Differences between Sunni Political Islam and Shia Political Islam - Essay Example

Differences between Sunni political Islam and Shia political Islam The sectarian conflict that has underpinned the relationship between the Shia and Sunni Muslims has been fueled by a history of competition for power and influence that date back centuries. At the core of the question, was the debate on who is the legitimate successor to prophet Mohamed? The Arabs tribes following the prophet were divided as some assumed that Abu Bakr who was his friend and father in-law was the chosen successor; these were the Sunni majority making up to 80% of the Muslims. On the other hand, the Shia Muslims held that Muhammad’s kin was the chosen successor, they claimed he had appointed his cousin in law Ali whose name is part of the construction that forms the term Shia. They were the minority and through them, he ruled for some time as the Caliph, a title that was normally given to Muhammad successor. However, this rule ended after the majority Sunni Muslims killed his son Hussein and went ahead to monopolize political power. After this, the Shia has lived in the shadow of the state and appeared to give up politics in favor of religious concerns looking to Imams rather than political leaders. The first 12 of the Shia Imams descending from Ali gradually directed the faith of their followers to create a disparity between them and the Sunni. Sunni Muslims regard themselves to be the orthodox or traditionalist of Islam, their name, Sunni is derived from the word Ahl al-Sunna” which translates into people of tradition. This is in reference to the traditions that were inherited form the actions of the prophet and those he held close. The Sunnis are well known for their veneration of all the prophets that came before Mohamed although they view those that followed him to be little more than temporal figures. Unlike the Shias, religious teachers by the Sunni have in most cases come under state control given that their system emphasis a codified system of Islamic law and the adherence to its four schools of low. The Shias on the other hand have a messianic attribute about them and they have a hierarchy of clerics that practice independent and current interpretations of the Islamic texts. The Shia Muslim number between 120 to 170 million, which is on average about a 10th of all Muslims globally. The Shia are the majority in Iran, Iraq Bahrain and some people claim that they are also the majority in turkey although this has never been verified (Barzegar 51). Shia Muslims hold that the Imam is holy and cannot commit sins which makes his authority both perfect and divine under the assumption that it is given to him directly by God. Consequently, Shia Muslims tend to venerate their Imams and after they are dead, they perform pilgrimages and rights on their tombs and make shrines with the hope that they can get divine intercession from them (Stein). Sunni Muslims on the other hand do not share this view and they believe that the teachings of Islam do not provide any basis for veneration or intercession of saints or a hereditary class of religious leaders. In addition, they hold the view that leadership should not be seen as birthright but a result of one’s hard work based on the trust one has cultivated among the people. Another point of difference between the two groups is the fact that the Shia have negative feelings towards some of the disciples of Mohammed as a result of the retrospective discord that resulted in the split. Some of these narrated traditions about the life of the prophet, which the Shia Muslims reject on the basis that the Hadith were not, based on any religious testimony but should only be thought of as myths (Rizvi). In as far as, the fundamental tenets that define Islam are concerned; the two groups agree. They both believe in the existence of a monotheistic God and that Mohamed was his messenger, the conduct daily prayers and give alms to the poor in addition to performing five daily prayers and a pilgrimage to mecca. However, as aforementioned, the Shias believed that God always sends them guides in the forms of Imams ayatollahs or professional religious scholars who provide interpretive authority and can be emulated as good examples (Nasr 4). In Iran, ayatollahs are clerical rulers but which is taken to mean a distinguished religious leaders in other parts of the Muslim world. The Shias have entrusted them with great political responsibility and during in some cases they are the ones that select leaders. For example, a group of Iranian clerics appointed Ali Khamenei Iran’s great leader. Sunnis however do not share the same faith in men, and their religious scholars are largely constrained by legal precedents. As a result, they cannot exert as much power or influence as their Shia counterparts and although they are looked to for guidance, they are not elevated above ordinary men. However it is worth noting that none of the sects is immune to internal divisions , the Shia are divided among four schools namely : Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki, and Hanbali, which is subdivided into Wahhabi and Salafi both based in Saudi Arabia. Although from the question in this paper one may assume that the Shia and Sunni are very different, it is worth noting that they actually have many similarities. In fact most people do not identify themselves with either of the sides but prefer to simple describe themselves as Muslims. The differences have however been played upon by political issue which has at time resulted in discrimination and sectarian violence. It has been found for example that in countries ruled by Sunnis, the Shia tends to make the bulk of the poor classes (Walker 17). This can be explained by among other things a tendency for the Sunnis to take advantage of their numerical superiority to oppress the Shias and sometimes even preach extremist Sunni doctrine that advocate for Shia hatred. This has resulted in numerous disputes in Muslim countries with each of the groups trying to establish supremacy based on their access to resources or numbers. In 1979, the Iranian revolution played a key role in the empowerment of the Shia Muslims and their subsequent victory encouraged them to sponsor Shia uprising in neighboring Saudi Arabia. Iran has also supported the regional political interests of the Shia by supporting Syria in power, which has been proven a strategic move for Iran to sustain its political interests in the Middle East. Iraq has however proven to be the hotbed for Shia Sunni conflict for decades under the Saddam rule. However after his death in 2003, the Shia took over power and consequently, many Sunnis were targeted through military expeditions and death squads, which saw to the killings of thousands of them. The Sunni responded in kind by launching suicide attacks, which further amplified tension between the two groups, this were amplified by nationalistic attitude of the Shia Muslims. There has been considerable tension in Saudi Arabia as well with the Sunni majority feeling threatened by Iran, which is in modern day not inclined to either side. Saudi Arabia is however suspicious that Iran may stir up under in Saudis Shia minority and course religious and political instability. Today, many Sunni governments more so in Saudi Arabia have grown increasingly worried about the extent to which they can expect to hold power. This concern has been in recent times exacerbated by the Arab spring, which started in 2010 in Tunisian and spread to Bahrain and Syria, which are traditional fault lines of the traditional fault line around Islam’s sectarian divide (Kamrava 99). Many of these powers, which are held sectarian minorities such as the Alawis in Syria and the Reigning family of Baharin, which is Shia despite the fact that they are more than the Shias. The civil war in Syria despite being a primarily political conflict has uncovered the spiritual tension in the region; it is gradually evolving into a religious war between the Sunnis and Shias in the area. According to some analysts, it is seen as the only way the Sunnis can curtail the spreading influence of Iran’s power in the Arab world. In modern day, extremist groups from both sides use a variety of tools in the fight against each other’s faith taking advantage of high-speed internet and satellite television to spread hateful messages of propaganda. Fundamentalist Sunni Clerics most of whom have wealthy sponsors from Gulf States have popularized anti Shia slurs and in response, Shia Scholars have taken to radio and blogs to mock the opposite faith through a variety of innuendos and direct insults. The sectarian dehumanization of each other by the sects is centuries old and the hard liners today use it to radicalized youths on each side inciting them to acts of violence and even terrorism. Evidently, the divisions between the sects have resulted in a culture of perpetual hatred and mutual lack of respect, which if unchecked will continue to affect negatively how Muslims relate to each other despite having a “common” religion. Works Cited Barzegar, Kayhan. "Irans Foreign Policy in Post-Invasion Iraq." Middle East Policy 15.4 (2008): 47-58. Kamrava, Mehran. "The Arab Spring and the Saudi-led counterrevolution."Orbis 56.1 (2012): 96-104. Nasr, Vali. "The Shia Revival." Military Review 87.3 (2007): 9. Rizvi, Kulsoom. “Shia and Sunni Muslims – do you know the difference?” Your Middle East Return. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014 Stein, Jeff. "Can you tell a Sunni from a Shiite?." The New York Times 17 (2006). Walker, Martin. "The revenge of the Shia." The Wilson Quarterly (2006): 16-20. Read More