Harmful Effects of Anti-Shia Discrimination Assignment

Harmful Effects of Anti-Shia Discrimination - Assignment ExampleThe most agreed upon cause for the prejudice can be traced to the dispute that arose after the close of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to a split among the Muslim community into two fundamental sects the Shia and the Sunnis. The Sunnis also referred to as the followers of the way, decided on succeeding(a) the caliphate maintaining that any Muslim, who is devout in the eyes of his peers, has the potential of being a successor of the Prophet. However, the Shia believe that only a person who is elected by Allah can succeed the Prophet after the Prophet has declargond him his successor, deciding on Imam Ali as their religious authority. Following this split, the Sunni Muslims have over the centuries perceived their rival sect as a threat to their religious authority, and politically as well. Sunni placeers, especially under the Umayyad, began a systematic marginalization of the Shia, who formed a minority of the Muslim c ommunity, while the Abbasids also turned on the Shia, killing, persecuting, and imprisoning them (Walker 18). The Shia community to this day remains marginalized and persecuted sect in the majority of Muslim states. This discrepancy has harmed the Shia by ensuring that they are less educated than Sunnis, cannot practice their religion, and cannot get work in their countries. Discrimination against the Shia has led to their inability to practice their religion, which has caused crust towards their Sunni counterparts, as they are denied their right to worship. For example, Chehab in Sunni vs. Shia All You Need to Know cl nonpluss that Jordanian tribes have banned Shias from paying homage at the historic grave site of a prominent Shia imam (13).This led to protests in which over fifty Shia members either were killed or went missing. The Shia Muslims are also disallowed to access religious centers such as mosques, forcing them to perform their prayers on Friday in their houses (Chehab 13). This means that Shia Muslims, despite being part of the broader Islam family, are inferior religious citizens in most Muslim dominated countries. They are treated no differently than Christians, who are discriminated against in the same way and might as well be without religion. This has all the hallmarks of an irreversible religious war if unchecked. In addition, all able-bodied Muslims are required to visit Mecca at least at a time in their lifetime, which is one of Islams five pillars, to perform the Hajj. Although this event is supposed to count as one of the most intense religious times in the Muslim calendar, a group of Shias who were on a pilgrimage was arrested in 2009 by the Saudi religious police. This was part of Sunni Muslims, particularly the Wahhabi sects, aim to purify Islam of any innovations or practices that deviate from the seventh-century teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions (Giritlioglu 1). The incident resulted in one of the pilgrims, a fifteen-year-old boy, being shot in the head and chest, while a Shia sheik was knifed by an unknown person in the back for being what he termed as a rejectionist. Allowed to continue, such actions can only lead to reprisal attacks in Shia majority countries, resulting in a never-ending cycle of violence.