The Shiite Islamic Sect in Nigeria Research Paper

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Shi'ism in the World & the Shiite Islamic Sect in Nigeria

Shi'ism in the World

History, Objectives & General Outlook

Shiite Muslims make up the second biggest denomination of Islam, with the biggest numbers being represented by the Sunnis. The Shiite Muslims form about fifteen percent of Muslims. However, they are dominant in the nations of Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Bahrain. In addition, Muslims have a plurality in Yemen and Lebanon too (Cave, 2006). These two distinct groups within the Islam community first differed and deviated from each other following the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632. The divide arose from the fact that the followers were not able to come to an agreement as to whether it was right to select bloodline successors or able leaders most capable of following and propagating the tenets of the Muslim faith (Fuller and Francke, 2000).

The Shiite community commenced during the 650s, after the son-in-law of Muhammad known as 'Ali became the Caliph. Ali and his descendants are referred to as imams, who do not act as leaders of the Shiites but are deemed to be descendants of Muhammad. Following the demise of the eleventh imam in the year 874, as well as to the notion that his son is said to have vanished from the burial, Shiites came to perceive the child as a Messiah who had been concealed from the general public by God. The biggest sect of Shiites, referred to as "twelvers," have been arranging for his coming back from that point on (Cave, 2006). However, several other Arabs offered support and backing for another contender, referred to as the Umayyad Mu'awiya, who eventually became the Caliph subsequent to the murder of 'Ali in the year 661 AD (Cave, 2006).

Right from the ancient days of Islam, one vital and indispensable characteristic that has distinguished Shi'ism is the significance of the conception of ahl al-bayt. From of the Shiite standpoint, it is necessary that the rightful leader of the Islamic community be a descendant of 'Ali, via the marital tie or link with Prophet Muhammad's daughter, Fatima (Duhnkrack, 2009). In addition, linked to this is the understanding of charisma that is an underlying belief in Shi'ism. In particular, Shi'ites consider themselves the rightful and legitimate interpretation of Islam as made known to the Muslim community by Muhammad's charismatic revolution (Duhnkrack, 2009).

More so, 'Ali, whom, in accordance to the concept of ahl al-bayt, Shi'ites identify as the original imam, holds this charismatic power and ability, resultant from the categorized connection of Allah down to Muhammad and further to 'Ali. According to Shi'ism, the belief is that 'Ali's charismatic power is authenticated by the specific individualities his followers bequeath upon him and by his selection as the Prophet's descendant and heir by Mohammad himself (Duhnkrack, 2009; Winters, 2007).

Nonetheless, 'Ali's charismatic power is not perceived and acknowledged to be divine, but rather as a consequence of his proximity to the Prophet. It is different not only hierarchically from the Prophet's charisma, but it has the absence of the radical personality of Muhammad's power and authority. In accordance to Shi'ites, its plain determination is to institute and maintain the social and cultural directive, which Muhammad publicized and sought for his religious community (Duhnkrack, 2009).

As a result, this standpoint can be beseeched against the frequently prepared classification by Western world, that Shi'ism (considering the role it played in the Islamic Revolution), is a radical, and inherently unruly religious movement (Duhnkrack, 2009). Subsequent 'Ali's assassination, the succession of imams signified charismatic individuals that went on to guide the Shi'a community continuously (Duhnkrack, 2009).

This notion of the imams offers responses to the entitlement for a leader fitting to ahl al-bayt, and it is based on 'ilm' (Duhnkrack, 2009). In disagreement to Sunnis, Shi'ites repudiate that the upright leader can be selected by and from common followers of the Muslim community. This claim is based on the perspective that the latter are human and fallible and therefore will commit mistakes and errors in the decisions that they make (Duhnrack, 2009). More so, the other standpoint is that they are deemed incapable of comprehending and making applications of the commands of the Qur'an (Duhnrack, 2009).

Implications to International Peace and Security

The aforementioned prehistoric religious division is facilitating in fueling a renaissance of conflicts in the Middle East and Muslim nations. Skirmishes and battles between Sunni and Shia forces have nourished and cultivated a Syrian civil war that portends to alter the map of the Middle East, prompted violence that is rupturing Iraq, and broadened splits in a number of overwrought Gulf nations (Perry, 2010).

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In addition, this has come to encompass a worry on international peace and security as mounting sectarian clashes have also instigated a revitalization of enmity within the Muslim community and reinforcement of global jihadi networks that carries a threat beyond the expanse (Council on Foreign Relations, 2015).

According to Trofimov (2015), the increasingly ongoing conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, all across the Muslim world is quite easy to perceive as everlasting abhorrence and animosity will continue to keep claiming lives (at least in the foreseeable future). The implication of this is that there will be an adverse influence, which will try to disrupt international peace and security. In the recent number of years, this divide between the Sunnis and Shiites has come to be the prevalent fault line in the fight for supremacy in the Middle East and beyond (Trofimov, 2015).

From Yemen to Iraq and Syria to Bahrain, a great deal of the wars and political battles in the expanse pit the Sunnis against the Shiites continuously and fiercely (more so, in present times). Nonetheless, the worrying aspect that might disturb international peace and security is that these battles are no longer regarding who was the rightful successor or descendant of Prophet Muhammad, which is the basis of the original faction. Instead, these two sects are constantly fighting for the political and economic influence within these nations and the greater Middle East (Trofimov, 2015).

As aforementioned, the revolution of the Sunni-Shiite conflict dates back to the Iranian revolution of 1979 and its outcomes. This encompasses when conformist regimes in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, confronted with Tehran's assertion to be the leaders of Muslims across the world, reacted by challenging the Islamic qualifications of Shiite ayatollahs (Trofimov, 2015). The opposition added a new incentive and stimulus with the invasion of Iraq by the United States in the year 2003. This, as a result, ended up empowering majority of the Shiite community at the expense of the minority of the Arab Sunni, who has led the nation from the time they attained independence. In the end, the militant outfit, now referred to as 'Islamic State' was formed in the mayhem and turmoil that took place and elevated anti-Shiite fanaticism to new heights (Trofimov, 2015).

Further, animosity reached genocidal levels subsequent to the civil war that broke out in Syria in the year 2011. The progressively increasing influence of Islamic State refused to acknowledge Shiites as Muslims and gave them the ultimatum of either converting into Sunnis or being killed (Trofimov, 2015).

These religious alignments have glazed the contemporary war in Yemen, as well, with Saudi Arabia pulling together a combination of Sunni countries against the pro-Iranian Houthi insurgents, who abide by to a strain of Shiite Islam. According to Trofimov (2015), up until the war, there has been a perspective that Iran was surrounding and imposing itself upon Saudi Arabia, that this Shiite revitalization is taking place at the expense of the Sunnis. It was no longer a Shiite curve but a Shiite circle (Trofimov, 2015).

During the course of the four and a half years of armed conflict, a great deal of Syrians have lost lives, an aspect that initially started with anti-government remonstrations prior to escalating into a full-blown out civil war. In accordance to Rodgers et al. (2015), statistical reports handed out by the United Nations indicated that 90,000 individuals had been killed in the year 2013. Nonetheless, in the following year 2014, this figure doubled to more than 190,000 and by August 2015 this number increased all the more to 250,000 people. In addition, more than eleven million other Syrians have been forced out of their own homes and have now become refugees.

This is due to the protracted battle in Syria between the forces that are loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those who are fully in opposition of this regime. More so, in the contemporary, the conflict has come to be more than just a conflict between the groups that are for and those against the regime and rule of President Assad. The war in Syria has attained new sectarian parties, which has set the nation's Sunni who are the majority against the President's Shia Alawite Muslim Sect.

In turn, this has drawn the bordering nations as well as world powers into the conflict. The increase and progression of jihadist groups, which also includes….....

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