Shia and Sunni: Taking it to the Streets

There is bad news this morning from Baghdad. There are sectarian shootings and bombing going on all over the city. The political divide between the Shia and Sunni factions is becoming as unbridgeable as the ideologies that define them.

The religious divide goes back to the death of Muhammad and the argument over who should succeed him as Caliph of the first Islamic state and leader of all Muslims. The Sunni faction elected Abu Bakr, a close companion of the prophet, to be caliph.

The opposition group, much smaller than the Sunni faction, believed that the prophet should be succeeded by his son-in-law, Ali. This was because they believed that the succession is the divine right of the family of the prophet.

A long history of conflict and a heritage of martyrdom follows the Shia and Sunni divide throughout the ensuing centuries. Today, in Iraq, we witness the latest in this long history of religious and political conflict.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Today's Iraqi government, courtesy of the "War on Terrorism" being waged by Mr. Bush and his allies, is comprised, as you can see, by a very diverse group of political and religious parties. The parties represented by the colour blue are Shia parties. The parties represented by yellow are Sunni. The tan coloured portion represents the Kurdish parties.

As you can also see, the vast majority of the present government is Shia. This is because they are, by far, the majority of the overall population. Prior to the present war, the government was controlled by the minority Sunnis. Saddam Hussein was himself a Sunni, and his political party was a secular Sunni party. This one of the other main differences between Sunni and Shia: The belief that a government can be secular ( non-clerical) is a Sunni cornerstone. The Shia believe that the state should be governed by the imams, priests, of Islam. Iran, which is also Shia, has this form of government. Although they have an elected president and parliament, the actions of the government are dictated by and answerable to the clerics who rule the country.

And so the streets of Baghdad run with blood. Mosques, of both factions of Islam, are targeted and their believers murdered. Mr. Bush believes that he can resolve all this by bringing "democracy" to Iraq. He is a fool....we all are.

This is an issue that can only be resolved within Islam...if ever. Let them resolve it for themselves. Is oil really worth the cost of lives and money that a continued western presence in this hotbed of internal disputes and long-lived hatreds demands? I think not.