By Federica Fanuli
Winds of war in
the Middle East rush after the break of diplomatic relations between Iran and
Saudi Arabia. On Jan 2, 105, the Saudi court has carried out the the death sentence of the Shiite
cleric, Sheikh Nimr al Nimr, and this has triggered dangerous manifestations cracking
already historically complicated relations between the two countries.
Nimr al Nimr was one of the promoters of the Shiite minority protests in Saudi Arabia during the
riots of the "Arab Spring", between 2011 and 2012. The Saudi Arabia
is at Sunni majority, but the Shiite minority, which occupies the eastern part
of the country, has often protested against the government because of Ryad
persecuted. In 2012, during an event, al Nimr was wounded in gunfire with
police and subsequently arrested.
Last October, a Saudi court sentenced al Nimr
to death, accusing him of having favored the Persian interests in the Saudi
Arabia. The Islamic Republic is at majority Shiite, a religious difference that
puts Iran in contrast to the Saudi Arabia. A division that has deep roots
dating back to 632 A.C., the year of death of the Prophet Muhammad, founder of
Islam, when they had to decide who to entrust the succession.On one hand, the
first group argued that the friend and father of the wife of Muhammad, Abu
Bakr, were to inherit the political and religious heritage of the Prophet. On
the other hand, a minority faction believed that the successor should be a
relative of Mohammed, in particular, the cousin and son, Ali.
According to the
rules of tribal tradition, the majority group commissioned the assembly of wise
men - who appointed Abu Bakr - to elect the "first Caliph"
(Khalifah). The second minority group considered illegitimate the election and,
especially, considered Abu-Bakr a usurper of Ali's right to succeed Muhammad.
Supporters of newly elected caliph were the Sunnis, who took their name from the
Sunna, the tradition of the Prophet, the second source of Islamic law after the
Koran. Opponents, Shiites - from sci'a term meaning "faction" - began
to identify themselves as "party of Ali", Shi'atul Ali that became
the fourth Caliph, suspected of complicity in the killing of his predecessor.
The contrast between the two types of Islam became even more heated in 680
A.C., when Hussein - the son of Ali - was killed in Karbala, city of Iraq, at
the hands of the Caliph Yazid of the Umayyad dynasty, an offense that has
shouted revenge for a long time.
Karbala has become the holy city for Shiites,
Mecca for Sunnis; although, it was binding the Shiites have to go to Mecca for
the pilgrimage, one of the foundations of Islam. There are five pillars of
Islam: Allah, the ritual prayers, alms, fasting during Ramadan and the
pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in life. The main difference between the
majority and the minority of Islam regards the religious hierarchy, the
authority exercising the power to settle disputes and to fix the religious
practice, which joins the faithful. According to Sunni Islam, the Caliph is the
successor of the Prophet, leader and defender of the Islamic community.
Guardian of the Shari'ah, the Caliph administers Islamic law and exercises the
role of judge.
According to the Shiites, however, the heir of the Prophet and
leader of the community is the Imam. Unlike their ancestors, descendants of
Ali, the twelfth and final Imam descended from Muhammad and is still hidden,
but one day it will manifest to fulfill the will of Allah. Former Iranian
President Ahmadineajd, Shiite, during meetings of government reserved a place
in the Mahdi (literally, "well-guided by God") waiting for his
coming, and erected a platform for the landing of the helicopter of Imam. Based
on these initial inconsistencies, the Sunnis have accused Shi'ites of heresy;
mind the Shiites have accused the Sunni responsibility for having contributed
to the proliferation of extremist sects. Subsequently, it is the policy that
has fueled the rift between Shiites and Sunnis. This rivalry worsens at the
political level during the Khomeini revolution in Iran in 1979. A historic
event that brought about the fall of the Shah Reza Pahlavi and the
establishment of an Islamic theocracy, Shiite versus Sunni regimes of the
Persian Gulf.
From 1979 onwards, the alliances on the Middle East scenario
change and reinforce the crescent conflict between Sunnis and the Shiite, which
includes Iran and the growing influence of Hezbollah in Lebanon via Alawite
Syria and Iraq. A division that still marks the reality of the Islamic world
and weighs on sides of the Sunni powers like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and
Shiite, like Iran and Iraq, whereas the member in charge of the two sides of
Islam since 1979, the 'Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran are among the key
players in the Syrian War and the conflict in Yemen.
Today, this rivalry opens
a direct clash between the two religious and political opponents, and if the
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called a "divine vengeance"
against the Saudi Arabia and Ryad has raised accusing Tehran of being
"sponsors of terror", the tension climbs as the risk of an escalation
of violence that could destabilize the precarious balance in the Middle East.
About The Author:
Federica Fanuli was graduated with honours in
Political Science and International Relations from the University of Salento
and she has obtained a Master’s Degree in Political Science, European Studies
and International Relations at the same University. Foreign Affairs analyst,
she is Editorial Manager of Mediterranean Affairs, a project aiming to provide
analyses that cover the Mediterranean area. Columnist of the Sunday Sentinel,
she is Editorial Board Member of Cosmopolismedia.it and Editor-at-large of
IndraStra Global. She can be reached at her LinkedIn profile.
/ Thomson Reuters ResearcherID : M-9093-2015
Cite This Article:
Fanuli, Federica. "FEATURED | The Winds of War:
Saudi Arabia vs. Iran." IndraStra 002, no. 01 (2016): 0012.
http://www.indrastra.com/2016/01/FEATURED-Winds-of-War-Saudi-Arabia-vs-Iran-002-01-2016-0012.html.
ISSN 2381-3652
