UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
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IV. PARTICULAR GROUPS AT RISK<br />
A. Religious Groups<br />
1. Muslims<br />
a) Shi’ites and Sunnis Civilians<br />
i) Historical Background of the Sectarian Division in Iraq<br />
The religious division of the Muslim community into Sunni and Shi’ite sects traces back to<br />
the 7 th century, when Muslim scholars disputed the question of who was rightfully qualified<br />
to lead the Muslim community after the Prophet Mohammed’s death. This dispute resulted<br />
in the most important schism in Islam. The Shi’ites believed that leadership should stay<br />
within the family of the Prophet, and thus designated Ali ibn Abi Talib, Mohammed’s sonin-law<br />
and cousin, as his successor (caliph). Sunni Muslims, however, believed that the<br />
caliph should be chosen based on a community consensus and elected Abdullah ibn<br />
Uthman (also known as Abu Bakr) as the first caliph. He was followed by Omar and<br />
Othman, while Ali ibn Abi Talib became only the fourth caliph. The Shi’a do not recognize<br />
Abu Bakr, Omar and Othman as the first three caliphs and instead consider Ali as the first<br />
caliph, which the Shi’ites call Imam. Ali moved the Islamic capital from Medina in presentday<br />
Saudi-Arabia to Kufa in Iraq. He was buried in Najaf, which is, therefore, of great<br />
religious significance for the Shi’ites.<br />
The division over the question of succession led to a violent power struggle and split the<br />
community of Muslims into two branches. Both observe the same fundamental tenets of<br />
Islam, but have different approaches to religious law and practice. A major difference is the<br />
significance of the Imam. For the Shi’ites, the Imams have a spiritual significance which no<br />
Sunni cleric would be given. The 12 th Shi’ite Imam disappeared in the 10 th century and the<br />
majority of Shi’ites (Twelver Shi’a) believes that he will return at the end of time. He is<br />
known as the Hidden Imam or the Mehdi. 146<br />
Generally, Sunni Muslims constitute the vast majority in most Muslim countries (an<br />
estimated 85%), but the Muslim population in Iraq is divided into a 60 to 65% majority of<br />
Shi’ites and a 32 to 37% minority of Sunni Muslims, the latter including ethnic Arabs,<br />
Kurds and Turkmen. 147 Arabs of Sunni faith constitute between 15% and 20% of the total<br />
Iraqi population. 148 Shi’ites in Iraq are almost exclusively ethnic Arabs, with some Kurds<br />
and Turkmen. Iraq’s Sunni Arabs are concentrated in the valleys of the Euphrates River<br />
north of Baghdad and of the Tigris River between Baghdad and Mosul in the so-called<br />
146<br />
Matthew S. Gordon, Islam: Origins – Practices – Holy Texts – Sacred Persons – Sacred Places, New<br />
York 2002, p. 16; Hussein Abdulwaheed Amin, The Origins of the Sunni/Shia split in Islam,<br />
http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm; Mike Shuster, The Origins of the Shia-Sunni Split, NPR,<br />
12 February 2007, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7332087.<br />
147<br />
CIA, The World Factbook, Iraq, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/<br />
iz.html [last updated 8 February 2007].<br />
148<br />
CFR, Iraq: The Sunnis, 12 December 2003, http://www.cfr.org/publication/7678/.<br />
47