The continuing stand-off between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the formers hanging of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr is threatening to divide the Muslim world along sectarian lines, a prospect that could complicate the global fight against the ISIS. The feud between the two countries began when Saudi Arabia executed 47 people in a single day, including al-Nimr, who was fighting for the rights of the countrys oppressed Shia minority and had repeatedly spoken out against the government and the Saudi royal family. The hanging outraged Iran where people took to streets to protest it. An irate mob ransacked and burnt the Saudi embassy in Tehran. And Saudis in response cut the diplomatic relations with Iran. Soon Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – a majority-Shiite nation ruled by a Sunni king that has struggled with a turmoil of its own declared their support for Saudi Arabia and severed or downgraded their ties with Iran. Now Kuwait, a Sunni country has sided with Tehran.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are already daggers drawn over Yemen where Tehran supports Houthi rebels against the government and Riyadh supports the government. Saudi Arabia has made Houthis a target of its air strikes. However, the powerplay between the two countries spans many countries. Both train, finance and equip rival militants in the Syrian civil war, and support opposing sides in Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. Behind this unremitting rivalry is the jockeying between the two countries for the leadership of the Muslim world. Irans nuclear deal with US has not only rehabilitated the country in the west, it has also enhanced its weight in the Mideast geo-politics, making Saudi Arabia insecure.
However, a lingering hostility between the two countries is a cause of deep concern. For it could split the world of Islam down the middle. And such a state of affairs would be a tragedy at a time when the Mideast is being torn asunder by the sectarian strife. And not only will this undermine the fight against ISIS but also impact the sectarian relations among Muslims across the globe. Thankfully, these developments have left Kashmir untouched. True, Valley has not been altogether innocent of sectarian clashes but they have for the most part been a rare phenomenon. And whenever these have taken place, it is only a miniscule minority which has indulged in them. And while there is no denying the fact that a relatively tense religious argument has shaped up around the nature of the practice of Islam in Valley in last decade – a phenomenon which even otherwise is not alien to Muslim societies what distorts the picture is the attempt to project on to it the imported narrative of global terror discourse which predominantly looks at the current upheavals in Muslim world in terms of the orthodox versus moderate Islam and Shia versus Sunni Islam.
But at the same time, we shouldnt also live in a denial mode. There is a need for introspection among Muslims of all sectarian persuasions about the current state of Muslim world and our continuing decline and fall. We have to think and work together to restore peace and stability to the Muslim world. And one important step in this direction would be for Saudi Arabia and Iran to join hands to address the turmoil in Mideast and to start with firm steps to defeat ISIS.
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