Ecumenism and Islam’s enemy within

The massacre in the first week of March of hundreds of Shia mourners at Karbala, Iraq, and the blasts at an Imambara in Quetta, Pakistan, resulting in the death of dozens of Shias on the day of Ashura, are gruesome reminders of the simmering sectarian conflict that has raged for centuries among Muslims, making a complete mockery of the rhetoric of Muslim unity. The much bandied-about slogan of Islamic brotherhood based on the notion of the pan-Islamic ummah falls flat in the face of continued Muslim sectarian rivalry. Contrary to what Islamists, Muslim apologists as well as detractors of Islam would have us believe, the Muslims of the world are just about as fiercely divided as any other religious community.

The Shia-Sunni dispute is only one, albeit the most prominent, division that has run through almost the entire history of Islam. In addition to the Shia-Sunni divide are the innumerable divisions that characterise the broadly defined Shia and Sunni communities. Among the Shias, the main sectarian groups are the Ithna Asharis and the Ismailis. The latter have two main divisions, the Nizaris and the Mustailians. The Mustalians, in turn, are divided into the Daudis, the Sulaimanis, the Alavis and the Atba-i Malak. Likewise, among the Sunnis, who form the majority of the Muslim population, there are several factions. In Southasia, the Sunnis are divided into what are popularly known as the Deobandis, the Barelvis, the Ahl-i Hadith (see Himal February 2004) and the followers of the cults of local sufis who are not affiliated to any formal organisation. In addition to these, there are various Islamist groups.