Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20901/pm.62.1.01
SUNNI-SHIA RELATIONS IN HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY MIDDLE EASTERN POLITICS
Boris Havel
orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-9408
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In recent decades, Sunni-Shia relations across the Middle East have been marked by sharp and increasingly violent conflicts. At the same time, the nature of those conflicts remains largely unknown in the West. The aim of this article is to present the origins, theological interpretations and political consequences of the schism within the Islamic community between Sunnis and Shias. Based on primary and secondary Sunni, Shia, and scholarly sources, the article describes events from early Islamic history that led to this division, and its political and theological consequences. The article outlines some of the Middle Eastern processes in which the Sunni-Shia divide is a key factor in forming alliances and enmities, as well as some important reasons why this sharp identity division intensified only in the second half of the twentieth century.
Keywords
Ahl al-bayt; Alawis; Arabs; Caliph; Caliphate; Druze; Fitnah; Imam; Islam; Ismaili; Kharijites; Shia; Sunni; Zaidi
Hrčak ID:
333820
URI
Publication date:
18.7.2025.
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