A Good Friday Story – Why Shia and Sunni Kill Each Other…and sometimes us.

By Jack Lee

A Good Friday story is probably not the best choice of words to explain a centuries old blood feud between opposing sects of the same religion, there’s nothing good about it. But, if you’ve ever wondered what drives otherwise normal people to murder, and not just us infidels, but friends and family and all in the name of their religion, then it’s about time you hear this.  I’ve had to condense a lot of history here,  otherwise this explanation would be a thousand pages long, so read this in that context please:

The establishment of the Islamic religion began around 610 CE when the Prophet Mohammed revealed the Quran as it had been told to him by the Angel Gabriel.   To his dying day the Prophet was illiterate.  Who wrote the Quran?  It’s a matter of debate and sometimes passages appear that God is speaking directly to the Prophet Mohammed which seems odd since it was the Angel Gabriel telling the story of the Quran and another matter of debate, but what is not in debate is Islam was founded as a political and religious movement and they were not opposed to war to spread the religion.

Mohammed went on to preach much in the manner of Jesus and he soon had a number of followers.  The popularity of this religious movement spread quickly.   Mohammed, however was met with significant resistance because Islam was political and many battles were fought in the name of Islam.   Most significant was the battle for Mecca in 630 CE.   Mohammed’s forces took the city in their first major victory.   At this point many tribes of Arabia allied with Mohammed, and as their numbers grew so did the size and scope of their holy wars.   By 642 Mohammed’s army had captured much of what is now Egypt, Syria, and the old territories of Palestine, Mesopotamia and other parts of the Persian and Byzantine Empire.

Now let’s back up a bit.   The Sunny sect was formed in 632 CE and they now make up 80% of world’s Muslim population.   The Shia’s formed at some point during the life of  Mohammed.   Upon his death the Shia believe that his grandson Immam Hussain ibn ‘Ali was to be his successor.   The Sunni had other ideas and felt the successor was intended to come from the faithful who would choose.   This created a huge rift between Shias and Sunni over should they have a dynasty or an election?  This question would  eventually led to a violent confrontati0n near the City of Karbala where Shia forces, mostly poorly armed farmers and peasants, rose up to challenge the authority of the Sunni’s with their powerful professional army.    The Shia were led to battle by Ali the grandson of Mohammed.   Once the reality (Shia) became apparent they knew they could not win.  At that point there was no retreat for the leader and Ali chose to martyr himself, along with a few of his most faithful followers.  He knew his army would otherwise by subject slaughter.   He rode out to do battle against overwhelming odds and of course he was cut down in seconds, as were his closest companions.   But, they were now martyrs!  What happened at Karbala has morphed into an annual Shia religious revival that celebrates martyrdom ( self sacrifice in the name of their Shia religion) and it’s this notion of martyrdom (a reward in heaven) that drives on suicide bombers and other forms of terrorists.

There’s been no resolution between these two otherwise quite similar sects since the great falling out, and countless lives has been lost and both sides seem intractable in their positions.   However, it would seem by the sheer force of numbers that Sunni’s will some day crush the last of the Shia’s and then the debate will be settled, but not until. Also remaining to be settled are honor killings that are still practiced today. According to some Muslims this is the prescription demanded in the Quran when the faithful stray and there’s any number transgressions that enlightened Westerners might view as trivial matters that could result in a death sentence according to Sharia law. Women’s role among Muslims is another problem area, because it is still hotly debated what rights are due women. The Muslim women’s rights range from being owned like property to somewhat equal to a male, however they have a long ways to go before they achieve any sense of equality compared to their Western counterparts. In some parts of the Muslim community women would rather commit suicide than live as a virtual slave. Kurdish women have the highest suicide rate in the world. Muslim women in general, especially among the young, are seeing an increasing rate of suicide.

So, there it is…murder of innocents justified by a devout belief in Islam and Muslim women that have lost all hope and would rather die than continue to live under Sharia law or a dominating Muslim man. Of course there much more to be said about the issues raised, but for the sake of brevity I’ll have to stop here.

Here are a few links that offer more detail:

http://www.sibtayn.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42&Itemid=117

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16287698

http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/03/suicide-kurdistan

http://www.thinkhard.org/2007/10/a-really-simp-1.html