New Age Islam

The Shia-Sunni divide: How real and how deep? Can we move towards genuine unity?

By Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam

7 October 2008

The Shia-Sunni divide would have made some sense if any Sunnis justified the massacre at Karbala. No Sunnis do. The victims of Karbala are universally treated as martyrs. Both Sunnis and Shias mourn their deaths in the month of Moharram and commemorate the 40th day (chehlum) of the grisly event. During the 10-day long Ashura, when each evening Shias commemorate the Battle of Karbala, with a wailing imam whipping the congregation into a frenzy of tears and chest beating, the Sunnis, too, perform similar rituals. The only difference is that of intensity. While the Sunnis merely shed tears, listening to graphic descriptions of what happened at Karbala and beat their breasts with their own fists, the Shias shed blood, beating their breasts and shoulders with little knives and other sharp implements.

http://www.newageislam.com/the-shia-sunni-divide--how-real-and-how-deep?-can-we-move-towards-genuine-unity?--/islam-and-sectarianism/d/857