UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

IV. PARTICULAR GROUPS AT RISK
A. Religious Groups
1. Muslims
a) Shi’ites and Sunnis Civilians
i) Historical Background of the Sectarian Division in Iraq
The religious division of the Muslim community into Sunni and Shi’ite sects traces back to
the 7 th century, when Muslim scholars disputed the question of who was rightfully qualified
to lead the Muslim community after the Prophet Mohammed’s death. This dispute resulted
in the most important schism in Islam. The Shi’ites believed that leadership should stay
within the family of the Prophet, and thus designated Ali ibn Abi Talib, Mohammed’s sonin-law
and cousin, as his successor (caliph). Sunni Muslims, however, believed that the
caliph should be chosen based on a community consensus and elected Abdullah ibn
Uthman (also known as Abu Bakr) as the first caliph. He was followed by Omar and
Othman, while Ali ibn Abi Talib became only the fourth caliph. The Shi’a do not recognize
Abu Bakr, Omar and Othman as the first three caliphs and instead consider Ali as the first
caliph, which the Shi’ites call Imam. Ali moved the Islamic capital from Medina in presentday
Saudi-Arabia to Kufa in Iraq. He was buried in Najaf, which is, therefore, of great
religious significance for the Shi’ites.
The division over the question of succession led to a violent power struggle and split the
community of Muslims into two branches. Both observe the same fundamental tenets of
Islam, but have different approaches to religious law and practice. A major difference is the
significance of the Imam. For the Shi’ites, the Imams have a spiritual significance which no
Sunni cleric would be given. The 12 th Shi’ite Imam disappeared in the 10 th century and the
majority of Shi’ites (Twelver Shi’a) believes that he will return at the end of time. He is
known as the Hidden Imam or the Mehdi. 146
Generally, Sunni Muslims constitute the vast majority in most Muslim countries (an
estimated 85%), but the Muslim population in Iraq is divided into a 60 to 65% majority of
Shi’ites and a 32 to 37% minority of Sunni Muslims, the latter including ethnic Arabs,
Kurds and Turkmen. 147 Arabs of Sunni faith constitute between 15% and 20% of the total
Iraqi population. 148 Shi’ites in Iraq are almost exclusively ethnic Arabs, with some Kurds
and Turkmen. Iraq’s Sunni Arabs are concentrated in the valleys of the Euphrates River
north of Baghdad and of the Tigris River between Baghdad and Mosul in the so-called
146
Matthew S. Gordon, Islam: Origins – Practices – Holy Texts – Sacred Persons – Sacred Places, New
York 2002, p. 16; Hussein Abdulwaheed Amin, The Origins of the Sunni/Shia split in Islam,
http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm; Mike Shuster, The Origins of the Shia-Sunni Split, NPR,
12 February 2007, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7332087.
147
CIA, The World Factbook, Iraq, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/
iz.html [last updated 8 February 2007].
148
CFR, Iraq: The Sunnis, 12 December 2003, http://www.cfr.org/publication/7678/.
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