Unity and Diversity in Islam: The Sunni Shia Divide

Unity and Diversity

The Sunni / Shi’a Divide

Overview

• Unity in Islam

• The Sunni / Shi’a split

• Wider issues

Tawhid

“There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”

“There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”

The shahada

Say, ‘He is God the One, God the eternal. He fathered no one nor was he fathered. No one is comparable to him’

- The Qur’an, Sura 112

Umma

= the Muslim community (Watton / Karen

Armstrong)

= the ‘family’ of Islam (Maqsood)

= community, nation (Sarwar)

“From that unity (tawhid) all other unities flow, including the unity of the whole human population as a single umma under God”

- from What Muslims BelieveJohn Bowker, 1995

The Pre Islamic Era: “Jahilyya”• No political organisation (except Yemen)• Nomads • no law or legal structure

– fear of vendetta– warring tribes

• polytheism– Allah = a creator god– ‘The Daughters of Allah’– al-Dahr = Time– idol worship

“The old system, with its diffuse network of gods, involved multiple areas of divine sovereignity, with competing claims to sacrifice and cult worship” - D. Pinault, The Shiites, 1992

Shi’a

Sunni

Kharijis

Muhammad died in 632CE, leaving a thorny

problem

• What was the problem he left?• How were the four people on your

cards involved?• What do you know about them?

H asan H u sayn

'A liFatim a

M U H A M M A D

=

cousin of

H asan

M u h am m ad al- M ah d i (d . ? )

H asan al- A sk ari (d . 8 74)

'A li al H ad i

M u h am m ad al- T aq i al- J aw ad

'A li al- R ida

M u sa al- K azim

J a'far al Sad iq

M u h am m ad al- B ak ir

Z ayn al- 'A b id in

H u sayn (d .6 8 0 )

'A li (d .6 6 1)

The Twelve Imams

Distinctive characteristics of Shi’a Islam

• Imam has God-related and God-derived authority. Characterised by ismah (sinlessness and infallibility)

• Taqiyah elevated to a guiding principle for the Shi'a: when a government is too powerful to be resisted, a Shiite may have silent resitance in his heart while outwardly supporting it.

• Theme of martyrdom (stemming from murder of ‘Ali and Husayn)

Discussion questions:

How can diversity in Islam be reconciled with the concept of a single umma?

Is the division of religion into sects inevitable? If so, is the aim of religious unity ever a realistic one?