Schism Between Sunni and Shia Has Poisoned Islam for 1,400 years – It’s Getting Worse

So many nations are polarized with ongoing conflict, and one reason is religious intolerance. In Muslim nations, a sharp religious divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims – one that began over who would succeed the Prophet Mohammed after his death in the 7th century, still contributes to jihad and civil war. “In most countries these Shia are minorities in a Sunni homeland,” explains Paul Vallely for the Independent. “But in Iraq, Iran, Bahrain and Azerbaijan they outnumber their co-religionists.” Vallely pointed out two events have spurred the recent escalation Shia-Sunni tensions: the 1979 Iranian revolution after the West had propped up a corrupt dictator and the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. He concludes: “The tensions are deep-rooted in wider economic and geopolitical concerns. But the risk - given the long history of division and tension - is that predictions of a transnational civil war between Sunni and Shia could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” – YaleGlobal