Muslim mystics who follow sufism seek to understand the reality of divine knowledge and love through personal, hands-on encounters with God. At first, Sufism was thought to be attainable through meditation. The Arabic term sufi is derived from the word suf, which means wool. Sufi's discoverers donned wool cloaks. The cloaks represented poverty, which stands for devotion to serving others and affection. Sufi spirituality has evolved over time as Muslims have become more focused on finding their own unique emotional and personal paths to knowing God. In Islamic nations like Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Iraq, sufism is most common. It comprises of various transcendent paths that determine humanity and God’s nature to facilitate a worldwide experience of deific love and knowledge. Sufism is a movement that developed during early Islamic asceticism at a time when the Muslim community was mainly increasing. It emerged as a protest against corrupt leaders who did not follow the Islamic teachings and concentrated on the form of Islam instead of the faith that Islam professes. It plays a significant role in the formation of the Muslim society as it educates the community and addresses the concerns of the Muslims. Sufism has enhanced the spread of Muhammad mysticism as they promote the image of Prophet Muhammad. Most original Sufis became ascetics who formed their religious orders known as dervishes while others became beggars who traveled the country and survived with the assistance of others. The Sufis were of unusual saintly nature as they took vows of poverty and celibacy. They focused on the religious teaching while losing their sense of self. Due to the conventional element of Islam, some Sufis were rejected as their beliefs were believed to be eccentric and they were suspected of being extremists. This research paper offers an understanding of the differences between the Shia and the Sunni and how their differences have led to the sociopolitical crisis that is witnessed within the Middle East region.
History
Sufism is believed to have emerged between the 9th and 10th century during the times of Prophet Mohammad. It was initially referred to only those who accentuate on the spiritual practice of Islam. The first stage in the development of Sufism is early asceticism. It involved constant meditation of the Quran teachings, especially about the Doomsday. They focused on the world sorrows (Esfahani and Seyyede 1201). In this stage, they were identified by their regular night prayers and other acts of piety. The second phase of the Islamic mysticism of Sufism is the classical mysticism. It began around 800-1100AD. It involved stern self-discipline, profound insight, and obliteration of the self. It also required mystical ideas regarding the nature of man, Prophets, and poetry. The classical mysticism stressed on the absolute trust in God.
Shia Sunni Division in Sufiism
Islam is a religion considered to have a considerable following, particularly within the Middle East. However, there tend to be apparent differences and sub-sects in the Islamic faith with Muslims considering themselves as Shia, Shiite or Sunni. Therefore, the Islamic religion is not monolithic. The Shias and the Sunni are the two major segments of the Islamic faith with the Sunni taking up 85% of the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world (Krull 89). The standard features amongst the two groups are the commonness in an expression of the teachings by Prophet Muhammad. However, the distinction amongst the two groups is primarily driven by how they differently interest the Islamic law. The differences have led to the escalation of violence amongst the two groups in a bid to show supremacy, an issue that has led to the destabilization of the global peace. Therefore, the wrangle between Shia and Sunni Muslims is a crucial area of study that would enable one to contextualize and understand the Middle East conflict and how religion plays a vital role in the escalation of the conflict (Gökarıksel and Secor 2017, p. 648). The Sunnis and the Shias having their armed militant in the name of fostering Jihads is a contributor to the instability that is presently witnessed within the Middle East region. Some of the countries around the world that experience instability owing to the disagreements between the two Islamic groups include Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, and Lebanon (Farah and Lamis 23). Additionally, the two segments tend to have different political based on the Sunni being headed by those in Saudi Arabia and Shia headed by Iran.
The Islamic divide that is witnessed by the open divisions amongst the Shia and the Sunni is responsible for the escalating violence within the Middle East region. The differences between the two groups can be traced back to 632 when Mohammed consolidates political powers as a pillar of Islam within the Arabia region. Such has led to the internal debates amongst many opinions makes in Islam on who is qualified to take up leadership from Prophet Mohammed. The conflict between Abu Bakr and Ali Abi Talib is known to have led to the emergence of the two groups who have to endure the supremacy battle on the party that sufficiently interest the Islamic law. The followers of Ali are believed in the lineage of Ali, owing to their qualification of being within the family of Mohammed. However, the Sunna content that leadership is not hereditary and should be used in deciding who ought to take the command of Islam. The assassination of Ali in 656 is an indication of the severity of differences that existent between the two groups.
The Sunni and Shia clerics play a crucial role in downplaying the differences amongst the two groups given reducing the current tensions amongst the two groups. However, there have also been renewed efforts to have the two sects intermarry to lessen the stress between them, but such has fielded poor results. Shia Muslims tend to have a higher reverence for their Imams for religious and political direction, despite the Sunni who tend to express themselves as being liberal owing to their active political control of the Arab world. The two categories of the Shias are the Zaydi Shia and the Ismaili Shia. The Ismaili Shia tend to exude greater reverence to the mighty Aga Khan and are majorly dominant in the South Asian region.
The Middle East has more often than not faced emotional difficulties among the two Islamic communities, the Shia and the Sunni. At the core of their endeavors to battle out for supremacy over the Middle East, Saudi Arabia led by Sunni and Iran led by the Shia have faced a conflict of religious nature. The schism generally about succession lies integrally at the Sunni-Shia division. Among the most substantial influence on this tension is the assassination of Caliph Omar. Caliph is a figure to be revered by Sunni Muslims as one of the earliest successors of Prophet Muhammad. Some practices conducted by the Shia were considered offensive by the Sunni and therefore spoken strongly against by their activists (Moore 228). Although such wars have extended regional and secretarial rivalry, the fundamental cause of the tension boils down to two factors-dominancy and local strength of contention the countries hold in the Middle East.
The Sunni, also regarded as the house of Saud has built a monarchy of strict adherence to their leaders’ faith in Saudi Arabia while the Iranian nationals have embraced a huge belonging to the Shia denomination of the Islam community. They have most significantly after the death of Prophet Muhammad held strong wedge driven by theological differences regarding the legitimacy of each other’s dominant faith.
Following the untimely death of prophet Muhammad in 632, the central branches of Islamic community remained in a dilemma of choosing the religion’s next leader, either by democratic consensus or through the prophet’s blood relations. The complications would later into several years of disagreements bring a sharp rift as to who within the circles of the prophet was fit to take over the leadership.
Among the leaders chosen afterward, the Sunni regarded Abu Bakr, a friend, and advisor to the late prophet the first rightful leader while the ships believed Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law Ali was Allah’s choice to hold the title. Abu Bakr became first to retain the title then Ali later after the assassination of two previous caliphs held the fourth title. However, the next after Ali became the central schism in the religion.
In the context of the interpretation of the Islam laws, the Sunni claims to follow sunnah, the strict ways of the prophet whereas for the Shia, the first ever rightful caliph was Ali and therefore only his descendants would claim true Muslim leadership. Several references to these claims have been made to a quote by Prophet Mohammed of the division of the community into seventy-three sects except one that would remain pure and not liable to hellfire. As a result, both Sunni and Shia have claimed a position of the one true Islamic sect (Douai and Sharon 15).
Over the years, the long-standing rivalry, just as would any other, caused a development of different, own unique culture of doctrines that separated the denominations even further. This entailed several different cultural views and practices by the followers of either group that would both define and support their convictions. Under such endeavors, the Sunni, for instance, has established faith in God’s power over the physical world as opposed to Shia who have emphasized the reward of an afterlife to the effect of practices such as the celebration of martyrdom. Besides religious and successive opinions that underlie the differences, other issues have emerged to stem the branch of the two sects (Martinovic and Maykel 9). As a significant concern to the rift again has been the perception of historical succession. Whereas the Sunni Muslims have acknowledged Ali as the fourth rightful caliph, the Shia, on the other hand, have shown laxity to accept the first three Sunni caliphs, regarding Ali as the first real leader by bloodline. With the differences more noticeable in some regions than others, the followers of both Sunni and Shia have developed moderate and fundamentalist sects to guard the essential teachings of the Qur’an and Muhammad as a prophet.
The strain that is experienced amongst the two groups and the struggle to assert the group that the correct representation of the Islamic religion is the primary course of the fight amongst the two groups (Gökarıksel and Secor 2017, p. 651). The Shia practice taqiya while the Sunni are relaxed to practice such Islamic ideology of self-protection. The differential interpretation of self-protection and how it ought to be exercised under the Islamic laws is the sole reason for the differences between the two religious groups. The Shia are often likely to be brainwashed by their Imams since they refer to them as mujtahids. Therefore, the interaction of the Quran by the Shia Imam is taken as the gospel and is practiced as it so said. Thus, the Imam has the discretion of radicalizing some of their followers or guiding them in the path of truth. According to the Shia, the Imam is the manifestation of the group.
Sufism as an Islamic faith is believed to have broken away as part of a rebellious group towards the egocentric Islam who forfeited the faith instead and majored so much on the type of Islam instead of what the values and teachings professed As from the origin of that name ‘Sufi ’ which means wool that simply signifies signified what their leaders wore ,during the birth of Sufism. This greatly dictated their act of love and commitment to serve humanity that culminated in poverty. Most of the Sufis were rejected on the virtue of being so extreme into their faith since most of them only survived by receiving help from other people hence being poor and celibates as stipulated by their oath.
A predominant state region where Sufism is evident is in the Middle East where Islam has a huge following. Sufism evolved in two stages the ascetism and the classical mystism ,9th -10th century and 800-1100AD respectively. Islamic faith also has sub-sects that are inclusive of Shia, Shiites or Sunni this is due to the differences accorded by each of the sect hence its diversity. Sunni and Shias form the largest sects of the Islam faith all over the world, having sunni cover 85% of the 1.6 billion Muslims. Sharing a common ground on having both the sunni and shia teach Prophet Muhamad’s doctrines but tend to differ on their interests in relation to Islamic law. This has seen war on the rise due to the sharp differences between them hence depriving the world of the global peace. Research done on the differences between shia and sunni plays a vital role in educating scholars and the world on the reason of the conflicts in the middle east and the role of religion in all these. Instability of deprived peace, a result of the differences is evident in the following countries; Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Iraq (Farah and Lamis 23). This research paper is optimistic of tackling and sharing the core reason as to why the crisis is witnessed in the Middle East regions in regards to the impact caused by the differences on Sunni and Shia.
The question that is inevitable is to who should take into leadership after prophet Muhammad’ plays a vital role to the division of the two sects of the Muslim community, who have different thoughts on whether it should be hereditary or in accordance to the traits of leadership displayed. The clerics of the Shia and Sunni have a huge role to play to help in bridging the gap that is evident between the two sects since intermarriage proved futile.
Conclusion
The Arab world is majorly driven by the subscription of the Islamic beliefs and practices. The economic, social and political activities within the Arab world are premised on the teachings of Islam. However, despite the common ground that offers the basis upon which the region should be governed, there is instability in the region owing to the different interpretation of the Islamic law within the area. The two groups that have different political standings are the Sunnis and the Shia. The Sunnis tend to observe the traditions of Islam as taught by the Prophet Mohamed (Saraei, Jalal and Rahim 108). However, they do not practice mut’ah, a practice that is fundamentally common amongst the Shia. The Shia believed that Mut’ah is a religious practice that would allow them to temporarily marry for recreation provided that such practice has been approved by the teachings of the Quran. During the first month of the Islamic calendar, the Shia are often found to fast on the tenth day, from sunrise to sunset. The interest in studying about the two Islamic groups enables one to understand the power struggles and the battle for supremacy amongst Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. The struggle is based on the need to propagate one’s belief as being the most fundamental that ought to be practiced throughout the region. The notable example of the contribution of struggles between the two groups is the instability in Iraq. Sadam Hussein is known to be against the Shia Muslims, a factor that has led to the killings of thousands of people and segregation of mosques in different parts of that country. In the recommendation, there is need to find a truce between the scholars and religious leaders of the two Islamic groups in a bid to end tension and battle for supremacy amongst the two groups. Additionally, enabling the two teams to worship within the same mosques would allow them to have better integration and minimize the conflicts that are reported. The Shia sect forms 85% of the 1.6 billion of the Muslim society which constitutes the majority. Both the Shia and Sunni sects have built trust on the doctrines of Muhammad. The Sunni stipulates that leadership shouldn’t be hereditary, to mean not only those in the lineage of Muhammad should inherit the leadership position but it should be open to discussion on who is taking leadership of the Islam community. Shia Muslims revere their spiritual authority that happens to be the Imams for any direction be it political or religious. While the Sunni, act liberal evident by their substantial control over the Arab world politically. Shia sect is divided into two categories the Zaydi Shia and the Ismaili Shia which happens to pay respect to their spiritual authority the mighty Aga Khan, and they slowly inhabit the South Asian region.
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