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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Wed Jun 18, 2014, 07:07 AM Jun 2014

Who are Iraq’s Sunni Arabs and What did we Do to them?

http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/iraqs-sunni-arabs.html

Who are Iraq’s Sunni Arabs and What did we Do to them?
By Juan Cole | Jun. 18, 2014

The two great branches of Islam coexist in Iraq across linguistic and ethnic groups. There are Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs, Sunni Kurds and (a tiny minority of) Shiite Kurds. Arabs are a linguistic group, speaking a Semitic language. Kurds speak and Indo-European language related to English.

Sunnism and Shiism as we know them have evolved over nearly a millennium and a half. But the difference between them begins after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD (CE) in the city-state of Mecca in western Arabia. Muhammad, the son of Abdallah, had derived from the noble Quraysh clan. Those who became the Shiites insisted he should be succeeded by Ali, his cousin and son-in-law (and the next best thing to a living son). This dynastic principle was rejected by the group that became the Sunnis. They turned for leadership to prominent notables of the Quraysh, whom they saw as caliphs or vicars of the Prophet. The first three caliphs had given their daughters in marriage to the Prophet and so were his in-laws, but Sunni principles said that they needn’t have been– any prominent, pious male of the Quraysh would have done.

There is a vague analogy to the split between Catholicism and Protestantism, on the difference between seeing Peter as the foundation of the Church and of seeing Paul as that.

Iraq was part of the medieval caliphates– the Orthodox Caliphs, then the Umayyad Arab kingdom, and then the Abbasids. In 1258 the invading Mongols (themselves Buddhists and animists) sacked Baghdad and executed the last caliph. It is said that they were warned that it was very bad luck to shed the blood of a caliph, so they rolled him up in a Persian rug and beat him to death with hammers.



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Who are Iraq’s Sunni Arabs and What did we Do to them? (Original Post) unhappycamper Jun 2014 OP
"Sunnism and Shiism as we know them have evolved over nearly a millennium and a half" Twenty1first Jun 2014 #1
The Sunni / Shia spliit explained: unhappycamper Jun 2014 #2
 

Twenty1first

(32 posts)
1. "Sunnism and Shiism as we know them have evolved over nearly a millennium and a half"
Wed Jun 18, 2014, 07:21 AM
Jun 2014

Hardly, if you were born to sunny family you would know nothing of Shia teaching.....and no one would teach of difference. That is why many sunni muslims outside of Iraq are now learning of Shia, out off curiosity

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
2. The Sunni / Shia spliit explained:
Wed Jun 18, 2014, 07:36 AM
Jun 2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_shia

Succession to Muhammad

The Succession to Muhammad concerns the varying aspects of successorship of Muhammad after his death, comprising who might be considered as his successor to lead the Muslims, how that person should be elected, the conditions of legitimacy, and the role of successor. Different answers to these questions have led to several divisions in the Muslim community since the first century of Muslim history; most notable giving rise to Sunnis, Shias and Kharijites.

From a historic viewpoint as recorded, with Muhammad's death in AD 632, disagreement broke out over who should succeed him as leader of the Muslim community. Umar (Umar ibn al-Khattab), a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib), his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated his successor.[1] None of Muhammad's sons survived into adulthood, therefore direct hereditary succession was never an option. Later, during the First Fitna and the Second Fitna the community divided into several sects and groups, each of which had its own idea about successorship. Finally, after the Rashidun caliphate turned into Monarchies and Sultanates, while in most of the areas during Muslim history Sunnis have held power and Shiites have emerged as their opposition.

From a religious viewpoint, Muslims later split into two groups, Sunni and Shia. Sunnis assert that even though Muhammad never appointed a successor, Abu Bakr was elected first caliph by the Muslim community. The Sunnis recognize the first four caliphs as Muhammad's rightful successors. Shias believe that Muhammad explicitly named his successor Ali at Ghadir Khumm and Muslim leadership belonged to him who had been determined by divine order.[2][3]

The two groups also disagree on Ali's attitude towards Abu Bakr, and the two caliphs who succeeded him: Umar and Uthman ibn Affan. Sunnis and the Zaydis tend to stress Ali's acceptance and support of their rule, while the Twelver Shia claim that he distanced himself from them, and that he was being kept from fulfilling the religious duty that Muhammad had appointed to him. Sunnis maintain that if Ali was the rightful successor as ordained by God, then it would have been his duty as leader of the Muslim nation to make war with these people (Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman) until Ali established the decree. The Twelver Shias contend that Ali did not fight Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman, because he was foretold by Muhammad about how the political tide will turn against Ali after his demise and was advised not to wage war against them.[citation needed] The Twelver Shia also say that he did not have the military strength nor the willingness to wage a civil war amongst the Muslims.[4] The Twelver Shia say Ali also believed that he could fulfil his role of Imamate without this fighting.[5]

Zaydis do not agree with the Twelver Shia. After the death of Abu Bakr, Ali raised Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was the son of Abu Bakr and was raised by Ali.[6] When Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was killed by the Ummayads[6] Aisha the wife of Muhammad, also a renowned scholar of her time, raised and taught her nephew Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr.

Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr's mother was from Ali's family and Qasim's daughter Farwah bint al-Qasim was married to Muhammad al-Baqir and was the mother of Jafar al-Sadiq. Therefore Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr was the grandson of Abu Bakr the first caliph and the grandfather of Jafar al-Sadiq.Zaydis, the largest group amongst the Shia before the Safavid Dynasty and currently the second largest group, believe that on the last hour of Zayd ibn Ali (the uncle of Jafar al-Sadiq), he was betrayed by the people in Kufa who said to him: "May God have mercy on you! What do you have to say on the matter of Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab?" Zayd ibn Ali said, "I have not heard anyone in my family renouncing them both nor saying anything but good about them...when they were entrusted with government they behaved justly with the people and acted according to the Qur'an and the Sunnah"[7][8]

The differences between the Sunni and Shia amplified after the Safavid invasion of Persia and the subsequent Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam due to the politics between the Safavids and the Ottoman Empire.[9] The Zaydis were also forced to convert. To consolidate their position, the Safavid's also exploited the deep-rooted differences between areas formally under the Persian Sassanid Empire and areas formally under the Byzantine Roman Empire. Differences that existed from the Roman–Persian Wars and the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars. For the first time in the history of Islam, the Safavids also established a hierarchical organization of the Shiite clergy and institutionalised the fiqh of Jafar al-Sadiq's great-grandfather.
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