SUNNIS AND SHI‘A A oreore NDI n) badbad LahLah I Midia aa IslamIslam AKISTANAKISTAN Sunni Shia Alevi Ismaeli ( Zaiddiya Ibadi Alawite Druze PP dd aa ulul bb 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 atat cc ss uu 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