WikipediaExtracts:Shia–Sunni relations
Extracted from Wikipedia --
The succession to Muhammad in 632 led the Muslims to be split into two camps, the Sunnis, who believed that the caliphs of the Islamic community should be chosen by a council, as in Saqifa, while a second group, the Shia, who believed that Muhammad had named his successor to be Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law.
Today there are differences in religious practice and jurisprudence, traditions, and customs between Shia and Sunni Muslims. Although all Muslim groups consider the Quran to be divine, Sunni and Shia have different opinions on hadith.
In recent years, the relations between the Shias and the Sunnis have been increasingly marked by conflict. The aftermath of the 1979 Iranian revolution, which reconfigured Iran into a theocratic Islamic republic governed by high-ranking Shia clerics, had far-reaching consequences across the Muslim world. The Iraq War further influenced regional power dynamics, solidifying Shias as the predominant force in Iraq. Iran's ascent as a regional power in the Middle East, along with shifts in politics and demographics in Lebanon favouring Shia, has heightened Sunni concerns about their Sunni–Arab hegemony. Recent years have witnessed the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, as well as sectarian violence from Pakistan to Yemen, which became a major element of friction throughout the Middle East and South Asia. Tensions between communities have intensified during power struggles, such as the Shia led Bahraini uprising, the Iraqi Civil War, the 2013–2017 War in Iraq against ISIS, as well as the Sunni led Syrian Civil War. The self-styled Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a persecution of Shias.
While the exact numbers are subject to debate, the Shia comprise around 10% of the world's Muslims, and Sunnis 90%. Sunnis are a majority in most Muslim communities around the world. Shia make up the majority of the citizen population in Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan, as well as being a minority in Bahrain, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Chad, Turkey, and Kuwait.
