quran, the sunna(customs of the Prophet uhammad) as relayed in the hadith, qiyas (analogy), ijma (consensus) and ijtihad (individual reasoning). There are no codified laws in eithr Sunni or Shiite Islam, rather there are sources for the interpretation of law and these sources are similar among Shiites and Sunnis. Shiite hadith differs from Sunni hadith mainly in that they include the sayings of the Shiite Imams who are considered to have been divinely inspired. Shiite legal interpretation also allows more space for human reasoning than Sunni interpretations does.

SUNNI ISLAM: DEVELOPMENT AND BASIC TENETS – RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AND BELIEFS

The majority of Muslims today are Sunnis. They accept the first four Caliphs (including Ali) as the “rightly guided” rulers who followed the Prophet. In theory, Sunnis believe that the leader (Imam) of the Muslim community should be selected on the bsis of communal consensus, on the existing political order, and on a leader’s individual merits. Sunni Muslims do not bestow upon human beings the exalted status gien only to prophets in the Quran, in contrast to the Shiite veneration of Imams. Sunni religious teachers historically have been under state control. At the same time, Sunni Islam tends to be more flexible in allowing lay persons to serve as prayer leaders and preachers.

ISLAMIC LAW

Within Sunni Islam, there are four schools of jurisprudence that offer alternative interpretations of legal decisions affecting the lives of Muslims. The four schools of jurisprudence rely mostly on analogy as a way to formulate legal rulings, and they also give different weight to the sayings of the Prophet (hadith) within their decisions. In some secular countries, such as Turkey, the opinions issued by religious scholars represent moral and social guidelines for how Muslims should practice their religion and are not considered legally binding.

SECTARIAN DIVISIONS

Sunni Islam has had less prominent sectarian divisions than Shiite Islam The Ibadi sect, which is centered mostly in Oman, East Africa and in parts of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, has sometimes been misrepresented as a Sunni sect. Ibdi religious and political dogma generally resembles basic Sunni doctrine, although the Ibadis are neither Sunni nor Shiite. Ibadis believe strongly in the existence of a just Muslim society and argue that religious leaders should be chosen by community leaders for their knowledge and piety, without regard to race or lineage. Wahhabism has become well known in recent years and is arguably the most pervasive revivalist movement in the Islamic world. This movement founded in Arabia by the scholar Muhammad in Abd al-Wahhab is considered to be an offshoot of the Hanbali school of law. In the 18th century, Muhammad ibn Saud, founder of the modern day Saudi dynasty, formed an alliance with Abd al-Wahhab and unified the disparate tribes in the Arabian Peninsula. From that point forward, there has been a close relationship between the Saudi ruling family and the Wahhabi religious establishment.

SHIITE ISLAM: DEVELOPMENT AND BASIC TENETS

For Shiites, the first true leader of the Muslim community is Ali, who is considered an Imam, a term used among Shiites not only to indicate leadership abilities but also to signify blood relations to the Prophet Muhammad. As Ali’s descendants took over leadership of the Shiite community, the functions of an Imam became more clearly defined. Each Imam chose a successor and according to Shiite beliefs, he passed down a type of spiritual knowledge to the next leader. Shiites believe that when the line of Imams descended from Ali ended, religious leaders known as Mujtahids, gained the right to interpret religious, mystical and legal knowledge to the broader community. The most learned among these teachers are known as Ayatollahs (the sign of God)

SHIITE PRACTICES AND CORE BELIEFS

Shiite religious practice centers around the remembrance of Ali’s younger son, Hussein, who was martyred near the town of Karbala in Iraq by Sunni forces in 680. His death is commemorated each year on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram in a somber and sometimes violent ritualistic remembrance known as “Ashura,” marked among some Shiites by the ritual of self flagellation.

TWELVER SHIISM

Twelver Shiism-the most common form of Shiism today- is pervasive in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Bahrain. Twelvers accept a line of twelve infallible imams descendant from Ali and believe them to have been divinely appointed from birth. They believe that the twelfth and last of these Imams “disappeared” in the late ninth century and is expected to return to lead the community. Following the 12th Imam’s disappearance, as one scholar notes, a pacifist trend emerged and they chose to withdraw from politics and quietly await his coming.

In the 20th century, changes in the political landscape of the Middle East led to a new competing activist trend among Twelver groups in Iran and Lebanon, typified by the late Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

ISMAILI OR SEVENER SHIISM

Although most Shiites agree on the basic premise that Ali was the first rightful Imam, they disagree on his successors. The Ismailis, who are the second largest Shiite sect, broke off in the 8th century, recognizing only the first seven Imams. Historically and at least until the sixteenth century, the Ismailis were far more disposed than the Twelvers to pursuing military and territorial power. In the past, they established powerful ruling states, which played significant roles in the development of Islamic history. Toda, Ismailis are scattered throughout the world but are prominent in Afghanistan (under the Naderi clan) in India and in Pakistan. There are also Ismaili communities in East and South Africa.

OTHER SHIITE SECTS

The Zaydis, who acknowledge the first five Imams and differ over the identity of the fifth, are a minority sect of Shiite Islam, mostly found in Yemen. The Zaydis reject the concepts of the Imams infallibility and of a hidden Imam. Other sects, such as the Alawites and Druzes, are generally considered to be derived from Shiite Islam, although their religious practices are secretie, and some do not regard their adherents as Muslims. Alawites exist mostly in Syria and Lebanon. The Assad family that effectively has ruled Syria since 1971 are Alawite. Many Alawites interpret the pillars of Islam as symbolic rather than applied, and celebrate and eclectic group of Christian and Islamic holidays.

In Turkey, the Alevis are an offshoot group of Shiite Islam that has often been confused with Syrian Alawites or other Shiites. Not much is known about their religious practices. Most Alevis are well integrated into Turkish society and speak both Turkish and Kurdish.

The Druze community was an 11th century offshoot of Ismaili Shiite Islam and is concentrated in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Israel. Today the Druze faith differs considerably from mainstream Shiite Islam.