Shattered Glass: A Brief History of the Sunni- Shi’ite Conflict

Published April 3, 2007

By Nate Bradbury

A week ago, our country ‘celebrated’ the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. Yes, this is another article about Iraq. However, this is about the history of the existing religious conflicts in Iraq: who, what, where, when, why, and how.
It is surprising how many people in our country – where opinions about the war run deep – know that the war is in Iraq and that there are “issues” between two Muslim sects, the Sunnis and the Shi’ites. Yet, there is a sincere lack of general knowledge beyond that point.
There is a common misconception that the reason for violent conflict between groups of Sunnis and Shi’ites is based on primarily religious reasons. But it is more than that. These two groups have centuries of historical conflict on religious, political, economic, and social levels that form the true basis of their conflict.

In fact, the Sunnis and Shi’ites are largely in agreement about their religious practices. They hold the same core Muslim values, follow the same religious documents ( the Koran), and believe in the same Prophet ( Muhammad). The trick of historical details separates the two groups.

Following Muhammad’s death in the 7th century, there was a contentious struggle for succession of Muhammad’s role as Caliph. This schism – on its own – is not the source of the brewing civil war in Iraq.

Historically, Sunnis have held a firm grip on the ruling elite classes and have maintained the upper-hand politically. Despite the strong majority of Sunnis over Shi’ites globally (the split is nearly 9:1 in favor of Sunnis), there is a Shi’ite majority in the concentrated oil-producing regions of Iraq, Iran, and Azerbaijan.

Even in these countries, there has been a great deal of historical inequality and politico-religious oppression of the Shi’ite majority. This may seem strange to the collective American conscience. However, it is critical to understand that the Middle Eastern countries are closely connected, and currents of religious activity flow deeper than political borders.

One factor that Westerners tend to forget is many of the political borders in the Middle East, particularly in oil-producing regions such as Iraq and Iran, represent a legacy of imperialism. Iraq’s political borders, for example, exist because of British commercial interests. European forces partitioned Iraq following World War I and control of the region was granted to the British.

The violent internal conflicts that are rocking the destabilized nation of Iraq can be directly linked to a series of recent events. Following the American invasion, there have been three specific events that lead to the serious escalation in sectarian conflict. The first democratic election, post-Saddam Hussein, in January 2005 was boycotted by a wide variety of Sunni groups and, subsequently, a concentrated Shi’ite coalition took broad control of the Iraqi government.

This led to a series of vengeful retaliations by newly-empowered Shi’ite leaders and members of the military. Following the election, there was a mutual escalation in the levels of further attacks – both specific (political assassinations) and general (public attacks such as bombings).

It wasn’t until February 2006 that violence in Iraq, and in surrounding countries, spiked sharply following the bombing of a sacred Shi’ite temple in Samarra (a region with a largely Sunni population).

For Americans, it is essential to understand the consequences of the burgeoning civil war. The violence in Iraq, if it continues to grow at its current rate, will invariably spread to the surrounding countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia – to name a few – begin to fear a ‘conspicuous’ growth of Shi’ite power in places like Iran and Syria.

Overall, the concept that Americans really need to understand is that the consequence of the civil war in Iraq could be similar to the shattering of a glass; sect warfare, developing regional warlords, and external influence could lead to the outbreak of war, or rebellion, across the Middle East as a whole.

Print This Article

Comments