Shia–Sunni relations
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After the
The present demographic breakdown between the two denominations is difficult to assess and varies by source, with most approximations stating that roughly 90% of
In recent years, the Sunni–Shia divide has been increasingly marked by conflict.
Numbers
Shia Muslims make up approximately 10% of the Muslim population.
Scholar Vali Nasr has said that numbers and percentages of Sunni and Shia populations are not exact because "in much of the Middle East it is not convenient" to have exact numbers, "for ruling regimes in particular".[28]
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Differences in beliefs and practices
Successors of Muhammad
Mahdi
The Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam. While Shia and Sunnis differ on the nature of the Mahdi, many members of both groups[40] believe that the Mahdi will appear at the end of the world to bring about a perfect and just Islamic society.
In Shia Islam, "the Mahdi symbol has developed into a powerful and central religious idea."
Hadith
The Shia accept some of the same
Shiism and Sufism
Shiism and Sufism are said to share a number of hallmarks: Belief in an inner meaning to the Quran, special status for some mortals (saints for Sufi, Imams for Shia), as well as veneration of Ali and Muhammad's family.[43]
Pillars of faith
The
Practices
Many distinctions can be made between Sunnis and Shiaīs through observation alone:
Salat
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When prostrating during ritual prayer known as Salah (one of the five pillars of Islam), Shia place their forehead onto a piece of naturally occurring material—most often a clay tablet (mohr), soil (turbah) from Karbala, the place where Hussein ibn Ali was martyred—instead of directly onto a prayer rug.
There are five salat prayers at different times of the day, but unlike Sunni, some Shia combine two sets of the prayers, (1+2+2, i.e.
Shia and the followers of the Sunni
Mut'ah and Misyar
The Twelver branch of Shia Islam
Hijab and dress
Both Sunni and Shia women wear the hijab. Devout women of the Shia traditionally wear black as do some Sunni women in the Persian Gulf. Some Shia religious leaders also wear a black robe. Mainstream Shia and Sunni women wear the hijab differently. Some Sunni scholars emphasize covering of all body including the face in public whereas some scholars exclude the face from hijab. Shia believe that the hijab must cover around the perimeter of the face and up to the chin.[55] Like Sunnis, some Shia women, such as those in Iran and Iraq, use their hand to hold the black chador, in order to cover their faces when in public.
Given names
Muslim are often named after famous early Muslims, so that given names of Shia are often derived from the names of Ahl al-Bayt. In particular, the names Fatema, Zaynab, Ali, Abbas, Hassan and Hussain are disproportionately common among Shia;[44] while Umar, Uthman, Abu Bakr, Aisha are very common among Sunnis, but very rare—if not virtually absent—among Shia.[56]
Pilgrimages
The pilgrimage to Mecca, known as hajj, is one of the pillars of Islam for both Sunnis and Shi‘ites, but Shia have many other holy sites they make pilgrimages (ziyarat) to. Among them are Al-Baqi Cemetery near Medina,[57] Cairo, in Egypt, Najaf and Karbala, in Iraq, and Qom and Mashhad, in Iran.[58][59]
Early and pre-modern history
The
Even so, by the thirteenth to fourtheenth century, Sunni and Shiite practices remained highly intertwined and figures today commonly associated with Shia Islam, such as Ali and
Abbasid era
The
Shia sources further claim that by the orders of the tenth Abbasid caliph, al-Mutawakkil, the tomb of the third Imam, Hussein ibn Ali in Karbala, was completely demolished,[63] and Shia were sometimes beheaded in groups, buried alive, or even placed alive within the walls of government buildings still under construction.[64]
The Shia believe that their community continued to live for the most part in hiding and followed their religious life secretly without external manifestations.[65]
Iraq
Many Shia Iranians migrated to what is now Iraq in the 16th century. "It is said that when modern Iraq was formed, some of the population of Karbala was Iranian". In time, these immigrants adopted the Arabic language and Arab identity, but their origin has been used to "unfairly cast them as lackeys of Iran".[66] However many of these Shia come from Sayyid families with origins in tribes from Iraq, Lebanon and Bahrain, one of said tribes being al-Musawi, and two prevalent families that are descended from it and lived in Iran for some time before settling in Iraq are the al-Qazwini and al-Shahristani families. Other Iraqi Shia are ethnic Arabs with roots in Iraq as deep as those of their Sunni counterparts.[67]
Persia
The Sunni hegemony did not undercut the Shia presence in Iran. The writers of the Shia Four Books were Iranian, as were many other scholars. According to Morteza Motahhari:[68]
The majority of Iranians turned to Shi'ism from the Safawid period onwards. Of course, it cannot be denied that Iran's environment was more favourable to the flourishing of the Shi'ism as compared to all other parts of the Muslim world. Shi'ism did not penetrate any land to the extent that it gradually could in Iran. With the passage of time, Iranians' readiness to practise Shi'ism grew day by day. Had Shi`ism not been deeply rooted in the Iranian spirit, the Safawids (907–1145/1501–1732) would not have succeeded in converting Iranians to the Shi'i creed Ahl al-Bayt sheerly by capturing political power.
Pre-Safavid
The domination of the Sunni creed during the first nine Islamic centuries characterizes the religious history of Iran during this period. There were some exceptions to this general domination which emerged in the form of the Zaidis of
. In many other areas the population of Shia and Sunni was mixed.The first Zaidi state was established in
The Buyids, who were Zaidi and had a significant influence not only in the provinces of Persia but also in the capital of the caliphate in Baghdad, and even upon the caliph himself, provided a unique opportunity for the spread and diffusion of Shia thought. This spread of Shiism to the inner circles of the government enabled the Shia to withstand those who opposed them by relying upon the power of the caliphate.
Twelvers came to Iran from Arab regions in the course of four stages. First, through the Asharis[
On the other hand, the Ismaili
After the Mongols and the fall of the Abbasids, the Sunni Ulama suffered greatly. In addition to the destruction of the caliphate there was no official Sunni school of law. Many libraries and madrasahs were destroyed and Sunni scholars migrated to other Islamic areas such as Anatolia and Egypt. In contrast, most Shia were largely unaffected as their center was not in Iran at this time. For the first time, the Shia could openly convert other Muslims to their movement.
Several local Shia dynasties like the
Muhammad Khudabandah, the famous builder of Soltaniyeh, was among the first of the Mongols to convert to Shiaism, and his descendants ruled for many years in Persia and were instrumental in spreading Shī‘ī thought.[74] Sufism played a major role in spread of Shiism in this time.
After the Mongol invasion Shiims and Sufism once again formed a close association in many ways. Some of the Ismailis whose power had been broken by the Mongols, went underground and appeared later within Sufi orders or as new branches of already existing orders. In Twelve-Imam Shiism, from the 13th to the 16th century, Sufism began to grow within official Shiite circles.[75] The
Hossein Nasr[76]
Post-Safavid
Ismail I initiated a religious policy to recognize Shiism as the official religion of the Safavid Empire, and the fact that modern Iran and Azerbaijan remain majority-Shia states is a direct result of Ismail's actions.
However, most of Ismail's subjects were Sunni. As a result, he
Immediately following the establishment of Safavid power the migration of scholars began and they were invited to Iran ... By the side of the immigration of scholars, Shi'i works and writings were also brought to Iran from Arabic-speaking lands, and they performed an important role in the religious development of Iran ... In fact, since the time of the leadership of Shaykh Mufid and Shaykh Tusi, Iraq had a central academic position for Shi'ism. This central position was transferred to Iran during the Safavid era for two-and-a-half centuries, after which it partly returned to Najaf. ... Before the Safavid era Shi'i manuscripts were mainly written in Iraq, with the establishment of the Safavid rule these manuscripts were transferred to Iran.[72]
This led to a wide gap between Iran and its Sunni neighbors, particularly its rival, the Ottoman Empire, in the wake of the Battle of Chaldiran. This gap continued until the 20th century.
-
The declaration of Shi'ism as the state religion of the realm by Shah Ismail – 1501 Tabriz central mosque. -
Monument commemorating theSunni Ottoman Empire and the Shia Safavid dynasty.
Hejaz
In the holy cities of
“that man is happy who gets over it without a beating, [for] in no part of Al-Hijaz are they for a moment safe from abuse and blows.”[80]
But in "the late Ottoman years" toleration had reached a level were Shi‘ites observed
Previously, in Mecca the populace greatly persecuted the Iranian pilgrims who were Shi‘ites, so they had to practice complete dissimulation. These days, because of the weakness of the Ottoman government and the European style civil law which is practiced there, and the strength of the Iranian government, this practice is completely abandoned. There is no harm done to the Iranians. No one would molest them, even if they did not practice dissimulation.[81]
Levant
The Shia faith in the Levant started spreading during the Hamdanid rule, which commenced in the start of the 10th century. It was followed by the Mirdasid Shi'ite emirate in the 11th century, with both the emirates centered at Aleppo.
The general observations recorded by Muslim travellers passing through the Levant during the tenth and eleventh centuries, notably al-Maqdisi in his geographical works, “The best divisions in the knowledge of the regions”, as well as
In 1305, the Sunni
On 21 April 1802, about 12,000 Wahhabi Sunnis under the command of
Caucasus region
The Sack of Shamakhi took place on 18 August 1721, when 15,000
India
Kashmir
Sunni razzias (raids) which came to be known as Taarajs, virtually devastated the Shi'i community. History records 10 such Taarajs, or Taraj-e-Shia, between the 15th and 19th centuries in 1548, 1585, 1635, 1686, 1719, 1741, 1762, 1801, 1830, 1872. During these raids, the Shia habitations of the Kashmir region of India were slaughtered and their libraries burnt, their sacred sites desecrated and plundered.[87]
Mughal Empire
Shia in India faced persecution by some Sunni rulers and Mughal Emperors which resulted in the killings of Shia scholars like Qazi Nurullah Shustari[88] (also known as Shaheed-e-Thaalis, the third Martyr) and Mirza Muhammad Kamil Dehlavi[89] (also known as Shaheed-e- Rabay, the fourth Martyr) who are two of the five martyrs of Shia Islam. Shia in Kashmir in subsequent years had to pass through the most atrocious period of their history.
20th century
Sunni–Shia clashes also occurred occasionally in the 20th century in India, particularly between 1904 and 1908. These clashes revolved around the public cursing of the first three caliphs by Shia and the praising of them by Sunnis. To put a stop to the violence, public demonstrations were banned in 1909 on the three most sensitive days:
Modern history
1919–1979
At least one scholar sees the period from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire through the decline of Arab nationalism as a time of relative unity and harmony between traditionalist Sunni and Shia Muslims. A unity brought on by a feeling of being under siege from a common threat, i.e. secularism—first of the European colonial variety and then Arab nationalist.[19]
An example of Sunni–Shia cooperation was the Khilafat Movement which swept South Asia following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the seat of the Caliphate, in World War I. Shia scholars "came to the caliphate's defence" by attending the 1931 Caliphate Conference in Jerusalem. This was despite the fact that theologically Shia held that Imams, not caliphs, were the successors to Muhammad, and that the caliphate was "the flagship institution" of Sunni, not Shia, authority. This has been described as unity of traditionalists in the face of the twin threats of "secularism and colonialism."[19]
In 1938,
Another example of unity was a
Post-Iranian Revolution era
The leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini saw the revolution as an Islamic, not a Shi'i Islamic revolution.[94] His revolution was (he hoped) just the first and would spread throughout the Muslim world, with Iran serving as "the base for a global Islamic movement", and himself as the leader, just as Lenin and Trotsky had hoped the Bolshevik Revolution would be only the first communist revolution.[94] The year of the Revolution was "one of great ecumenical discourse",[95] and shared enthusiasm by both Shia and Sunni Islamists. Khomeini endeavored to bridge the gap between Shiites and Sunnis by declaring it permissible for Twelvers to pray behind Sunni imams and by forbidding criticizing the Caliphs who preceded Ali—an issue that had caused much animosity between the two groups.[96] He focused on issues that united Muslims — anti-Imperialism, anti-Zionism, anti-Americanism, and "the battle against outsiders" — rather than "religious questions that were likely to divide them".[94] In addition, Khomeini designated the period of Muhammad's Birthday celebrations from 12th to the 17th of Rabi Al-Awwal as the Islamic Unity Week, (there being a gap in the dates of when Shiites and Sunnis celebrate Muhammad's birthday).[97]
Outbreak of sectarianism
Sunni–Shia unity did not last long after the Iranian Revolution, and strife between the two sects took a major upturn, the "Shia awakening and its instrumentalisation by Iran" as leading to a "very violent Sunni reaction", starting first in Pakistan before spreading to "the rest of the Muslim world, without necessarily being as violent."[98] As of 2008, "Azerbaijan is probably the only country where there are still mixed mosques and Shia and Sunnis pray together."[98]
Discord manifested itself in major and minor ways, from bombings that killed thousands, to cultural changes. Among the immediate causes of the violence was:
- the Islamic revolution in Iran
- the 2003 American military intervention in Iraq[98]
These led to antipathy between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who mobilized supporters against the other,[99] between Sunni Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (president of Pakistan, the country with the second largest Muslim population in the world[100] and neighbor to Iran) and Shia Iranian supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini,[101][102] growth of sectarian militias,[103] and the change in attitude of Sunni towards Shia from misguided brethren to heretics, a viewpoint spread not by "marginal extremists" but "senior Sunni Ulama".[104]
Examples
In turn, Shia religious scholars have "mocked and cursed" the first three caliphs and Aisha (Mohammed's youngest wife who fought against Ali).[105]
Explanations for growth in sectarianism
Among the explanations for the increase are conspiracies by outside forces to divide Muslims,[109][110] the recent Islamic revival and increased religious purity and consequent takfir,[111][112] upheaval, destruction and loss of power of Sunni caused by the US invasion of Iraq, and sectarianism generated by Arab regimes defending themselves against the mass uprisings of the Arab Spring.[113]
Outside conspiracies
Many in the Muslim world explain the bloodshed as the work of conspiracies by outside forces—"the forces of hegemony and Zionism which aim to weaken [Arabs]" (
Some Western analysts assert that the US is practicing divide and rule strategy through the escalation of Sunni-Shia conflict. Nafeez Ahmed cites a 2008 RAND Corporation study for the American military which recommended "divide and rule" as a possible strategy whereby the US takes "the side of the conservative
Sunni regimes ... working with them against all Shiite empowerment movements in the Muslim world".
Islamic revival
Others (Martin Seth Kramer, Vali Nasr) lay the blame for the strife at a very different source, the unintended effects of the Islamic revival.
Historian Martin Seth Kramer (writing circa mid-1990s), argues that the focus on alleging "plots" by outsiders and/or claims by one side that the issue is only with an extremist group on the other side (for example Wahhabism or Khomeinism), distracts from the seriousness of the problem:
For most Muslims, it is no longer considered politic to dwell openly on the differences between Sunni and Shi‘ite Islam. Indeed, merely to cite these differences is regarded by many as part of an imperialist plot to foment division in Islam. The new sectarianism takes a subtler form: Shi‘ites profess their unity of purpose with Sunnis, but then declare that a major expression of Sunnism (in this case, Saudi Wahhabism) is a deviation from ecumenical Islam. Sunnis declare their acceptance of Shi‘ites as Muslims, but then declare that a major expression of Shi‘ism (in this case, Iran’s revolutionary activism) constitutes a deviation from ecumenical Islam. In this manner, sectarian prejudice is insinuated, even as the unity of Islam is openly professed.[57]
According to scholar
Iranian Islamic revolution
An indirect way the Islamic revival led to discord between the two major schools of Islam was through the
The revolution changed the Shia–Sunni power equation in Muslim countries "from Lebanon to India". It aroused the traditionally subservient Shia, to the alarm of traditionally dominant and very non-revolutionary Sunni.[112] "Where Iranian revolutionaries saw Islamic revolutionary stirrings, Sunnis saw mostly Shia mischief and a threat to Sunni predominance."[121]
Notwithstanding the desire of Iran's leader, Khomeini, for Shia–Sunni unity, as an Islamist revolutionary flush with success that had surprised Iranians as well as the rest of the world, Khomeini now sought the overthrow of unworthy governments in Muslim-majority countries (which were all Sunni regimes except for
Another indirect effect (noted by political scientist
Other Sunni Muslim states—Indonesia, Egypt—also "quickly moved" to bolster their Islamic credentials
Following the Iranian Revolution, "avowedly Shia political movements", often getting funding from the IRI, and "pushing specifically Shia political agendas",[133] emerged in to 2015, Shia groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, supported by Iran. By 2015 they had won "important political victories" which have boosted Iran's regional influence.[105] In Lebanon,
US invasion of Iraq
Among those blaming the US invasion of Iraq for the growth in sectarianism are Fawaz Gerges, who writes in his book ISIS: A History,
By destroying state institutions and establishing a sectarian-based political system, the 2003 US-led invasion polarized the country along Sunni-Shia lines and set the stage for a fierce, prolonged struggle driven by identity politics. Anger against the United States was also fueled by the humiliating disbandment of the Iraqi army and the de-Baathification law, which was first introduced as a provision and then turned into a permanent article of the constitution.[113]
Malise Ruthven writes that the post invasion
The US-led invasion also “tilted the regional balance of power decisively" in favor of Shia Iran, alarming Sunni and leading to talk of a “Shia Crescent”.[113]
Counter-revolutionary tactic
Marc Lynch in his book The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East, argues that as old regimes or political forces sought to control "the revolutionary upsurge" of the Arab Spring, sectarianism became “a key weapon” to undermine unity among the anti-regime masses. Christians were pitted "against Muslims in Egypt, Jordanians against Palestinians in Jordan, and, above all, Sunnis against Shi’ites wherever possible.”[113]
Relations by country and region
Iraq
Shia–Sunni discord in Iraq starts with disagreement over the relative population of the two groups. The governing regimes of Iraq were composed mainly of Sunnis for nearly a century until the 2003 Iraq War, but according to most sources, the majority of the population is Shia. The CIA's
The British, having put down a Shia rebellion against their rule in the 1920s, "confirmed their reliance on a corps of Sunni ex-officers of the collapsed Ottoman empire". The British colonial rule ended after the Sunni and Shia united against it.[139]
The Shia suffered indirect and direct
The Shia openly
Iraq War
Some of the worst sectarian strife has occurred following the start of the Iraq War,[20] and continues at least as of 2016.[99] The war has featured a cycle of Sunni–Shia revenge killing—Sunni often used car bombs, while Shia favored death squads.[144] As part of its rivalry with Iran, Saudi Arabia spent "tens of billions of dollars" helping Saddam Hussein's war effort.[145]
According to one estimate, as of early 2008, 1121 suicide bombers have blown themselves up in Iraq.
Takfir motivation for many of these killings may come from Sunni insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Before his death Zarqawi was one to quote Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, especially his infamous statement urging followers to kill the Shia of Iraq,[153] and calling the Shia "snakes".[154]
Another explanation found in his February 2004 open letter to supporters is that by attack Shia he would provoke them to attack Sunnis and thus "awaken" Sunnis who previously had not wanted a sectarian war to join his side. The "cunning" Shia planned to build a state "stretching from Iran through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon" to the Gulf kingdoms, but by attacking Shia in their "religious, political, and military depth" his jihadis would "drag" the Shia "into the arena of sectarian war", and leading them to "bare the teeth of the hidden rancor working in their breasts" and so "awaken the inattentive Sunnis as they feel imminent danger and annihilating death at the hands of theses Sabeans", i.e. Shia.[155]
An
حتی كسانی كه با انتحار میآيند و میزنند عدهای را میكشند، آن هم به عنوان عملیات انتحاری، اینها در قعر جهنم هستند
Even those who kill people with suicide bombing, these shall meet the flames of hell.— Ayatollah Yousef Saanei[158]
Some believe the war has strengthened the takfir thinking and may spread Sunni–Shia strife elsewhere.[159]
On the Shia side, in early February 2006 militia-dominated government death squads were reportedly "tortur[ing] to death or summarily" executing "hundreds" of Sunnis "every month in Baghdad alone," many arrested at random.[160][161][162] According to the British television Channel 4, from 2005 through early 2006, commandos of the Ministry of the Interior which is controlled by the Badr Organization, and
...who are almost exclusively Shia Muslims—have been implicated in rounding up and killing thousands of ordinary Sunni civilians.[163]
The violence shows little sign of getting opposite sides to back down. Iran's Shia leaders are said to become "more determined" the more violent the anti-Shia attacks in Iraq become.
In addition to Iran, Iraq has emerged as a major Shia government when the Twelvers achieved political dominance in 2005 under American occupation. The two communities have often remained separate, mingling regularly only during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. In some countries like Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Bahrain, communities have mingled and intermarried. Some Shia have complained of mistreatment in countries dominated by Sunnis, especially in Saudi Arabia,[166] while some Sunnis have complained of discrimination in the Twelver-dominated states of Iraq and Iran.[167]
Iran
Iran is unique in the Muslim world because its population is overwhelmingly more Shia than Sunni (Shia constitute 95% of the population) and because its constitution is theocratic republic based on rule by a Shia jurist.
The founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, supported good Sunni–Shia relations. However tension developed between Sunnis and Shia as a result of clashes over Iranian pilgrims and Saudi police at the
Inside Iran there have been complaints by Sunni of discrimination, particularly in important government positions.
Soon after the 1979 revolution, Sunni leaders from Kurdistan, Balouchistan, and
A UN human rights report states that:
...information indicates Sunnis, along with other religious minorities, are denied by law or practice access to such government positions as cabinet minister, ambassador, provincial governor, mayor and the like, Sunni schools and mosques have been destroyed, and Sunni leaders have been imprisoned, executed and assassinated. The report notes that while some of the information received may be difficult to corroborate there is a clear impression that the right of freedom of religion is not being respected with regard to the Sunni minority.[174][175]
Members of the 'Balochistan Peoples Front' claim that Sunnis are systematically discriminated against educationally by denial of places at universities, politically by not allowing Sunnis to be army generals, ambassadors, ministers, prime minister, or president, religiously insulting Sunnis in the media, economic discrimination by not giving import or export licenses for Sunni businesses while the majority of Sunnis are left unemployed.[176]
There has been a low level resistance in mainly Sunni Iranian Balouchistan against the regime for several years. Official media refers to the fighting as armed clashes between the police and "bandits," "drug-smugglers," and "thugs," to disguise what many believe is essentially a political-religious conflict. Revolutionary Guards have stationed several brigades in Balouchi cities, and have allegedly tracked down and assassinated Sunni leaders both inside Iran and in neighboring Pakistan. In 1996 a leading Sunni, Abdulmalek Mollahzadeh, was gunned down by hitmen, allegedly hired by Tehran, as he was leaving his house in Karachi.[177]
Members of Sunni groups in Iran however have been active in what the authorities describe as terrorist activities. Balochi Sunni Abdolmalek Rigi continue to declare the Shia as Kafir and Mushrik.[178] These Sunni groups have been involved in violent activities in Iran and have waged terrorist[179] attacks against civilian centers, including an attack next to a girls' school[180] according to government sources. The "shadowy Sunni militant group Jundallah" has reportedly been receiving weaponry from the United States for these attacks according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.[181] The United Nations[182] and several countries worldwide have condemned the bombings. (See 2007 Zahedan bombings for more information)
Following the 2005 elections, much of the leadership of Iran has been described as more "staunchly committed to core Shia values" and lacking Ayatollah Khomeini's commitment to Shia–Sunni unity.
Syria
Syria is approximately three quarters Sunni,
During the 20th century, an
How much of the conflict was sparked by Sunni versus Shia divisions and how much by Islamism versus secular-Arab-nationalism, is in question, but according to scholar Vali Nasr the failure of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran to support the Muslim Brotherhood against the Baathists "earned [Khomeini] the Brotherhood's lasting contempt." It proved to the satisfaction of the Brotherhood that sectarian loyalty trumped Islamist solidarity for Khomeini and eliminated whatever appeal Khomeini might have had to the MB movement as a pan-Islamic leader.[189]
Syria Civil War
The
According to some reports, as of mid-2013, the
Saudi Arabia
While Shia make up roughly 10% of Saudi Arabia's population,[193] they form a large portion of the residents of the Eastern Province—by some estimates a majority[194]—where much of the petroleum industry is based. Between 500,000 and a million Shia live there,[195] concentrated especially around the oases of Qatif and al-Hasa. The Majority of Saudi Shia belong to the sect of the Twelvers.[196]
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 fought to suppress Shia movements.[197]
Relations between the Shia and the Wahhabis are inherently strained because the Wahhabis consider the rituals of the Shia to be the epitome of shirk, or
Government policy has been to allow Shia their own mosques and to exempt Shia from
According to a report by the Human Rights Watch:
Shia Muslims, who constitute about eight percent of the Saudi population, faced discrimination in employment as well as limitations on religious practices. Shia jurisprudence books were banned, the traditional annual Shia mourning procession of Ashura was discouraged, and operating independent Islamic religious establishments remained illegal. At least seven Shi'a religious leaders-Abd al-Latif Muhammad Ali, Habib al-Hamid, Abd al-Latif al-Samin, Abdallah Ramadan, Sa'id al-Bahaar, Muhammad Abd al-Khidair, and Habib Hamdah Sayid Hashim al-Sadah-reportedly remained in prison for violating these restrictions."[199]
And Amnesty International adds:
Members of the Shi‘a Muslim community (estimated at between 7 and 10 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s population of about 19 million) suffer systematic political, social, cultural as well as religious discrimination.[200]
As of 2006 four of the 150 members of Saudi Arabia's "handpicked" parliament were Shia, but no city had a Shia mayor or police chief, and none of the 300 girls schools for Shia in the Eastern Province had a Shia principal. According to scholar Vali Nasr, Saudi textbooks "characterize Shiism as a form of heresy ... worse than Christianity and Judaism."[201]
Forced into exile in the 1970s, Saudi Shia leader
Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Shia in Hasa ignored the ban on mourning ceremonies commemorating Ashura. When police broke them up three days of rampage ensued—burned cars, attacked banks, looted shops—centered around Qatif. At least 17 Shia were killed. In February 1980 disturbances were "less spontaneous" and even bloodier.[203] Meanwhile, broadcasts from Iran in the name of the Islamic Revolutionary Organization attacked the monarchy, telling listeners, "Kings despoil a country when they enter it and make the noblest of its people its meanest ... This is the nature of monarchy, which is rejected by Islam."[204]
By 1993, Saudi Shia had abandoned uncompromising demands and some of al-Saffar's followers met with King Fahd with promises made for reform. In 2005 the new King Abdullah also relaxed some restrictions on the Shia.[205] However, Shia continue to be arrested for commemorating Ashura as of 2006.[206] In December 2006, amidst escalating tensions in Iraq, 38 high ranking Saudi clerics called on Sunni Muslims around the world to "mobilise against Shiites".[207] A year later, Shia Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi is reported to have responded:
The Wahhabis ignore the occupation of Islam's first Qiblah by Israel, and instead focus on declaring Takfiring fatwas against Shia.[208]
- Saudi Sunni
Another reflection of grassroots Wahhabi or Saudi antipathy to Shia was a statement by Saudi cleric Nasir al-Umar, who accused Iraqi Shia of close ties to the United States and argued that both were enemies of Muslims everywhere.[209]
Al-Qaeda
Some Wahabi groups, often labeled as takfiri and sometimes linked to Al-Qaeda, have even advocated the persecution of the Shia as heretics.[210] Such groups have been allegedly responsible for violent attacks and suicide bombings at Shi'a gatherings at mosques and shrines, most notably in Iraq during the Ashura mourning ceremonies where hundreds of Shia were killed in coordinated suicide bombings,[211][212][213] but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, in a video message, Al-Qaeda deputy Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri directed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, not to attack civilian targets but to focus on the occupation troops. His call seems to have been ignored, or swept away in the increasing tensions of Iraq under occupation.
Hajj
Every year, Muslims from all over the world attend the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca in Western Saudi Arabia. Shia had complained off and on of mistreatment by the Sunnis who ran Mecca and the hajj ceremonies. Following the advent of Saudi-Wahhabi rule over Mecca in 1924 tensions between Shia and Sunni increased. To the fury of Shia Muslims, the Wahhabi Sunnis demolished domes in the cemetery of Al-Baqi, near the Medina, "the reputed resting place of the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima and four of the Twelve Imams".[57] In 1943, a Saudi religious judge ordered the beheading of an Iranian pilgrim "for allegedly defiling the Great Mosque with excrement" smuggled into "the mosque in his pilgrim’s garment". Saudi public opinion considered the crime unsurprising and the punishment just, Iranian were furious and demanded payment of an indemnity. Tensions lowered again during the 1960s, when pious/tradionalist Muslims set aside differences in the face of the rising popularity of Nasser's leftist Arab nationalism. Pilgrims from Iran (mostly Shia) rose in number from 12,000 in 1961 to 57,000 in 1972.[57]
In 1987, about seven years after the Iranian Revolution, Mecca became a site "of unprecedented carnage" when demonstrating Shia Iranian pilgrims clashed with Saudi security forces and over four hundred were killed. The Saudis and their supporters claimed violent Iranian demonstrators crushed themselves to death in a stampede of their own making. The Iranians and their sympathizers claimed the Saudis had conspired to provoke and then shoot Iranian pilgrims. The pilgrimage to Mecca, where violence is forbidden, had itself become a point of confrontation between rival visions of Islam.[57]
Lebanon
Though sectarian tensions in Lebanon were at their height during the
With the eruption of the Syrian Civil War,
[214] The bombings are thought to be in retaliation[215] for a large car bomb which detonated on 15 August 2013 and killed at least 24 and wounded hundreds in a part of Beirut controlled by the Hezbollah[216]
Jordan
Although the country of Jordan is 95% Sunni and has not seen any Shia–Sunni fighting within, it has played a part in the recent Shia-Sunni strife. It is the home country of anti-Shia insurgent
Egypt
According to Pew, roughly 99% of Egyptian Muslims regarded themselves as
Yemen
Muslims in Yemen include the majority Shafi'i (Sunni) and the minority Zaidi (Shia). Zaidi are sometimes called "Fiver Shia" instead of Twelver Shia because they recognize the first four of the Twelve Imams but accept
Both Shia and Sunni dissidents in Yemen have similar complaints about the government—cooperation with the American government and an alleged failure to following Sharia law[226]—but it's the Shia who have allegedly been singled out for government crackdown.
During and after the US-led invasion of Iraq, members of the Zaidi-Shia community protested after Friday prayers every week outside mosques, particularly the
These latest measures come as the government faces a Sunni rebellion with a similar motivation to the Zaidi discontent.[231][232][233]
A March 2015 suicide bombing of two mosques (used mainly by supporters of the
Bahrain
The small
Pakistan
Pakistan's citizens have had serious Shia-Sunni discord. Almost 90% of Pakistan's Muslim population is Sunni, with 10% being Shia, but this Shia minority forms the second largest Shia population of any country,[238] larger than the Shia majority in Iraq.
Until recently Shia–Sunni relations have been cordial, and a majority of people of both sects participated in the creation the state of Pakistan in the 1940s.[17] Despite the fact that Pakistan is a Sunni majority country, Shia have been elected to top offices and played an important part in the country's politics. Several top Pakistani military and political figures such as General Muhammad Musa, and Pakistan's President Yahya Khan[citation needed] were Shia, as well as Former President Asif Ali Zardari was a Shia. There are many intermarriages between Shia and Sunnis in Pakistan.
Unfortunately, from 1987 to 2007, "as many as 4,000 people are estimated to have died" in Shia-Sunni sectarian fighting in Pakistan",[239] another estimate is nearly 4,000 people have been killed and 6,800 injured from the beginning of 2000 to 2013.[240]
Amongst the culprits blamed for the killing are Al-Qaeda working "with local sectarian groups" to kill what they perceive as Shia
Arab states especially Saudi Arabia and
Background
Some see a precursor of Pakistani Shia–Sunni strife in the April 1979 execution of deposed President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on questionable charges by Islamic fundamentalist General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Ali Bhutto was Shia, Zia ul-Haq a Sunni.[245]
Shia formed student associations and a Shia party, Sunni began to form sectarian militias recruited from Deobandi and Ahl al-Hadith madrasahs. Preaching against the Shia in Pakistan was cleric Israr Ahmed. Manzoor Nomani, a senior Indian cleric with close ties to Saudi Arabia published a book entitled Iranian Revolution: Imam Khomeini and Shiism. The book, which "became the gospel of Deobandi militants" in the 1980s, attacked Khomeini and argued the excesses of the Islamic revolution were proof that Shiism was not the doctrine of misguided brothers, but beyond the Islamic pale.[247]
Anti-Shia groups in Pakistan include the
An example of an early Shia–Sunni
"Over 80,000 Pakistani Islamic militants have trained and fought with the Taliban since 1994. They form a hardcore of Islamic activists, ever-ready to carry out a similar Taliban-style Islamic revolution in Pakistan.", according to Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid.[248]
Afghanistan
Shia–Sunni strife in Pakistan is strongly intertwined with that in Afghanistan. The anti-Shia Afghan Taliban regime helped anti-Shia Pakistani groups and vice versa. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, have sent thousands of volunteers to fight with the Taliban regime and "in return the Taliban gave sanctuary to their leaders in the Afghan capital of Kabul."[253]
Shia–Sunni strife inside of Afghanistan has been between the Sunni Taliban and Shia Afghans, primarily the
In 1998 more than 8,000 noncombatants were killed when the Taliban
Last year you rebelled against us and killed us. From all your homes you shot at us. Now we are here to deal with you. The
Hazaras are not Muslims and now we have to kill Hazaras. You must either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. Wherever you go, we will catch you. If you go up we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair.[257]
Assisting the Taliban in the murder of Iranian diplomatic and intelligence officials at the Iranian Consulate in Mazar were "several Pakistani militants of the anti-Shia, Sipah-e-Sahaba party."[258] There were other pogroms of Shia as well in the first Taliban reign prior to the U.S. invasion.[259][260][261]
In 2021 Human Rights Watch warned on a "surge in Islamic State Attacks on Shia" in Afghanistan "that amount to crimes against humanity".[262] Attacks on the Hazara Shia community include
- suicide bombings that killed at least 72 people at the Sayed Abad mosque in Kunduz on October 8, 2021,[262]
- a bombing that killed at least 63 people at the Bibi Fatima mosque in Kandahar on October 15, 2021.[262]
In a statement ISIS declared it would target Shia
“in every way, from slaughtering their necks to scattering their limbs… and the news of [ISIS’s] attacks…in the temples of the [Shia] and their gatherings is not hidden from anyone, from Baghdad to Khorasan.”[262]
Nigeria
In Nigeria—the most populous country in Africa—until recently almost all Muslims were Sunni.
In the 1980s, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky—a Nigerian admirer of the Iranian Revolution who lived in Iran for some years and converted to Shia Islam—established the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. The movement has established "more than 300 schools, Islamic centers, a newspaper, guards and a `martyrs’ foundation`".[264] Its network is similar to that of Hezbollah in Lebanon, with a focus on Iran, its Supreme Leader, and fighting America as the enemy of Islam.[265] According to a former U.S. State Department specialist on Nigeria, Matthew Page, the Islamic Movement receives "about $10,000 a month" in Iranian funding.[264] Many of the converted are poor Muslims.
The Shia campaign has clashed with Saudi Arabian, which also funds religious centers, school, and trains students and clerics, but as part of an effort to spread its competing
Shia Muslims protest that they have been persecuted by the Nigerian government.[266] In 1998 Nigerian President General Sani Abacha accused Ibrahim El-Zakzaky [267] of being a Shia. In December 2015 the Nigerian government alleged that the Islamic Movement attempted to kill Nigeria's army chief-of-staff. In retaliation, troops killed more than 300 Shiites in the city of Zaria. Hundreds of El-Zakzaky's followers were also arrested.[264][268][269] As of 2019, El-Zakzaky was still imprisoned.[264]
South East Asia
Islam is the dominant religion in Indonesia, which also has a larger Muslim population than any other country in the world, with approximately 202.9 million identified as Muslim (88.2% of the total population) as of 2009.[14][270]
The majority adheres to the
Malaysia claims to be a tolerant Islamic state, however since 2010 it has banned the preaching of Shia Islam, with a "particular ferocity"[275] and warns against Shiism with its, "evil and blasphemous beliefs".[276]
United States
In late 2006 or early 2007, in what journalist
Europe
In Europe Shia-Sunni acrimony is part of life for tens of millions of European Muslims.[275]
Australia
Conflict between religious groups in the Middle East have spread to the Australian Muslim community[281][282][283][284][285] and within Australian schools.[286]
ISIL and the 2013–2017 war in Iraq
Growing out of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and overthrow of Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein, a Salafi jihadi extremist militant group led by Sunni Arabs from Iraq and Syria,[287] developed an insurgency that by March 2015 had control over territory in Iraq and Syria[288][289] occupied by ten million people.[290] It proclaimed itself a worldwide caliphate,[291][292] with religious, political, and military authority over Muslims worldwide.[293] and dubbed itself the Islamic State (الدولة الإسلامية, ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah),[294] but by December 2017, it controlled just 2% of the territory it had at the peak of its expansion,[295] and had been driven underground in Iraq.[296]
In the few years of its success, it was responsible for human rights abuses and
After the collapse of the Iraqi army and capture of the city of
Shia militias fighting ISIS have also been accused of atrocities. Human Rights Watch has accused government-backed Shia militias of kidnapping and killing scores of Sunni civilians in 2014.[301]
Reduced to terror campaigns
By 2019, the group resorted increasingly to terror bombings and insurgency operations, using its scattered underground networks of
According to military.com, as of May 2023, the Islamic State's Khorasan Province, (ISIS-K), has become "the new boogeyman in the Middle East".[304] CNN also writes that "new data" shows that at least in Afghanistan, the "threat from ISIS is growing".[305] Although the Shia – in particular the ethnic
Unity efforts
In a special interview broadcast on
Rafsanjani asked "more than once who started" the inter-Muslim killing in Iraq. Al-Qaradawi denied Rafsanjani's statement that he knew where "those arriving to Iraq to blow Shi’i shrines up are coming from."[110]
Saudi–Iran summit
In a milestone for the two countries' relations, on 3 March 2007 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held an extraordinary summit meeting. They displayed mutual warmth with hugs and smiles for cameras and promised "a thaw in relations between the two regional powers but stopped short of agreeing on any concrete plans to tackle the escalating sectarian and political crises throughout the Middle East."[308]
On his return to Tehran, Ahmadinejad declared that:
Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are aware of the enemies' conspiracies. We decided to take measures to confront such plots. Hopefully, this will strengthen Muslim countries against oppressive pressure by the imperialist front.[308]
Saudi officials had no comment about Ahmadinejad's statements, but the Saudi official government news agency did say:
The two leaders affirmed that the greatest danger presently threatening the Islamic nation is the attempt to fuel the fire of strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and that efforts must concentrate on countering these attempts and closing ranks.[309]
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince
The two parties have agreed to stop any attempt aimed at spreading sectarian strife in the region.[310]
Effort to bring unity between Sunni and Shia Muslims had been attempted by Allama Muhammad Taqi Qummi.[92]
Scholarly opinions
Sunni
- Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltut (April 1893 – December 1963): In a Fatwa Sheikh Shaltut declared worship according to the doctrine of the Twelve Shia to be valid and recognized the Shiite as an Islamic School.[311]
- Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy (28 October 1928 – 10 March 2010): "I think that anyone who believes that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is his Messenger is definitely a Muslim. Therefore, we have been supporting, for a long time, through Al-Azhar, many calls for the reconciliation of Islamic schools of thought. Muslims should work on becoming united, and protecting themselves from denominational sectarian fragmentation. There are no Shiites and no Sunni. We are all Muslims. Regretfully; the passions and prejudices that some resort to, are the reason behind the fragmentation of the Islamic nation."[312]
- Sheikh Mohammed al-Ghazali (1917–1996): "It is the duty of all Muslims to unite against enemies of Islam and their propaganda".[313]
- Sheikh Abd al-Majid Salim stated in a letter he sent to Ayatollah Borujerdi: "The first thing that becomes obligatory to scholars, Shia or Sunni, is removing dissension from the minds of Muslims."[314]
- Vasel Nasr, the Grand Mufti of Egypt (Mufti from 1996-2002): "We ask Allah to create unity among Muslims and remove any enmity, disagreement and contention in the ancillaries of Fiqh between them."[315]
Shiite
- Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi (March 1875 – March 1961) sent a letter to Sheikh Abd al-Majid Salim, the Grand Mufti of Sunnis and former Chancellor of Al-Azhar University and wrote: "I ask Almighty Allah to change ignorance, separation and distribution among different Islamic Schools to each other, to the actual knowledge and kindness and solidarity."[316]
- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (May 1900 – June 1989): "We are oneness with Sunni Muslims. We are their brothers" and "It is obligatory for all Muslims that maintain unity."[317]
- Shahadah, prays and follow one of the Islamic Schools, a Muslim?", Sistani replied: "Every one who says Shahadah, acts as you describe and does not have enmity towards Ahl al-Bayt, is Muslim."[315]
See also
- Amman Message
- Anti-Shi'ism
- Criticism of Twelver Shia Islam
- Glossary of Islam
- Index of Islam-related articles
- International Islamic Unity Conference (Iran)
- Islam in Iran
- Kharijite
- Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
- Outline of Islam
- Rafida
- Shia Muslims in the Arab world
- Sunni fatwas on Shias
- The World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought
- Sufi–Salafi relations
- Catholic-Protestant relations– One of the Christian counterparts
- Catholic-Eastern Orthodox relations– One of the Christian counterparts
Notes
- ^ After 200 mostly Shia Iranians were killed during hajj by a stampede and Saudi gunfire Ali Khamene’i, (then the president of Iran), proclaimed that “They are now propagandizing and claiming that this incident was a war between Shi‘ites and Sunnis. This is a lie! Of course there is a war; but a war between the American perception of Islam and true revolutionary Islam.”[115]
- ^ Writing in 2016, Max Fisher argues "Sunni-Shia sectarianism is indeed tearing apart the Middle East, but is largely driven by the very modern and very political rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia", whose "real roots" are not theological.[99]
Citations
- ^ "Sunnis and Shia: Islam's ancient schism". BBC News. 4 January 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-7614-7926-0. Retrieved 30 November 2019..
Within the Muslim community, the percentage of Sunnis is generally thought to be between 85 and 93.5 percent, with the Shia accounting for 6.6 to 15 percent. A common compromise figure ranks Sunnis at 90 percent and Shias at 10 percent.
See further citations in the article Islam by country - CIA Factbook. 12 January 2022.
- Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
- The Tribune. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
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- ^ Jahanbegloo, Ramin (1 February 2009). "Aspiring powers and a new old friendship". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
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- ^ "India Iran Culture". Tehran Times. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
- Overseas Indian. 22 April 2008. Archived from the originalon 8 July 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
- ^ [3] Indonesia has the largest number of Sunni Muslims, while Iran has the largest number of Shia (Twelver) in the world. Pakistan has the second-largest Sunni population in the world, while India has the second-largest Shia (Twelver) population.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
- ^ a b c "Mapping the Global Muslim Population". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 7 October 2009. Archived from the original on 14 December 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
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The Pew Forum's estimate of the Shia population (10–13%) is in keeping with previous estimates, which generally have been in the range of 10%.
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- ^ Tabataba'i (1979), p. 76
- ^ God's rule: the politics of world religions, p. 146, Jacob Neusner, 2003
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The Shiites – just as an introduction – are about 5 to 10 percent of the Muslim population worldwide, which makes them about 230 million to 390 million people.
- ^ Glasse, Cyril, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, Altamira Press, 2001, p. 280
- ^ Martin, Richard C., ed. (2004), "Mahdi", Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world, Thomson Gale, p. 421
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- ^ Nawawi; translated by Maulana Waheed-uz-Zaman Knan. "Volume 2". Sharh-e-Muslim. p. 28.
Imam Ahmed Auzai and Ibn-e-Manzar have said that it is up to the worshipper to perform the prayer in the way he wants. Imam Malik said that a worshipper may fold his hands and place them on his chest and he may pray with unfolded hands, and that is what the Malikis got accustomed with, he further said that hands should be unfolded in obligatory prayers and should be folded in Nafl prayers and Lais bin Sa'ad also said the same thing.
- ^ Maulana Waheed-uz-Zaman Knan. "Volume 1". Tafseer-al-Baari Sharh-e-SAahih Bukhari. Karachi, Pakistan. p. 389.
Ibn-e-Qasim has reported the unfolding of hands from Imam Malik, and that is what is practised by the Imamia sect (Shia).
- ^ "Volume 2". Nail-al-Awtar. p. 203.
There is no such proven tradition from Holy Prophet*P.B.U.H in regard of folding hands, therefore it is up to the worshipper (whether he offers the prayers with either folded or unfolded hands).
- ^ "Volume 3". Nail al-Awtar.
Ibn-e-Sayd al-Naas narrated from Awzai that it is optional to fold or unfold arms in prayer
- ^ Ahmed al-Duwaish. "Volume 6". Fatawa al-Lajna al-Daema. Saudi Arabia.
If someone prays with unfolded arms, his prayer is valid, because putting the right hand on the left is neither part of prayer's pillars nor is a condition of prayer, nor it is wajib (obligatory).
- ^ "Shia Islam's Holiest Sites". 25 April 2017.
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according to a famous hadith... 'our sixth imam, Imam Sadeg, says that we have five definitive holy places... The first is Mecca... second is Medina... third belongs to our first imam of Shia, Ali, which is in Najaf. The fourth belongs to our third imam, Hussein, in Kerbala. The last one belongs to the daughter of our seventh imam and sister of our eighth imam, who is called Fatemah, and will be buried in Qom.'
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- ISBN 0809464217
- Tarikh Abul Fida, vol. I, p. 212.
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- Shi'a Islam, p. 62
- Shi'a Islam, p. 60.
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- Kepel, Gilles (2002). Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674010901.
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Further reading
- Hazleton, Lesley (2009). After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385523936.
- Nasr, Hossein (1972). Sufi Essays. Suny press. ISBN 978-0-87395-389-4.
- Nasr, Vali (2006). The Shia Revival : How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future. Norton. pp. 59–60.
- The Arab Shia: The Forgotten Muslims, by Graham E. Fuller and Rend Rahim Francke. New York: Saint Martin's Press, 1999, ISBN 0-312-23956-4
- ISBN 978-0-87395-272-9
- Saudi Clerics and Shia Islam, by Raihan Ismail, ISBN 978-0-19-023331-0
- Don't Fear the Shiites: The Idea of a Teheran-Controlled "Shiite Crescent" over the Greater Middle East is at Odds with Reality, by Michael Bröning. In: International Politics and Society, 3 /2008, pp. 60–75.
- Here Are Some of the Day-To-Day Differences Between Sunnis and Shiites. Azadeh Moaveni. Huffington Post, 25 June 2014
- Opposing the Imam: The Legacy of the Nawasib in Islamic Literature, Nebil Husayn, Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization, Cambridge University Press ISBN ebook ebook: 9781108966061
