Sunni Religious Conflict

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Religion has been a concept on Earth for many, many years. It impacts the growth and relations in cultures and societies, having the power to bring people together or to tear them apart. In modern day, religion still has a very large impact, most recently being a cause for numerous disagreements and wars throughout the globe. One of the most popular conflicts being that of the Sunni and Shiite muslims in Iraq, a conflict that dates back thousands of years. Recently, people have begun to question if the “religious conflicts” actually have to do with religion, or if religion is an excuse for the war over something else. While some claim that the dispute between the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq is truly religious, it is actually about the two major …show more content…

After Mohammed’s death, there was disagreement in who should be the next leader of the faith. Those who are known as the Sunnis believed that Mohammed’s close friend Abu Bakr should’ve been made the next leader, while those known as the Shiites believed that Mohammed’s son in law Ali had been appointed as his successor. The Sunnis won the disagreement, causing a bit of a rift between the two groups, which was later made wider when Sunni troops accidentally killed the son of Ali. Fast forward to modern day, Sunnis make up 85% of the 1.6 billion muslim population with Shiites being the minority at 15% (CBS News, 2015). But how does a religious conflict that started over a thousand years ago manage to hold strong all the way into the 21st century? Maybe because now, it problem isn’t actually religious at …show more content…

Although many Sunnis may not have joined, many allow ISIS into their towns, preferring the rule of ISIS over the oppressive Iraqi government (Feldman, 2015). Some Sunnis choose to welcome ISIS into their land, in hopes that they’ll reverse the oppression of the Sunnis, turning it into persecution of the Shiite population. This struggle over power has caused much bloodshed and caused many refugees, both Sunni and Shiite, being displaced from their homes. Power and land has been the primary cause for conflict, both being resources that neither of the groups are willing to give up, even if it would mean