Sunni-Shi’i Rapprochement

Abstract

Ecumenical initiatives to promote Sunni-Shi’i reconciliation and mutual respect have failed to take root because they do not tackle the incendiary issues that prompt each branch to view the other with disdain, if not as outright apostates or unbelievers. I argue that this will not change until the main fault lines in their worldviews, communal self-understanding, sacred narratives, history, theology, and philosophy are confronted head-on. If this cannot be done, then all proclamations of Muslim unity and brotherhood/sisterhood under one ummah will remain hollow and lack substance, because each side’s internal discourse would remain unchanged. Any type of mutual tolerance and coexistence prompted by expediency and power dynamics cannot be expected to be deeprooted and long-lasting. The United States, along with such other local and foreign players as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, have instrumentalized Sunni-Shi’i sectarianism to promote their own myopic vested interests. The result is clear for all to see: an exponential increase in Sunni-Shi’i antagonism.