How can shia muslims and Sunni muslims hate each other so much and be in the same religion?

Question

I mean if you are in the same religion, shouldnt you at least tolerate each other?

If I can get a muslim to explain this to me, it would be tremendous. The other question I have is, is the difference really being fanned more by leaders and mullahs who try to incite hatred of the other side, or do average ordinary muslims living their lives really hate the other side and cannot coexist?

Answer 1

Sunni Islam and Shia Islam are the two major divisions of Islam. Approximately 85% of Muslims are Sunni and 15% are Shi'a, with a small minority belonging to other sects. The historic background of the Sunni-Shia split lies in the schism that occurred when the Islamic prophet Muhammad died in the year 632, leading to a dispute over succession to Muhammad.

Over the years Sunni-Shia relations have been marked by both cooperation and conflict. Today there are differences in religious practice, traditions, and customs in addition to religious belief.

In a milestone for the two countries' relations, on March 3 2007 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Saudi Arabia and held a summit meeting to discuss among other things the rise of sectarian problems in the region. King Abdullah received Ahmadinejad personally at the airport in Riyadh. Both leaders agreed to work towards better relations, and prevent sectarianism now threatening the region. They commented that divisions between Muslims only serves the interests of foreign powers in the area

Ahmadinejad declared on his return to Tehran that

"Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are aware of the enemies' conspiracies. We decided to take measures to confront such plots. Hopefully, this will strengthen Muslim countries against oppressive pressure by the imperialist front."

Saudi Arabia's official government news agency added.

"The two leaders affirmed that the greatest danger presently threatening the Islamic nation is the attempt to fuel the fire of strife between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and that efforts must concentrate on countering these attempts and closing ranks,"

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said

"The two parties have agreed to stop any attempt aimed at spreading sectarian strife in the region"

This could be construed as either directed at either Al Queda or at the United States, depending upon ones point of view.

This meeting ran counter to what was envisioned by many pro-Bush neo-cons in the current US administration - Shia Iran and the Sunni Saudi Arabia intensifying their rivalry to the point of funding and training sectarian militias in Iraq to engage in a debilitating Islamic civil war. The two countries have shared economic interests, and both have a history of private meetings, which came to the fore when previous Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had a meeting King Abdullah in March 1997 when he was crown-prince, and was invited to undertake the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca the following month. This led to no objection for Iran to host the OIC conference for the first time soon afterwards.

Please visit the links below for further reading.

Answer 2

First, 2 persons that have same parents may not tolerate each other and fight against each other the same way.
Second, Muslim is a religion and Islam means Peace. All of the formal religions in this world want their followers become a better person, love each other and live in peace. They don't tell their followers to shoot at each others, wear a bomb to explode in the middle of a market, or kill a person by cutting his head off. The problem of Muslim is it becomes a political party. In those countries, if you're a political leader, you must be a Muslim. A political leader uses Muslim as a mean to control people. We know most politicians in this world are dirty and nasty so it ends up making the Muslim become so violent and divided. You look at the history of those Middle East countries and you see they keep fighting each other. Even the US, Russia, or China does not involve, they still have some reason to fight each other years after years. The violent even spreads out to Europe and Asia. To those people, if they're not fighting, they won't have Peace. So, blame it on politics or people, not Muslim itself.

Answer 3

From a muslims perpective, it is a really shameful act. we may have minor differences between our sects, but we a still under the roof of Islam...

But here, why don't you hear another muslims opinion :
THIS IS NOT MY ANSWER : I AM JUST POSTING IT HERE AS A REFERENCE

Your question doesn't apply to all Sunnis and shias, just some and it's disturbing to many Muslims too. After-all we are all Muslim. I am Sunni and have out most respect for my shia brothers and sister, disagree on some issues but I disagree with Sunnis too on some matters too. When we don't get along it's our loss. Personally, we live among shia, I pray in a shia Mosque, and shia friends...all love ..no hate. When we get along it doesn't reach the headlines, when we don't it does. So, for the average outsider it might seem like all we do is kill eachother and bomb eachothers mosques. For me I know it's not true because I lived amongst Muslim communities where, shia and sunnis coexist peacefully.

Writeen by : gsumayya

Answer 4

This hatred between Muslims is anything but Islamic. Instead of labeling ourselves as Sunni or Shia (I am Sunni), we should just see ourselves as Muslims. When Sunnis and Shias kill each other, they are majorly sinning. Allah (God) has never called for the killing of a fellow Muslim, nor anyone else unless they attack first. This hatred, and I am saying this as a Muslim, MUST stop. Those who are killing the opposing side are only earning themselves one-way tickets to hell. Do you think God condoned The Catholic/Protestant issue in Ireland? I think not! Both are sects of Christianity, and I know for a fact that God would not want two fellow Christians fighting.

Although there seems to be somewhat of a dispute between the two sects of Islam, they are not rivals or blood-withered haters. Their difference, yet similarity in beliefs (there are far more similarities than differences, but the differences can be drastic), makes it easier for one group to relate to the other, thus and criticize accordingly. Sunni Muslims usually don't have a keen "hatred" for Shia Muslims, and vice versa. In our current time, due to several occurences and events, there seems to be a separation of the two, and this is not the only separation problem in the few Islamic countries. Islam does not teach to hate. Therefore, simply put, Allah (God) does not approve hate for one another, especially to other fellow Muslims. Because both sets of beliefs lie under "Islam", they are both considered "Muslim".

The media blows these things way out of proportion and makes it look like Islam is in great turmoil with this dilemma. This is not the case, however. You can't always believe what you hear, especially when it is coming from a bias media that exaggerates, misleads, seduces, and flat out lies.

Thanks for the question, and good luck!

Answer 5

I'm not quite sure that I understand your question. There are vast differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims. There are vast differences between Catholic and Protestant Christians. On this site you can even see questions asking if Catholics are Christians and vice versa. One explanation, which is valid for Muslims and Christians, is that, over centuries, the teachings of Jesus and Mohammed have been interpreted, reinterpreted and manipulated, so that, unless you go back to the original teachings, believers have been led astray.

Answer 6

I agree with u and Herb makes a good point. Muslims dont hate each other so much because hatered is sinful and devilish. Just some extremists think their way of thinking is right and everyone else who is wrong they want to kill. Im Muslim and i love my fellow man like brother, i have no hatred and good muslims dont hate. i respect other sects of my religion and all religions i respect because the educated knowledgable person is an understanding one. Just as there are followers extremists there r leader extremist. Killing is wrong and all these wars are not proving any point on who is right. live life the way u r convinced and see right for u dont worrying about convincing or sinfully killing others as it is wrong. peace to u. i hope i helped.

Answer 7

ignorance only!! first of all there is no sect system in islam..this is we made this all...actually shiite and sunnis don't hate each other everywhere....they are living in hormany in most of the places..but yes where politics is involved they are fighting just for those political gains like puppets just like in Iraq..where the issue is political but made religious...there should be no hatred and there is no hatred between the two but actualy this thing is used wronly unfortunately..! and just becuase of the fact that people are ignorant of true religion and its teachings !

yes this difference is fanned by Muallas and political leaders more and they add fuel to the fire when "needed" ...!!

Answer 8

The same way Protestants and Catholics hated and killed each other for years in Northern Ireland. Actually, most Shias and Sunnis don't hate each other. In Iraq, small groups of terrorists have inflamed people who would otherwise have remained peaceful.

Answer 9

This is a major problem with religion. But then, it is not religion, but people who use religion to "prove" their points of view.
Every major religion on earth says to not smoke, not drink, not do drugs, not to fornicate, but so many people claim to be religious and do these things, and worse.
Everyone will be judged!
People cannot really peacefully co-exist; it is not in our DNA. Speaking of which, with the population base being what it is, Shiites and Sunnis are already related to each other, so it is not just religion, it is family.
They...and everyone else on earth...needs to follow the precepts of their religion.

Answer 10

this is just like how the protesants and catholics used to not get along. And i'm a sunni muslim but i dont hate shi'as. But i get what you mean. Also their hatred probably has nothing to do with religion at all or even better INGORANCE.