Middle East politics and the Saudi vitalization of sectarian violence.By:Shirwac.

An article which unveils the Geopolitical interest masked with the religious sectarian divide between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Middle East politics and the Saudi vitalization of sectarian violence

Middle East Politics.

Middle East, a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt, privileged the vast energy resources which ignite the entire technological world that we live in, has been of paramount importance for the global imperials and superpowers. This is what made indispensable for the westerns to have their involvement in the region.

US capitalism and Soviet communism contended over the region back in 60s. The west and the US in particular used Iran and Saudi Arabia to dissuade the Soviet communism in the region, which merged the two of the largest petroleum exporting countries, despite their everlasting antagonistic interests over the power and petroleum market.

Middle East states which are mainly Arab countries are jam-packed by Absolute monarchs who stayed in offices for a long and yet westerners are in a close relations with them only for their concentration towards the crude oil enriched in that zones.

After the Iran revolution in 1979, in which the monarchial Administration was overthrown and resulted the Islamic republic of Ira, that relation of US and other westerners with Iran putrefied. Funny enough, that US cut the ties with republic administration for coming over a monarch and keeping another monarchs in close, but no wonder, this is to keep the region depraved and hold the corrupted kings in place to enjoy that free/cheap petroleum for their machines.

Sunni-Shia divide.

Back to 14 centuries, soon after the death of prophet Muhammad ( PBUH ) in 632, is when these clangs commenced, because, as far as we know, the prophet did not designate a specific political ruler after him, so the Muslim community had to decide who will govern them after the prophet. As accustomed some people supported to one particular person as a candidate and finally decided Abu Bakar to hold that position, however some of the family of the prophet had a different Idea which is that Ali Ibn Abu Talib, a cousin and a son a law of the prophet, should have been the right for leader and that dissatisfaction remained with that people who has that view, even though Ali himself did not have it.

This divide Transpired vividly after the killing of Husain, the grandson of the prophet, and it is this incident where the Shia identity is rooted.

Sunni and Shia Muslims have lived peacefully together for centuries. In many countries it became common for members of the two sects to intermarry and pray together, since they agree on the basic tenets of Islam, declaring faith in a monotheistic God and Muhammad as his messenger, and conduct similar prayers, Giving Zakat to the poor, Fasting during the Month of Ramadan and performing the pilgrimage in Mecca. Although they have different rituals and interpretations of Islamic law, however the main difference relates to authority which sparked the political split that still bubbles between Saudi and Iran.

Iran-Saudi Relation and the power struggle between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have gone through a stage of strategic alliance with considerable political, military and security interactions until the Islamic revolution in 1979, which vanquishes Pahlavi Dynasty’s 54 years tenure, and replaces with the Islamic republic of Iran. This exacerbated the Saudi ruler’s apprehension for their absolute monarchies and aggravated the possibility that Tehran could export its revolution to Riyadh. This compelled the two countries to a new stage burdened with doubt and distrust, and a list of unfortunate events, including the Saudi support for Iraq in its war against Iran, creation of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the 1987 massacre of Iranian pilgrims in which 275 Iranians lay to dead, further worsened the already strained relations between the two countries.

Furthermore, the 2015 Hajj stampede which left the death of many Iranian pilgrims, and the execution of a prominent cleric Nimr Al Nimr for his plain and open assertion that the people of Saudi Arabia has the right to choose who heads them escalated the tensions between the two countries to the uttermost that eventually triggered demonstration in the middle east and set ablaze to the Saudi embassy in Tehran. In return, Saudi Arabia foreign ministry announced that it cuts the diplomatic ties with Iran and commanded the Iranian diplomats to leave the country in 48 hours. This opened a new chapter in the ongoing primary antagonistic powers of Iran and Saudi Arabia playing out in the Middle East.

All of those particulars are proving the fact that the Middle East violence and chaos has nothing to do with the age-old conflict between the Sunni and Shia, elucidating that it’s about power and not piety. We cannot ignore the reality that there is a sectarian division in the Middle East but what fuels it, is the prevalent authoritarian form of governance and the concentration of power in the hands of a few in most of the middle east countries particularly Saudi Arabia. This means that Al-Saud (The ruling family of Saudi Arabia) should bury their heads under the sectarian violence, vitalizing and utilizing from sponsoring the Shia-Sunni divide to distract the eyes of the people from their ancient realm and performing a dramatic play which give them the earmarks of a kingdom protecting the Islamic principles while it’s actually a battle of a brother versus brother with political and administrational interest which Islam never gives a blessing to.

The Political turnover in the Middle East and the Impact of Saudi Arabia.

Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq was hostile to both Iran and Saudi Arabia, despite Saudi’s support for his 1980s war with Iran, and held the Middle East in a precarious sort of balance between the Iran-Saudi powers. When the US toppled his administration that balance vanished and a vacuum appeared in Iraq which drove both Saudi and Iran to fill. This again upsurges the rivalry and Saudi attempted to exploit sectarianism to its advantage throughout the region. In this way, Saudi turned the political choreography in Iraq after Saddam to a religious, which actually was not primarily about religion.

The project continues till the 2011s Arab spring and Saudi kept supporting violence and deliberately rocketing the Sunni-Shia sectarianism to serve the interest of the Royal Family.

In Yemen for example, Saudi saw the Houthi insurgency (which is not that much different from Sunnis theologically) as an Iranian marionette, so to Sequester Iran’s influence and gin up a support for its intervention, Saudi tried the war to seem about a Sunni versus Shia. This is a big part of why the Middle East is widely divided today between Shia and Sunni.

Somaliland and the sectarian divide

Somaliland a Sunni self-declared independent state in the horn of Africa is widely occupied by the Saudi ideology through religious scholars graduated from Saudi funded schools both in the Country and abroad, who are blinded by the differences of the Shia and Sunni, to an extent that they are unable to see what unites them. This scholars continually address an inflammatory terms against Shia Muslim, spreading a false sense of hatred disguised as righteousness.

Ever since this Shia-Sunni divide is more political than religious, my country has nothing to consume from that sectarianism, thus religious leaders better evade from it and exert much effort to the projects which reassure that Muslim communities, both Shia and Sunni could come along.

To be fair, We Somalilanders cannot take the risk of a war between these two powers which blocks or bothers the very solitary channel of the Red sea in which we bank on, but let me be very explicit that the hatred, animosity and the sectarian ideology spread by the Saudi administrations and the Wahhabi scholars is unacceptable.

Ismael Shirwac

Medical student at HU, Sociology and Social work student at AU, and Political activist

Ismaelshirwac@gmail.com

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