Sunni-Shi’i Rapprochement

Abstract

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