Source: dailytimes.com.pk

The Islamic sectarian divide, which was just a political divide over the legacy of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), has a long list of sectarian atrocities and the conflict in Syria is just one of its new chapters 

Islam as a religion was divided between Shias and Sunnis after the death of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in 632 AD. The Shia followed Ali, Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) son-in-law and the Sunni fell in behind Abu Bakr, the father of Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) wife Aisha. This political divide amongst the Muslims turned into bloody sectarian clashes, which claimed millions of lives over a long period of time. This war is still continuing in various countries of the Middle East like Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen in one form or the other. The new country in this list that has witnessed large scale sectarian violence in recent times is Syria.

The Syrian opposition movement, which broke out in February 2011 against the Ba’ath Party regime after the Arab Spring, has now turned into a power struggle between the two sects, i.e. Shia and Sunnis, for power. On one side, the Shia front has been formed with Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Iran and Hezbollah with Russian support and the Sunni front consists of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Al Nusra Front, Islamist rebel groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and Hamas with support from the Sunni-dominated regimes of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the west.

The age-old split between Sunnis and Shia is surfacing at a terrible human cost. As the Syrian death toll reaches 100,000, what began as anti-government protests inspired by events in ..continue reading in dailytimes.com.pk