Sunni or Shia? Which Poses A Greater Threat?

by Mumin Salih Choosing between Sunni or Shia is like choosing between the idiot and the fool; both sects come from the same cult called Islam.
There are many other sects in Islam but these two are the major ones. They both came to existence in the seventh century after the assassination of Ali, the fourth of the ‘rightly guided Caliphs’. Ali was elected when the Islamic state was in turmoil following the brutal and merciless assassination of Uthman, the third Caliph.  Muslims endured a civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. In fact, they still pay with their lives as a result of that divide.
The Shia Muslims were the ones who sided by Caliph, Ali, against the rebels. The Sunni Muslims’ position was, and still, a more interesting one and is in line with their position regarding other Islamic absurdities; in one word: confusing. They believe that Ali was right and did the right thing for the service of Islam. The history of the events, as it reached us, is in support of Ali. In addition, Ali was one of those ten Muslims who were guaranteed places in paradise, according to Mohammed, therefore Allah would protect him from committing sins. However, they refuse to condemn Ali’s opponents, the rebels. Therefore, the Sunnis believe whoever was on the right side and whoever was opposing those who were on the right side were both on the right side!! May look mind boggling, but this is Islam...Keep reading....Sunni v Shia
by Zaki Chehab The clash between Sunni and Shia Muslims is the greatest cause of strife across the Arab world. Here - as part of our special issue on Islam - Zaki Chehab explains the deep-lying roots of the turmoil

Iraqis have already given it a name: the "Bloody Evening". At about 5pm on Saturday 3 February, a Mercedes lorry carrying more than a tonne of explosives was detonated in the Sadriyah neighbourhood of Baghdad, killing 150 people and wounding 300 more. The suicide bomber had driven into a food market in a largely Shia area; the result was the greatest loss of life from a single bomb since the US invasion of 2003.

From weary experience, Iraqis know that it is only a matter of time before Shia militants seek revenge. While hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, the majority who cannot leave or cannot afford to leave are trapped in a cycle of sectarian killings that the religious and political leaderships of Shias and Sunnis alike have failed to arrest. Abbas, a Shia friend who left Baghdad recently, told me from his new base in Jordan that he had been forced to go - he had been unable to send his three children to school for fear they would fall victim to the Iraqi sectarian killings that are claiming the lives of a hundred people a day. He described the grisly scene with municipal trucks going out each morning to collect the bodies of those killed the previous night. Corpses found in plastic bags were evidence that the victims had been kidnapped and disposed of when no ransom was paid...Keep reading...