Why do Muslims kill other Muslims?

Question

Two suicide bombers today killed up to 90 people in a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims streaming toward a shrine south of Baghdad, according to police. The coordinated attack happened on a main street in Hillah, about 60 miles from the capital. More than 150 others were wounded in the blasts.

Shi'ite pilgrims are heading to the holy city of Kerbala to commemorate Arbain, the end of a 40-day mourning period since Ashura, which marks the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson in 680.

ScottF correctly points to Protestants killing Catholics etc but the indiscrimate bombing in Iraq makes no selection as to who is being killed. My question wasn't meant to isolate muslims but rather posing a question as to why one religion would want to kill members of the same religion?

Answer 1

Muslims don't know what to do with Freedom.

They moan about freedom and when it is given to them they feel guilt and believe they HAVE TO fight for the their religion.

The Iraqi's had an opportunity to make a better country out of Iraq but instead some have decided to kill innocent women and children.

You can blame the Americans for invading but the blame stops there. The Americans didn't ask them to start killing civilian construction workers who went to reconstruct the country.

As per usual some idiot has brought christianity into this!!!!

Answer 2

Sunni Muslims in Iraq kill Shiite Muslims in Iraq for power and control of the government. Saddam Hussain was a Sunni Muslim. He and a handful of other Sunni Muslims controlled Iraq with oppression and brutality for many years. Iraq is mainly populated by Shiite Muslims. Since Saddam Hussein was removed from power and Shiite Muslims were put into positions of power, the displaced Sunni Muslims were disgruntled.

Qur'an 4:92 Never should a believer kill a believer...
(Yusuf Ali translation)

The Qur'an is clear that only killing of unbelievers is permitted. However, a believer who aid and abets the unbeliever becomes an apostate (murtaad) or heretic. An apostate or heretic may be killed because he is technically no longer a Muslim. Furthermore, many Sunni do not accept Shia as believers because they believe:
1. temporary marriage is permissible
2. the ayatollah is infallible
3. the mahdi is a supernatural being that was hidden over a century ago.

The original split between Sunni and Shiites started with the death of Muhammad and who became successor. However, the problems today are basically over who will run the country and control its resources. So, the various sects justify killing a Muslim of the opposite sect because that person is an apostate.

The March 5, 2007 Issue of Time Magazine has a good article entitled, Why do they hate each other?"

Answer 3

At first this seems like a silly question. You could substitute any religious or national group for Muslims and have the same question and likely the same answer.

But, I would say it is one of two things or a combination of both: Political and Sect/Factional.

Take Saddam Hussein. The reason his government killed other Muslims has nothing to do with Sect/Factions. It was purely political. Disregard anyone who tries to tell you otherwise. Hussein and his chronies were probably the least religious government in the Middle East. They saw themselves as Secular Muslims. The victims of this regime were Shiites and Sunni Kurds who disapproved of the lack of freedoms they had and the way the government collected oil revenue. Large portions of this group sided with Iran when Iran and Iraq went to war. As a result, these groups suffered dearly at the hands of Hussein. To further prove that it was purely political, Christian Iraqis mainly did not get involved in the fray. As a result they were safe under Hussein.

Now, look at Iraq. The killing is almost purely Sect/Factional. Christians have fled the country for Syria and Jordan. Sunnis are blowing themselves up in droves in Shiite districts. And, Shiite death squads run free in parts of Baghdad. By all means this goes back to schism in Islam between the two sects. Factional war in Islam is what Sunni groups (Al-Queada) want. They view Shiites as heretics who worship and abdomination of Islam.

Answer 4

In this particular case, it was probably a Sunni attack. Fundamentalist Sunnis and Shi'ites have hated each other for centuries because of differences in their interprettation of who was the leader of their religion after Muhammed died.

In other cases, they are terrorists in the employ of some other fundamentalist country, i.e., Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, who are sent into Iraq to destabilize the government. These countries are terrified of a democratic Muslim country existing in their midst, because it may give their own people some ideas.

Answer 5

it truly is amazingly ordinary to assert that each and each one the wars, and conflicts of the previous and modern-day are using non secular causes. yet that seldom occurs. communities favor to be in ability and create adjustments so as that they have a political time table, and something to attraction to interest to their followers. faith is then an excuse. with reference to different muslim international locations, why could they say antything? they have alredy such truly some problems with their own inhabitants, and their equipment is so fragil that in the journey that they don't pay interest they can lose their jobs, (or their lives.) this isn't a issue in reality with muslims, all communities have similar issues.

Answer 6

Same reasons Catholics and Protestants used to kill each other-different ideas of what being a Muslim should mean.

Answer 7

Because to me, nothing to do with religion......the human race is just on course to kill itself and all members......which then hopefully will be re-born into kinder Human Beings........this will be after Global Warming of course and when the new Ice Age has melted.....

Answer 8

why do people kill people? if a muslim kills several he is a terrorist but in america if a person goes in a school or workplace and terrorizes and kills then he is labeled a gunman..... aren't the 2 the same? unless of course the gunman is a muslim

Answer 9

Why do Muslims kill Muslims, you ask. Why do Christians kill other Christians? Why were the Protestant KKK killing Lutheran and Baptist blacks? Why were Protestants killing Catholics and Catholics killing Protestants in Ireland?

Wild interpretation of religion, with a combination of a feeling of religious/ethnic superiority and hate perhaps, with a mix of propaganda, for all these conflicts, including Iraq?

Man...I'm seeing some rather ethnocentric answers here....do you people hate it when I mention the flip side of the coin, or what?

Dee, please understand that I'm questioning the premise of the question. I'm not an idiot for bringing my religion, Christianity into this. In studying history, I've found that people have killed over religion for hundreds of generations. I'm questioning why Islam is specifically being focused upon. If we study our own history, assuming that you're of European origin, I believe that we may be able to find the causes of other religious conflicts, such as the Islamic sectarian violence in Iraq.

Answer 10

The reason is because of US presence in the region now. But the actual problem started long ago when there were britain and frech controlled colonies in the middle east. The sects (shiies and sunnies) have always coexisted in muslim history but it was the colonizers who accentuated the differences and made them fight, just like that old napoleonic saying "divide and win".
There is one basic difference between these two sects: the interpretation of Coran, the sacred book of the muslims. That's it.
So, it's not really hate, we better call it inflicted and necessary hate. When these sects create a blood bath in the region (like for instance Irak, bacause nowhere else there is a fight between these 2 sects (mm, funny, huh?)) it is a reason for the US troops to be there and say "Hey look, we need to be here to controll you and stop you from killing (while we steal your oil and kill your people)". So that fight is a necessary evil so that US have control of the region.
Adiooos!