Middle East Discovers Irony Not Limited to Western Patent
The international community has expressed surprise at ongoing conflicts between Muslim-majority nations, as if sectarian divisions were a recently invented phenomenon rather than a 1,400-year-old tradition. Experts who apparently skipped history class have declared themselves “shocked” that shared religion doesn’t automatically prevent geopolitical conflict.
“We just assumed everyone would get along because they pray in the same direction,” explained one bewildered Western diplomat. “It’s almost like religious identity is more complex than we thought.” The revelation that Sunni and Shia Muslims have theological disagreements has blown minds at think tanks that apparently believed Islam was a monolithic entity with a customer service hotline. Middle East scholars from the Middle East Institute have begun offering remedial courses titled “Yes, Muslims Are Diverse: An Introduction.”
Current conflicts span multiple regions, from Yemen to Syria, proving that shared religious heritage is no match for territorial disputes, political power struggles, and centuries of accumulated grievances. Political scientists note this mirrors conflicts between Christian nations throughout European history, though apparently those lessons didn’t translate.
Western media coverage has oscillated between treating Muslim conflicts as incomprehensible ancient blood feuds and being surprised that modern nation-states with different interests sometimes disagree violently. “Why can’t they just work it out?” asked commentators who live in countries that fought two world wars primarily against other Christians. According to analysis from Chatham House, the cognitive dissonance is impressive.
The conflicts involve complex factors including resource competition, ethnic tensions, political ideology, and proxy warfare by regional powersnone of which fits neatly into simplified narratives about religious unity. Iranian and Saudi Arabian rivalry, for instance, is about as theological as Standard Oil versus Royal Dutch Shell. Researchers at International Crisis Group suggest that maybe, just maybe, geopolitics is complicated regardless of the predominant faith. Revolutionary concept, really.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/muslims-fighting-muslims/
SOURCE: Bohiney.com (https://bohiney.com/muslims-fighting-muslims/)
