Islam is the official religion of the State and is to be
considered a source of legislation. No law that contradicts the universally agreed tenets
of Islam, may be enacted during the transitional period.
A leading Shiite lawmaker called for a Shiite federal region, alarming Sunni Arabs who
fear they will lose out on oil revenues. Osama bina Laden is a Sunni Muslim. To him the
end of the reign of the caliphs in the 1920s was catastrophic, as he made clear in a
videotape made after 9-11. On the tape, broadcast by Al-Jazeera on October 7, 2001, he
proclaimed: "What America is tasting now is only a copy of what we have tasted. ...
Our Islamic nation has been tasting the same for more than eighty years, of humiliation
and disgrace, its sons killed and their blood spilled, its sanctities desecrated."
Will Iraq resolve its constitutional divisions
While Iraqi representatives wrangle over the drafting of a constitution in Baghdad, the
militias, and the Shiite and Kurdish parties that control them, are creating their own
institutions of authority, unaccountable to elected governments, the activists and
officials said. In Basra in the south, dominated by the Shiites, and Mosul in the north,
ruled by the Kurds, as well as cities and villages around them, many residents have said
they are powerless before the growing sway of the militias, which instill a climate of
fear that many see as redolent of the era of former president Saddam Hussein.
Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. Followers of the Sunni tradition are
known as Sunnis or Sunnites. They constitute 80-90% of the global Muslim population.
Iran Shite population 61,000,000 93% Iraq Shite population 11,000,000
55%
Historical Background of Sunni-Shiite Split
The principal issue upon which Islam's first major sectarian split occurred centers on the
question of leadership. According to Sunni thought, the Prophet Muhammad died without
appointing a successor to lead the Muslim community. After an initial period of confusion,
a group of his most prominent companions gathered and elected Abu Bakr, the Prophet's
close friend and father-in-law, as the first Caliph. Sunnis believe this process was
conducted in a fair and proper manner and accept Abu Bakr as a righteous and rightful
Caliph. The second major sect, the Shia, believe that the Prophet had appointed his
son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor years earlier during an announcement at
Ghadir Khom. Shi'a regard the election of Abu Bakr as illegitimate and accuse the
companions involved of ulterior motives ranging from enmity towards 'Ali to outright
hypocrisy. Though both Sunnis and Shias believe that the incident at Ghdier Khum occurred,
Sunnis interpret the announcement as a form of praise for Ali and do not view it as having
any injunctive effect insofar as the question of succession is concerned.
Thirty years after Muhammad's death, the Islamic community plunged into a civil war,
called the Fitna. Many Muslims (among them some of Muhammad's widows and companions)
believed that Uthman, the third Caliph, was favoring his kin and abusing his power.
Discontented Muslim soldiers from garrisons in Iraq and Egypt surrounded Uthman's house in
Medina and demanded that he repent or resign. The Caliph temporized, fighting broke out,
and Uthman was killed as he sat reading the Qur'an. Though Ali was appointed Caliph upon
Uthman's death, he was opposed by Muawiyah, the governor of Syria and a relative of
Uthman's. Muawiyah claimed that because Ali had taken no action to apprehend Uthman's
killers, Ali was complicit in his murder. Muawiyah consolidated his own power and refused
to accept 'Ali's authority until Uthman's assassins were brought to justice. Ali was not
able to resolve the crisis before he was assassinated by a rebel faction, and Muawiyah
claimed the Caliphate upon his death. Muawiyah's rise to power marked the beginning of the
Umayyad dynasty, and he managed to bring most of the Muslim community (ummah) under his
authority and put an end to the civil war.
The Fitna led to the emergence of three distinct Islamic sects:
Sunnis - Sunnis regard the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman, and
Ali) as Rightly Guided Caliphs, that is, Caliphs who followed the tradition of the Prophet
in terms of their lifestyles and styles of governance. According to Sunni Muslim
tradition, though Caliphs that followed 'Ali were mostly legitimate and entitled to
obedience, most departed from the standards laid down by the Prophet. Sunnis regard
Muawiyah as a legitimate Caliph, but not a Rightly Guided one. Though most Sunnis
acknowledge that 'Ali had the stronger claim in his dispute with Muawiyah, Sunni
authorities usually refrain from questioning the sincerity of Muawiya's intentions and
generally give him the benefit of the doubt. The Sunni are the majority group.
Shi'a - Shi'a generally reject all caliphates except that of Ali. In contrast to Sunnis,
Shi'a regard Muawiyah as a conniving usurper who used Uthman's murder as an excuse to make
a power grab. Some Sunnis, particularly the Wahhabis, do not accept the Shias as Muslims.
Khwarij, or Kharijites - The Khwarij were initially loyal to 'Ali, but turned against him
in response to his decision to accept arbitration as a means of resolving the dispute with
Muawiya. The Khwarij declared that all the partisans involved in the Fitna had become
disbelievers and could only redeem themselves by repenting and renouncing their role in
the dispute. The Khawarij killed 'Ali as part of a string of assassination attempts that
targeted 'Ali, Muawiyah, and Amr ibn al-As, Muawiya's governor of Egypt (Ali's assassin
was the only one who succeeded). Because the Khwarij had a very narrow view of what
constitutes kufr (acts that invalidate one's Islam), they quickly split up into sects
within themselves, each accusing one another of having fallen into disbelief. Though one
branch of the Khwarij survives in Yemen and Oman as the Ibadi denomination of Islam,
Khwarij doctrine has been largely rejected and relegated to the history books.
Other divisions have arisen since the Fitna of the 7th century C.E. Some groups are now
extinct. Of the existing groups, Sunni Muslims do not accept members of the Nation of
Islam, Ahmadiyya, and Zikri as fellow Muslims. |
