IRELAND IN 2006: ISLAM
Islam - The Sunni Shii'ah Divide
by Josephine O'Brien
Demystifying the Muslim Sunni and Shii'ah divide
ABOUT 85 per cent of the world's Muslims are Sunni while the rest are mainly Shii'ah. The only Muslim country where Shii'ah Islam has an overwhelming majority is Iran where 85 per cent of the population is Shii'ah. Iraq also has a Shii'ah majority though this is much smaller than that of Iran with Shii'ahs constituting about 55 per cent of the total population.
In media reports, particularly on the situation in Iraq, there are frequent references to the conflict between Sunni and Shii'ah Muslims. For the non-Muslim the differences between the two main branches of Islam can be confusing and may even seem irrelevant. For the Muslim, however, the differences are as fundamental as those between the Northern Irish Catholic and Protestant.
The name Sunni comes from the word Sunnah which means the way or customary practice of the prophet Mohammed, while Shii'ah refers to the 'faction' of Ali. The origins of both words in an Islamic sense rest in the early history of Islam.
It [Islam] is both a religious and political system and Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, was the religious and political leader of the Ummah, or Islamic community.
After Mohammed's death, a successor had to be chosen who could direct both the religious and secular affairs of the community. The first three caliphs (title given to Islamic leaders) after Mohammed were Abu Bakir (632634), Omar (634-644) and Othman (644-656) each chosen from the elders of the tribe of Quraysh.
There were those who felt that only Mohammed's relatives and direct descendants should succeed to the caliphate. Fatima, Mohammed's daughter, was married to Ali and people who supported him as the obvious choice for Caliph became known as Shii'ah.
Ali did become the fourth caliph but differences between him, Aisha, Mohammed's last wife, and Othman's relatives led to war. When Ali was murdered in 661, one of Othman's relatives, Mu'awiya, became Caliph but after his death fighting broke out between Mu'awiya's son, Yazid, and Hussein, Ali's son.
Hussein and his army were slaughtered at the Battle of Kerbala in Iraq, an event still commemorated by the Shii'ah every year in the feast of 'Ashura. Hussein's infant sonAli survived so the line of Ali continued and the great division between the Sunni and Shii'ah Muslims began.
The direct descendants of Mohammed through Ali and Hussein became extinct in 873 CE with the disappearance of the twelfth and last Shii'ah Imam Al Askari. The Shii'ah refused to accept his death and instead believed that he was 'hidden' and would return. Eventually, when the Imam failed to materialise, a council of twelve scholars was appointed who elected a supreme Imam. Followers of the council of twelve are known as 'Twelvers' and include most Iranians.
Shii'ahs still believe in the return of the twelfth Imam or messiah before the end of time to bring justice and equality back to the earth. Shii'ah belief glorifies Ali and there is a strong martyrdom theme in the remembrance of the murders of Ali and Hussein. In the early 16th century, Shii'ah Islam became the official religion of Iran having been imported from Bahrain, Lebanon and Iraq.
Theological differences
The Shii'ah Imam has come to have many of the powers associated with the Pope in Christianity and with a hierarchy of structure and power that resembles that of Roman Catholicism. The Shii'ah Imam or leading religious scholar known as 'mujtahid' interprets law and tradition and is an absolute spiritual guide whose interpretations are binding on all followers. The mu jtahid is seen as the deputy of the hidden imam.
The best known of all these Imams outside the Muslim world is, of course, Ayatollah Khomeini. In addition to the zakat tax paid by both branches ofIslam, Shii'ah Muslims pay a tax called khums or 'one fifth'. This is a religious tax on income and property which is generally used by the Imam to maintain mosques and madrasahs or religious schools.
Sunni Islam, on the other hand, does not have a formal clerical structure and depends on scholars and jurists for interpretation. The Imam in Sunni Islam is any venerated Islamic leader and one who stands in front of a congregation to lead the prayers. The emphasis in orthodox Sunni Islam is on a direct relationship between man and God and the equality of all believers is stressed.
Though it is possible to find shrines, saint worship and whirling dervishes in popular Islam, in general what might be termed as Puritanism in Sunni Islam denounces the emotionalism of Shii'ah practice, particularly in the self-flagellation and drama of 'Ashura when the battle of Kerbala is remembered.
Differences in practice
Sunni and Shii'ah Muslims agree on the five pillars of Islam which are belief in Allah, prayer, fasting, zakat (tax) and pilgrimage. They acknowledge each other as Muslims. However there are differences. The Shii'ah Shehadeh (declaration offaith) and call to prayer, as well as recognising Allah and Mohammed as the messenger of Allah, also make reference to Ali as the friend of Allah. Shii'ah worshippers also perform wuduh, or washing for prayer, and the prayer ritual itself is different to Sunnis.
During prayer, Shii'ahs place the forehead onto a piece of hardened clay from Kerbala rather than touching the prayer mat directly with the forehead. Shii'ah Muslims may also combine prayers and worship three times a day instead of the five practised by Sunnis. Shii'ahs also have some different hadith (traditional sayings used as guidance) and prefer those narrated by Ali and Fatima to those of Aisha, one of Mohammed's wives.
One of the Shii'ah practices most criticised, even banned by Sunnis, is that of 'muttah' or temporary marriage. This practice was originally found at the time of the prophet Mohammed and was permitted primarily as a consolation to fighters who had to spend a long time away from their wives in time of war and also to accommodate changes from some of the practices of the Jahiliyyah or pre-Islamic period.
Muttah was in fact banned by the Caliph Omar who saw it as leading to moral laxity and negating the real purpose of marriage. However, it is now encouraged by some of the more conservative clerics in Iran to facilitate the needs and passions of people and to reduce illegitimate sexual encounters i.e. outside of marriage. Though not widespread, muttah is practiced by Muslims outside of Iran in some of the Gulf countries.
Distribution of Sunni/Shii'ah Muslims
In the Gulf region, Sunni Muslims predominate though there are large Shii'ah communities in Bahrain, Lebanon and Eastern Saudi Arabia. Iran is predominantly Shii'ah and Yemen also has a majority of Shii'ah believers.
It appears that the Shii'ah communities in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Bahrain are in the main more politically and economically marginalised than their Sunni brethren. The Shii'ah population of Iraq was heavily persecuted under Saddam Hussein and was generally the poorest section of the society.
Now, however, the situation has been reversed. Political power has moved to some extent into the hands of the Shii'ah and the current Iraqi Prime Minister, Ibrahim Al Jaafari, is a Shii'ah. It could be argued that there is a strong element of revenge affecting the relations between the two groups that goes right back to the beginning of the split between the two groups and in particular in the Shii'ah remembrance of the outcome of the Battle of Kerbala.
In my experience also, ongoing Shii'ah emotional responses at 'Ashura and multi-layered imamate (leadership) system of intervention on the path to the divine appear to upset Sunni Muslims greatly. The economic and political differences between the two groups over the centuries, to the detriment of the Shii'ah outside Iran, have also undoubtedly contributed to some of the animosities that exist. A more recent thrust for revenge can be seen in the unfolding treatment of Sunnis by Shii'ah paramilitary groups in Iraq as reported in the media.
Josephine O'Brien is an Irishwoman who lived in predominantly Muslim countries for over twenty years