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Sunni and Shiite are different sects of Islam, but Kurds are an ethnic group. Kurds are predominantly Sunni Muslims (although there are minorities of Shiite Kurds, especially in Iran, and non-Muslim Kurds as well). As a result, it is incorrect to call the Kurds a "religious faction" since what sets them apart in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey is their ethnicity, not their religion.

The Sunnis and Shiites have been religious rivals since the mid-600s C.E. since the First Islamic Civil War or Fitna al-Kubra. Historically, in Iraq, the Sunnis had control after the Shiites lost the First Islamic Civil War and the Shiites were repressed almost consistently for 1300 years. Kurds were largely absent from this since Kurdistan was separately administrated from the Arab-populated areas, assuming that it was even in the same empire.

In terms of the three-way political fighting between Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, and Kurds, this only started when the borders of Iraq were artificially drawn in 1919 to give the British access to petroleum reserves in Basra (in the Shiite-Arab-dominated south) and Mosul (in the Kurd-dominated north). Initially, there were some Kurdish independence movements in the 1920s in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, but all were brutally supressed by the national governments of those countries. As Iraq began to have a more Pro-Arab and Secularist agenda and alignment before and after World War II, the Kurds suffered more and the Shiite Arab situation did not improve from historical intemperance. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Iraqi government committed numerous atrocities against the Kurds (especially), but also against Shiite Arabs, and other religious minorities, including the Anfal Campaign (which is considered a genocide against the Kurds) as well as the Dujail Massacre against Shiite Arabs (which was the primary charge for which Saddam Hussein was hanged in 2006). This violence led to the Kurdish and Shiite Arab uprisings in late 1991, following Iraq's defeat in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Again, the government brutally supressed these uprisings.

With the US invasion and the Iraq War, the governing structure of Iraq was put into flux and the different groups (Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs and Kurds) are now vying for political power. As concerns the current interaction between Sunni Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and Shiite Arabs in Iraq, their fundamental differences are religiosity (how religious they are), tribalism, factionalism, militarism, and historic enmities. The conflict between these groups in modern Iraq is for the most part political, economic, and social (as opposed to religious) even though religious dialogue is often used to excite combatants.

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Q: How long have the Sunnis and Shiites been fighting against each other?
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Related questions

What were the primary ethnic factional groups fighting each other in Iraq after the invasion?

Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds


Do the Sunnis and Shiites hate each other?

Some Sunnis hate some Shiites and some Shiites hate some Sunnis, but the majority of the conflicts between them are not theological, but political, social, and economic. These labels work similarly to ethnic labels in the Balkans, ripping people and countries apart. It does not help that many Sunnis and Shiites purposely or unintentionally misconstrue the doctrines of the other in order to give Divine Legitimacy to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl for resources.


Are Sunnis or Shiites more numerous?

the sunni as majority compromise the main part of Muslims. in other words sunnism are larger that shiites as minority.


Do the Sunnis and Shiites share the same or different political views?

In different places, yes. And they fight each other for more power. They have been fighting such the death of Muhammad, peace be upon Him.


How do Sunnis and Shiites unite?

Answer 1Dictators do not let they unite. the solution is revolution against puppet dictators who control Muslim nations.Answer 2Historically, Sunnis and Shiites have consistently repressed one another and differentiated one from the other. However, more recently, when Sunnis and Shiite have found themselves both out of power (because of Western colonization or the burgeoning growth of Islam in the West itself), they have finally been able to bond over similar issues concerning assimilation with Western society. This increased closeness, while desirable, provides no help to uniting Sunnis and Shiites where they are each in power. The solution, therefore, is obvious, only a Western secularized system of government could foster a union between Sunnis and Shiites, as it has been the only system under which this has ever happened.


Are the shiites and sunnis enemies?

No, they are not enemies. They differ on some of the beliefs but that does not mean they hate each other. They stand together mostly!


What is the continuing conflict between the Sunnis and Shiites in Afghanistan?

Answer 1Shia and Sunni are not fighting. but Wahhabi Muslims are fighting both shia and sunni.Answer 2While Afghanistan certainly has violence between Sunnis and Shiites, it mostly goes in one direction, i.e. Sunnis killing/maiming/hurting Shiites. The largest Afghan Shiite community are the Hazaras who were historically targeted by the Taliban and other extremist Sunni groups. There is also government-level discrimination against the Hazara both in terms of non-investment in Hazarajat (the Hazara-dominated region in Afghanistan) and by special provisions that allow other nomadic Afghans to use Hazarajat's resources to a greater degree than in other regions. However, Hazara discrimination is lessening under the government of Hamid Karzai.Much larger Sunni-Shiite conflicts (which are almost always ethnic political conflicts with religious identifiers) occur in Pakistan, Iraq, Bahrain, Syria, and Lebanon.


Which school is the biggest in Islamic religion?

Sunnis is the biggest Islamic school. The other one is Shiites. refer to related question for more information.


What is the difference between sunnis and other muslims?

Please see the two Related Questions below which discuss the differences of Sunnis with Shiites (together they represent >99% of Muslims) and for other much more minor sects like Ibadi, Ahmadi, etc.


What relationship do the sunnis and the shiites have?

both of them are muslim and in principles like divine unity, prophecy and resurrection or the day of judgment are the same. they call each other as religious brothers.


Do Sunnis marry Shiites?

Both Sunnis and Shiites are Muslims. The two sects do not differ in the basic Islam beliefs and morals. They differ on minor issues mainly historical. So, no restrictions on marriage among the two sects. However, in many countries with large Sunni and Shiite populations, it is considered taboo to marry into the other sect regardless of whether it is permissible in a strictly religiously legal sense.


What sorts of crimes did the Shiites perpetrate against the Sunnis?

Although most persecution in Islam has been anti-Shiite, the Shiites have also persecuted Sunnis under their watch. The first major attack of Shiites against Sunni leadership was in the final days of the Fatimid Caliphate when Fatimid rulers created the Assassins who took down many notable Sunni leaders such as Grand Vizier Nizam ul-Mulk of Baghdad, Mohammed Ghori, the Atabegs Maudud and Zengi of Mosul. The Assassins even targeted Saladin the Ayyubite, but were unsuccessful. The Persian Safavids fought several wars against neighboring Sunnis in Samarqand to the North and the Ottomans to the West. Ismail I (the first Safavid) adopted Twelver Shiite Islam and began to persecute the Sunnis in Iran. This reduced their community to a small minority in the Persian heartland. He destroyed numerous Sunni mosques and grave sites as well as mandating curses against the first three Rightly-Guided Caliphs. He also imprisoned and killed large populations of Sunnis for their beliefs and compelled conversion to Shiite Islam through violence. The Safavids also spread this form of Sunni oppression through conquest Azerbaijan and of southern Iraq and imposing conversion to Shiite Islam there as well. There are also current repressions of Sunnis by Shiites. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Shiite repression of Sunnis has become dominant again in Iran. Sunni Iranian Cleric Abu Muntasir Al-Baloushi has said that the government of Iran (because of its repressive practices towards Sunnis) is a greater threat to Islam than even Israel. In Iraq, Shiites and Sunni militants fight for the attempt to have greater control of the government after America removed Saddam and each group sought to advocate its views to the suppression of the other. As the Shiites are more numerous in Iraq, they seem to have the upper hand in determining policy. In Syria,the current civil war is between a secular Shiite-led government and the majority Sunni population of Syria which has historically been denied the same accessibility to jobs, healthcare, and living-standards.