Table Of ContentSUNNIS
AND
SHI‘A
A
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badbad LahLah I Midia
aa
IslamIslam AKISTANAKISTAN Sunni Shia Alevi Ismaeli ( Zaiddiya Ibadi Alawite Druze
PP
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aa
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bb aa
KaKa derder
yy
HH
aa
GHANISTANGHANISTAN dahardahar QuettQuett KarachiKarachi Gulf of Oman cean
FF nn O
AA aa
KK
n
atat a
rr i
ee d
HH n
I
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MM
NN
STASTA badbad
NINI haha dd asas N
ÉE cc aa bb E
TURKMTURKM AsAs MashhMashh dar Abdar Ab baibai bibi YÉM OMAN
nn uu aa
aa DD DD
BB u u
hihi dd AbAb BB
ss zz AASS
aa aa RREE
bb YY AATT
TurkmenTurkmen pianpian eaea TeheranTeheran IRANIRAN IsfahanIsfahan ShirazShiraz AHRAINAHRAIN QATARQATAR DohaDoha UNITED UNITED EMIRAEMIRA
BakuBakuANAN CasCas SS madanmadan hvazhvaz ersianersian GulfGulf BB
HH aa AA PP
ZZ HH
RBAIRBAI WEITWEIT adhadh
GÉORGIEGEORGIA ARMENIAARMENIAYerevanYerevanAZEAZE TabrizTabriz MosulMosul KirkukKirkuk BaghdadBaghdad KarbalaKarbalaQAnNajatAnNajat Al BasraAl Basra KUKU RiyRiySAUDI ARABIASAUDI ARABIA YEMENYEMEN SanaSana TaizzTaizz Aden
A
R
I
SeaSea dinadina ccacca aa
ee ee ee
kk MM MM SS aa
BlacBlacSamsunSamsun AnkaraAnkara TURKEYTURKEY KonyaKonya AdanaAdana AleppoAleppo SYRIASYRIALEBANONLEBANONBeirutBeirutDamascusDamascusSRAELSRAELRamallahRamallah Tel-AvivTel-AvivAmmanAmmanGazaGazaJérusalemJerusalem JORDANJORDANSuezSuez SINAISINAI TaboukTabouk NORTHSUDAN JeddaJedda SOUTHPort SudanPort SudanSUDAN RedRed ERITHREAERITHREAKassalaKassalaAsmarAsmar ETHIOPIA
II
SUNNIS
A Pol itic al
AND
History
SHI‘A
of Discord
Laurence Louër
Translated by Ethan Rundell
prince ton university press
princeton and oxford
First published as Sunnites et Chiites: Histoire politique d’une discorde originally
published Éditions du Seuil and is copyright © 2017 by Éditions du Seuil. The
En glish translation by Ethan Rundell is copyright © 2020 by Prince ton University
Press.
Published by Prince ton University Press
41 William Street, Prince ton, New Jersey 08540
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR
press . princeton . edu
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Louër, Laurence, author. | Rundell, Ethan S., translator.
Title: Sunnis and Shiʻa : a political history of discord / Laurence Louër;
translated by Ethan Rundell.
Other titles: Sunnites et Chiites. English
Identifiers: LCCN 2019027366 (print) | LCCN 201902 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780691186610 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780691199641 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Shīʻah—Relations—Sunnites. | Sunnites—Relations—Shīʻah. |
Islam—Doctrines. | Islam and politics.
Classification: LCC BP194.16 .L6813 2020 (print) | LCC BP194.16 (ebook) |
DDC 297.8/042—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027366
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027367
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
Editorial: Fred Appel and Jenny Tan
Production Editorial: Debbie Tegarden
Text Design: Leslie Flis
Jacket/Cover Design: Layla Mac Rory
Production: Erin Suydam
Publicity: James Schneider and Kathryn Stevens
Copyeditor: Anita O’Brien
This book has been composed in Arno Pro
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
hhh
Introduction 1
PART ONE. BETWEEN POLITICS AND RELIGION
1. Caliphate and Imamate 7
2. Rivalry and Convergence 21
3. Islam as Ideology: Sunni and Shi‘a Islamism 45
4. An Islamist International? 63
5. From Pan- Islamism to Sectarianism 81
PART TWO. MANAGING SECTARIAN DIFFERENCE
6. Iraq: On the Frontier of Sunnism and Shi‘ism 109
7. Bahrain: The Legacy of a Conquest 122
8. Pakistan: From Muslim State to Islamic State 135
9. Pragmatic Sectarianism? Sunnis and Shi‘a in Saudi Arabia
and Iran 150
10. Yemen: Zaydism between Sunnism and Shi‘ism 165
11. Lebanon: The Search for a New Sectarian Pact 176
Conclusion 194
Chronology 199
Notes 203
Bibliography 213
Index 219
SUNNIS
AND
SHI‘A
INTRODUCTION
hhh
Relations between Sunni and Shi‘i Muslims are often said to be charac-
terized by over a thousand years of uninterrupted war, the result of an-
cestral hatreds stemming from disagreements over the Prophet Muham-
mad’s rightful successor. According to Sunnis, who today prob ably
constitute as much as 90 percent of the world’s Muslim population, Mu-
hammad left no instructions as to who should succeed him when he
died without a male heir in 632, leaving it up to his companions to de-
termine who would best govern. By contrast, the Shi‘a believe that Mu-
hammad, directly inspired by God, designated his cousin and son-i n-l aw
Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor. The latter would become the fourth
caliph, and Shi‘a hold that a lineage of Imams was born of his marriage
with the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima.
Yet the conflict between Sunnis and Shi‘a was never just a mere quar-
rel over the prophet of Islam’s succession. For it immediately raised es-
sential questions as to the nature of legitimate po liti cal authority. What
sort of qualities should be possessed by the Muslim head of state? Could
he be an ordinary h uman being or should t here be something of the di-
vine about him? How was he to be chosen and, by extension, what was
the most legitimate type of po liti cal regime?
Such were the questions raised by the protagonists of the time. They
were ever on the mind of f uture generations, giving rise to po liti cal and
religious doctrines as well as myths that continue to structure Sunni and
Shi‘i po litic al imaginaries to this day. For Sunnis and especially Islamists,
the “rightly guided caliphate” of Muhammad’s first four successors rep-
resents a golden age of just government to which one must return. For
the Shi‘a, by contrast, the first three caliphs w ere no more than usurpers.
In fighting unjust authority, the heroes of our time must in their eyes
strive to emulate Hussein, the son of Imam Ali, who was killed by the
army of Caliph Yazid in 680.
1
