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The Saudi conflict of Shia and Sunni extends beyond the borders of the kingdom because of international Saudi "Petro-Islam" influence. Saudi Arabia backed Iraq in the 1980–1988 war with Iran and sponsored militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan who—though primarily targeting the Soviet Union, which had invaded Afghanistan in 1979—also ...
The Bahraini government has reportedly imported Sunnis from Pakistan and Syria in an attempt to increase the Sunni percentage. [1] [2] Shiite Muslims are blocked from serving in important political and military posts. [2] Sunnis and Shia often stress that, no matter what their denomination, they are all Bahrainis first and foremost.
While all Islamic schools and branches of Islam recognise the Qur'an, they differ in which other authorities they acknowledge; in particular the question of the Succession to Muhammad separates the Sunni, who acknowledge the elected Rashidun Caliphs and their descendants, from the Shia, who acknowledge the Imams or descendants of Muhammad; these two branches are then subdivided by their views ...
Having a mixed Sunni-Shi'i background, General Abd al-Karim Qasim abolished the practice of limiting Shi'ites and peoples with other ethnic backgrounds into the military. Although this measure made him partly popular, sectarian tensions with the Kurdish population of Iraq developed into a violent conflict which started in 1961 after Qassim was ...
Bashar al-Assad's strategy of importing Iran-backed Shia fundamentalists engaged in regional conflict with Sunni-majority countries and his portrayal as being the sole defender of Alawite interests from the Syrian Sunni majority; led to the transformation of the conflict into a sectarian war by late 2013. [12]
The Islamic State views Shia Muslims as polytheists and heretics. Therefore, it started a campaign to destroy all Shia shrines, mosques and places of worship in Nineveh and all IS-held areas. Reports stated that at least 10 Shia shrines and hussiniyas including historical ones in Mosul and Tal Afar were demolished or blown up by IS during this ...
Iraq's military flew helicopter gunships into the northern city of Tikrit Saturday in an effort to take back the town from ISIS militants. This comes more than a week after the Islamic State of ...
The dispute over who was the rightful successor to Muhammad resulted in the formation of two main branches, the Sunni, and the Shia. The Sunni, or the "followers of the way", followed the caliphate and maintained the premise that any member of the Quraysh tribe could potentially become the successor to Muhammad if he was accepted by the ...