Beyond Old Wounds: The Urgency of Synergy in the Islamic World to Face Zionist Expansion
In every major crisis phase of the Islamic world, the same question remains pertinent: why are people who share the same sources of values—the Qur’an and Sunnah—often divided by internal conflict, whilst external challenges continue to intensify? Now, following the Al-Aqsa Deluge that lasted two years (2023–2025), accompanied by Israel’s isolation at the UN General Assembly and the momentum of the establishment of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, with Israel being ‘reborn’ showing its fangs with full American backing and targeting Iran, this question has emerged once again.
Today, as Israeli aggression against Palestine enters the most brutal chapter in modern history, and American geopolitical dominance remains the determining factor in the region’s direction, internal Sunni–Shia fragmentation has once again become a stumbling block. Yet history demonstrates that the relationship between the two was not always one of enmity. It is a long story of conflict, rivalries, but also cooperation and mutual influence.
Understanding this history is important so that the Islamic world does not fall again into old patterns—namely, allowing internal differences to be exploited by external powers.
Historical Roots: Politics Before Theology
The Sunni–Shia split originated from a political issue following the death of Prophet Muhammad: who had the right to lead the community. This political conflict subsequently developed into fundamentally different theological and legal systems.
However, in classical history, this conflict was not always total. The Umayyad, Abbasid, Seljuk and Ottoman dynasties (the Sunni camp), as well as the Fatimid and Safavid dynasties (the Shia camp), certainly recorded sharp rivalries. Yet at the same time, intellectual interaction continued to take place. Scholars from various schools of thought lived side by side in major cities such as Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and Isfahan.
Even in confronting the Crusades, Islamic solidarity transcended sectarian boundaries. Figures such as Saladin—who was Sunni—ruled territories with significant Shia populations without carrying out sectarian cleansing. His focus was clear: to expel the Crusader forces and recapture Jerusalem.
An important lesson from this period: when external threats are real, internal differences can be managed.
The Modern Era: Colonialism and Divide-and-Rule Politics
Entering the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Western colonialism transformed the landscape of the Islamic world. The Ottoman Caliphate collapsed. Arab, Persian, and Turkish nationalism, as well as Malay–Indonesian nationalism, replaced universal Islamic political identity.
This is where the “divide and rule” policy worked effectively. Sunni–Shia rivalry was no longer merely a difference in jurisprudence or theology, but was politicised as a tool of geopolitical control.
The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 added a new dimension. Palestine became a symbol of global injustice against the Islamic community. However, the Islamic world’s response was never truly united.
The Rise of Political Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian Revolution
The twentieth century also witnessed the birth of modern political Islamic movements. In 1928, Hassan al-Banna established the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. This movement called for an Islamic awakening as a complete socio-political system, not merely a spiritual identity.
Muslim Brotherhood thought subsequently developed through figures such as Sayyid Qutb, who harshly criticised secularism and Western hegemony, and warned the Islamic community against falling into ‘modern jahiliyya’ as a result of the dualism between Islam and secularism. On one hand, Muslims and their state elites practised Islam in matters of faith and worship, but on the other hand they practised secularism in political, legal and governmental matters. They were warm in the intimacy of Islamic worship, but cold and indifferent in the face of political and socioeconomic tyranny around them.
Interestingly, these ideas did not only influence the Sunni world. In Iran, before the 1979 Revolution, revolutionary figures read and translated the works of the Muslim Brotherhood. Ali Khamenei is known to have translated the writings of Sayyid Qutb into Persian. This demonstrates that the boundary between Sunni and Shia in modern political Islam was not entirely rigid.
The 1979 Iranian Revolution under Ruhollah Khomeini shook the Islamic world. For the first time in the modern era, a pro-Western regime was overthrown by a movement based on Islamic ideology and led by Shia scholars.
However, this revolution also triggered grave concerns in Sunni monarchical states. Iran was considered not only an ideological threat, but also a geopolitical threat.
Regional Intrigue: From Rivalry to Proxy Wars
Since the 1980s and 2000s, Sunni–Shia rivalry entered a new phase: proxy wars.
The Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) became a symbol of how internal Muslim conflict was exploited by global powers. Gulf Arab countries supported Iraq, whilst the West played both sides to maintain balance of power. On one hand, supporting the Arab coalition standing behind Iraq; on the other hand, selling weapons to Iran through the Iran-Contra operation.
In Lebanon, Iran’s support for Hezbollah since 1982 strengthened the axis of resistance against Israel. In Palestine, Iran also supported Hamas—a Sunni organisation born from the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987.
This fact reveals a paradox: geopolitically, Sunni–Shia cooperation has occurred when their interests were the same (fighting Israel). Yet regionally, suspicion continues to dominate.
The Syrian conflict (2011–2024), the Yemeni conflict (2011–present), and Iraq (since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein) have deepened the sectarian divide. Narratives of identity are often used to justify political and military intervention.
Political Islam and the Neglect of Social Justice
Amid this competition, one thing is often forgotten: the essence of political Islam itself.
Both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian Revolution equally departed from the idea of social justice, resistance against tyranny, and defence of the oppressed (the mustadh’afun). However, in practice, the dynamics of power have often reduced these values to regional competition for influence.