The Long Historical Journey Of Lebanon 's Shia Community

One of the most famous religious splits in human history is the well known Sunni-Shia split. The Sunni-Shia split is highly divisive throughout the world, and predominantly in the Middle East. These sects share similarities, such as they all believe that Allah is the one true god, and Muhammad is his messenger. They also believe in the same five religious pillars that Muslims follow. Although these sects are very similar, there is one big schismatic difference that separates the two. This difference lies with the question of: “Who is the rightful successor of the Prophet Muhammad?” Through this 1,400 year conflict Most sunnis believe that Abu Bakr the Prophet 's closest companion is the true successor. In contrast most Shias believe that Ali, who was the prophet 's cousin and son in law is the true successor. Abu bakr was the rightful heir to lead Muslims after the Prophet’s death. Abu Bakr was arguably his closest confidant throughout their lives, and Abu Bakr understood the Messenger teachings the best. It can also be argued that that Ali would be the fourth caliph instead of the first because choosing a successor to the Prophet based on bloodline could be seen as committing idolatry according to Islamic teaching.

The Shia Muslims believe that following the Prophet Muhammad's death, leadership should have passed directly to his cousin/son-in-law, Ali. Throughout history, Shia Muslims have not recognized the authority of elected Muslim leaders, choosing instead to follow a line of Imams which they believe have been appointed by the Prophet Muhammad or God Himself. The word "Shia" in Arabic means a group or supportive party of people. The commonly-known term is shortened from the historical "Shia-t-Ali," or "the Party of Ali." They are also known as followers of "Ahl-al-Bayt" or "People of the Household". The historical background of the differences of the two different Muslim faiths is important to recognize due to the significance of its effect on Afghan culture and lifestyle.

Syria and Lebanon are two dramatically different states with a deeply intertwined history. They were both born out of French interventionism following World War 1, and have experienced complex and strained relations ever since. The two nations have both experienced prodigious political turmoil since gaining their independence, with both suffering from civil wars and conflict with their mutual neighbor, Israel. The war and turmoil that has plagued these two countries can be traced back to various competing national interests, as well as a struggle for regional power. The various religious groups in the area have historically formed transnational advocacy networks with the intent of influencing regional politics. These groups have proved to of been a major factor in the history of both nations.

Many Muslims knew the cause of Utham’s death and were angry at Ali, for he had not brought Utham’s killers to justice, one of whom was Mu’awiya, who had been the governor of Damascus and cousin of Utham. When Ali was assassinated in 661 A.D., Mu’awiya felt great pleasure in his death and found his revenge in stealing Ali’s old position; there was, yet again, another Sunni leader. Mu’awiya lead the Sunni Muslims through a prosperous time, the Umayyad dynasty. This period of growth played a huge role in the power, control, and population of the Sunni Muslims while the Shi’ttes remained uninvolved. In the year 661 A.D. many converted to the Sunni ways, for they were very successful.

These two organization were not confined to the Lebanese only, as they were joined by Iranians including Mustafa Chamran living in Lebanon before the Iranian revolution, and it was Musa al-Sadr's top aides and the supervisor military branches of the Amal movement, before the outbreak of the Iranian revolution. After the success of the Khomeini revolution Chamran was appointed first secretary of defence in the Iranian government.

Iran gave direct support to Hezbollah through the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah opposed Lebanon because it was supported by Israel and the United States, and in 1985 it issued its political agenda through the “Open Letter to the Downtrodden in Lebanon and in the World.”# In 1989, the Taif Accord emerged and the Lebanese Civil War ended in 1990 when Syrian troops moved into parts of Lebanon that were not occupied by Israel. The Taif Accord balanced powers between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon, and overall tried to maneuver equality amongst both groups although Sunni elites were given the dominant role. After the Taif Accord, economic conditions continued to worsen and many began to underestimate the ability of Syria to control Lebanon. Syria then made the strategic move to promote Rafiq al-Hariri in 1992 to rescue Lebanon from its eventual demise. Hariri was able to boost the economy and revive morale in the Sunni communities. By the 1990s Hariri was capable of governing Lebanon independent of Syria. This began a decline of Syrian support for him, and a decline of Sunni dominance. After Hariri’s assassination in 2005, Syria was able to grasp control of Lebanon once more, and enabled Hezbollah to demonstrate a larger role. First existing as a revolutionary Islamist movement,

Throughout the twentieth century Iran, like many other countries in the world, would enter a period of change that would completely alter the political, social and economic structure of the country. Perhaps the most important result of this restructuring was the incorporation of Shia Islam from solely the religious sphere to both the religious and political sphere. Analysis of history shows that for centuries Shia Islam had maintained its existence by functioning as a religious arm of the monarchy. The establishment of the Safavid Dynasty in 1501 resulted in Shia Islam become the official religion of Persian Empire and it was drawn upon by rulers in the following centuries as a source of imperial power. The collapse of the Safavid Empire in

While numerous countries remain established under the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism currently, the religious conflicts between differentiating Islamic sects has initiated massive political and religious warfare. The conflicts between Shia and Sunni Muslims have dates back to the 7th century, after the death of Prophet Muhammad. This great divide still exists today, according to a 2009 study by Pew Research Center, between 10-13% of the Muslims are Shia, while 87-90% are Sunni Muslims, comprising of over 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. While Islamic extremist may be viewed as separate from the mainstream Islamic groups, Muslim extremist groups have evolved alongside the Shia and Sunni sects. “Kharijites” were extreme doctrines which adopted

Ali’s son Husayn was sought out and asked to lead a revolt against the Uyammad’s. When Husayn set out on his journey to overthrow Yazid, the current caliph, his “supporters” failed to join his band. Husayn and 72 of his followers were killed on the plains of Karbala, Iraq. Thus the Shi’at Ali (Party of Ali) or Shia sect of Islam was born (Egger 2004). The Sunni sect would continue to support what they saw as the traditional path of Islam.

The Sunni-Shia divide is a major unresolved issue today in the Middle East. There is violence, discrimination, and struggle over political power. These differences creates a massive divide between the two groups of the same religion. This clash has come to the point where the two sects are at the brink of war. The muslim religion was created by the prophet Muhammad in 613 C.E.. It quickly gained followers and began to grow at an increasing rate. Then, in 632 C.E., Muhammad died unexpectedly without leaving a successor. One group believed that the successor should be anyone who was a devoted and religious Muslim, these people became known as the Sunni Muslims. Another smaller group, the Shia Muslims, believed that

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 by radical Lebanese Shiites who wanted to create an Islamic state in Lebanon and to free their land of Israeli domination (Byers, 2003). These extremists called their group Hezbollah, in English this translates to Party

The differences between Shia and Sunni’s took place after the death of Prophet Muhammad. “There are 1.6 billion Muslims across the world. Roughly 85%-90% of them are Sunnis”. (Ward) Sunni’s decided that the person/leader to guide the Islamic

In this day and age, we find ourselves at odds with our “identity” as we find that not only are we representing ourselves, but we also have ties to religion, sect, tribe, and family (Angrist). This shows that despite the cohesiveness and threads that attach us, it has the power to pull people, families, and in some cases countries apart. This conflict comes to a head when religion and ethnicity are interwoven. Hence when divisions occur, this can lead to violent wars that destroy trust between individuals. This can ingrain a sense of uneasiness and distrust that plagues people’s ideas and leaves a country divided. This is particularly evident in Lebanon. Ethnic and religious division led to the festering of feelings of marginalization and discrimination, which boiled over into the Lebanese civil war, a war that claimed the lives of 150,000 people (Szekely). The anger and frustration birthed from this to chaos, and conflict has in turn increased the division between ethnic and religious factions and led to the crumbling of Lebanese nationalism. This essay is specifically aimed at assessing the relationships between ethnic and religious divisions in Lebanon and explores how it contributed to the civil war. This is done by identifying and analyzing the main actors and makes an explanation of the historical divisions stemming from the National Pact, branching out to include the consequences of the civil war on the political structures and the identities of the

The Safavids were the first the first to declare Shia Islam the official religion of Iran, and their interest in Iraq lay in the Shia holy places in central Iraq, and also the fact that Baghdad held significant symbolic value as the seat of the ancient Abbasid Empire. The Ottoman Empire on the other hand was afraid that Shia Islam would spread to Asia Minor, and thus looked to control Iraq as a Sunni-dominated buffer state. During the Ottoman period, the Sunnis were placed in political positions, while the Shias were then shut out of the political process. This divide between the Sunnis and the Shias continued to be more and more of an important element in the Iraqi social structure, and remains an issue even today. It was also during this time period that the Kurdish Baban Dynasty emerged and began to organize resistance to the Ottoman rule in Northern Iraq.

Lebanon is a Middle Eastern country that is delimitated to the west by the Mediterranean and to the east by the Syro-African Depression. Lebanon borders Syria to the north and to the east, and Israel in the south.