Shiism owes its existence to a woman: Zaynab, the sister of their hero Husayn. she's like the Virgin Mary for Christians!
the real problem in the war on terror will be the Sunnis. The Sunnis are the bullies. The Iranian Shias are the underdogs! Sunnis claim that the Shia do not know the proper practice of Islam.
The Sunni-Shia struggle is for the soul of Islam. its a great war of competing theologies of sacred history. its a manifestation of tribal wars of ethnicities, so seemingly archaic, yet so surprisingly vital, with which humanity has become wearily familiar. faith and identity converge in this conflict, and their combined power go a long away toward explaining why the struggle has lasted so long. this is not just a hoary religious dispute, a fossilized set piece from the early years of Islam's unfolding, but a contemporary clash of identities.
it is paradoxically a very old, very modern conflict.
in Saudi Arabia, it is said that Shias spit in their food, a slander no doubt meant to discourage socialization with them, and that shaking hands with a Shia is polluting, necessitating ablutions. in Pakistan, Shias are tagged with nicknames such as "mosquitoes"
there are many clerics like Ayatollah Muhammad Asef Mohseni of Afghanistan and Ayatollah Kalb E Sadeq (meaning the honest heart) of India, who preach peace. we need to lift up these voices of peace within Islam, folks!
As Rwandans and Balkans can sadly testify, mixed marriages and a history of communl coexistence are no guarantee against conflict. even Sarajevo's cosmopolitan blend of Muslim, Croat, and Serb communities, with its hybrid culture and mixed families, did not protect it from genocide.
what makes Sunni-Shia conflict relevant to the future of the ME is that it is surfacing at a time when anti-US religious conservatism are on the rise. Sunni extremism feeds on anti-Shia bias and even violence.
