The Shiites and the Sunnis

What separates the two sects?

Primarily, it’s a matter of belief. Most Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis are Arabs, and they look, speak, and dress largely the same. But they have a long history of bad blood, arising from a small doctrinal difference in their interpretation of Islam. When the Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam, died in A.D. 632, he had no surviving sons, so his followers disagreed on who should succeed him. Some believed leadership of the new religion should pass to Mohammed’s father-in-law, Abu Bakr. Others insisted that Mohammed’s teachings would best be carried out by Ali, the husband of Mohammed’s daughter Fatima. The Shiat Ali, or Partisans of Ali, came to be known as Shia, or Shiites.

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The supporters of Abu Bakr. He was named the first caliph, or successor of the Prophet, and served as the Muslim community’s spiritual and political leader. He started a line of caliphs whose supporters called themselves Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah—the People of the Traditions of the Prophet—or simply, Sunnis. They now account for 85 percent of the world’s 1 billion Muslims. The two groups briefly reconciled, when Ali was universally accepted as the fourth caliph. But Ali and then his son, Hussein, were murdered by dissident Muslims, and the Shiites and Sunnis again parted ways. Over time, they evolved into distinct branches of Islam, with their own customs and rites—much like Catholics and Protestants.

The major difference is that Shiites place heavy emphasis on the life and teachings of Ali. When the Sunnis profess their faith, they say, “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger.” Shiites add, “And Ali, Mohammed’s companion, is the vicar of God.” But both sects regard the Koran as their holy book, and both teach the five pillars of Islam as the foundation of a proper life—prayer, alms-giving, fasting during Ramadan, the profession of faith, and pilgrimage to Mecca.

The current struggle is mostly over political power. For centuries, the Sunni caliphs have dominated Middle Eastern political life—even in what is now Iraq, where Shiites are 60 percent of the population. Under the Ottoman Empire, the last incarnation of the caliphate, Sunni governors ran the three provinces that comprise modern-day Iraq, and Shiites were excluded from schools, the military, and government. Little changed after Westerners intervened in the region. When the Ottoman Empire fell, in World War I, the conquering British installed a Sunni king, who was succeeded by a string of Sunni strongmen. The last was Saddam Hussein, who filled key positions with his fellow Sunnis, especially members of his Tikriti clan.

Horribly. He saw them as a threat to his domination of Iraq, and banned any religious observance that might bring Shiites together in large numbers—communal Friday prayers, large funerals, and the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Ali’s son Hussein, in Karbala. After Saddam took power in 1979, Shiite clerics were routinely harassed, arrested, and executed. Saddam’s paranoia grew after the Shiite Islamic revolution in neighboring Iran, and thousands of Iraqi Shiites suspected of disloyalty were rounded up and tortured. But the worst moment for Iraq’s Shiites came in the wake of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

With Saddam’s armies defeated, U.S. President George H.W. Bush encouraged the Shiites and the Iraqi army to overthrow Iraq’s dictator. Days later, an Iraqi tank commander returning from Kuwait fired a round at a portrait of Hussein in Basra’s main square, igniting an uprising that quickly spread through the Shiite south. Saddam’s response was swift and brutal. The Republican Guard executed thousands of Shiites on the spot, and gunships strafed and bombed Shiite towns and villages. The reprisals continued for months, and tens of thousands of Shiites were killed. Over the next decade, Saddam kept up his repression by targeting leading clerics for intimidation and assassination. In 1999, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr was murdered; when hundreds of angry Shiite men took to the streets, they were taken away, never to be seen again. More than 50 mass graves were discovered after the fall of Saddam, most of them filled with the skeletons of Shiites.

That’s unclear, but the power relationship has certainly been reversed. Religious Shiite parties won 48 percent of the vote in the Jan. 30 elections for a national assembly, which will write Iraq’s new constitution. Out of anger or fear of reprisals, the Sunnis largely sat out the elections, and hold just five seats in the 275-seat assembly. Shiite leaders insist they won’t use their newfound power to exact revenge against the Sunnis. But Sunni insurgents are doing their best to widen the rift: In recent weeks, they’ve assassinated several Shiite clerics and bombed Shiite mosques. In the end, the future of Iraq will depend largely on whether Shiites and Sunnis can put aside the past and see each other as fellow Iraqis, instead of as bitter rivals. “If the objective of national reconciliation is overlooked,” says interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, “then this will definitely spell disaster.”