The Shia-Sunni ‘conflict’ is why the Middle East is the way it is today. This is the old Muslim religious debate about whether Muhammad is the sole Islamic leader and that all other leaders are temporary, Sunni, and whether there are new prophets selected and sent by a higher power to take over the leadership of the Muslim community, Shia. These opposing beliefs are found all throughout the Middle East and Western Asia, and do not have any particular regions of pureness to one side or the other. An estimated 60,000 to 100,000 casualties were committed purely regarding this matter, and the number is continuously ascending. Some Religious officials even threaten that the future Middle East will abide by new geographical constraints created to keep a stable division between the two separate religious groups. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Iraq has a Shia/Sunni ratio of 65/35, while its neighboring country of Saudi Arabia has a quite contrary Shia/Sunni ratio of 10/90. Although this may not make sense at a first glance, it is an extremely high and dangerous ratio to have in one country, and in turn there are many more casualties in these extremest countries of Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The History Behind
Being regarded the central source of Muslim culture, the 90% Sunni nation of Saudi Arabia is the general example of the Muslim culture to the outside world. It is quite a difficult battle for the Shias as there are about 1.6 billion muslims in the world, and they only make up about 120 million (7.5%) of the Muslim population. The conflict began in the year 632 A.D. when the muslim prophet and primal leading figure died. Debate began immediately about whether there could be a leader worthy enough to take power, or whether Muhammad was the prophet and the only prophet suitable for leading the Muslim people.
This conflict has been in existence for 14 centuries, and is deemed to come to a violent end for the Shias in particular.
