Who would have thought that the tsunami of the Arab uprisings with all its power of change and toppling of authoritarian regimes would degenerate into a much-dreaded sectarian schism between Sunnis and Shiites, with the infighting spreading from Syria to torch Lebanon, Iraq and beyond — possibly even reaching the Gulf?

This schism is being fanned by Iran’s shenanigans and meddling in the affairs of many Arab states, precipitating a Sunni backlash that forced divergent Sunni views to unite to face off this new threat that would ignite a regional sectarian war in the region. The majority Sunni countries in the Gulf are spearheading the fight to aid the Syrian rebels and are stepping in to contain this wildfire.

Marc Lynch in his column last month in Foreign Policy titled The War for the Arab World argued that many now see sectarianism as the new master narrative rewriting regional politics, with Syria on the frontline of a sectarian cold war that is permeating every corner of public life. The Sunni-Shiite divide, argues Brookings Institution fellow Geneive Abdo in a report released in April, “is well on its way to displacing the broader conflict between Muslims and the West ... and likely to supplant the Palestinian occupation as the central mobilising factor for Arab political life.”

So it has come down to this. The 1,400-year schism between the majority Sunnis and minority Shiites is coming to a head. This was never supposed to happen. But then no one predicted the Arab Spring either.

Today, Syria has emerged as the testing ground and the theatre of such a conflict. The peaceful revolt by the disenchanted Syrians against four decades of autocratic rule by the Al Assad clan — Hafez Al Assad and son Bashar Al Assad — has spiralled out of control.

The revolt turned into an armed conflict which descended into civil war and lately into a proxy war with regional and international players getting involved. Today, the Syrian mayhem is turning into a sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites that is ripe to explode and impact the whole region.

This war will bring forward centuries-old grievances, animosities and distrust between the two sects of Islam. But more alarmingly, it is splintering, fragmenting and polarising each country involved in the Syrian debacle.

Syria’s sectarian war is dividing countries near and far, where citizens of the same countries are fighting through their sectarian affiliations against each other in Syria. Thus the battle has shifted not only to safeguard the Al Assad regime, but to a fight over the heart and soul of Islam.

The chilling consequences of an implosion in the Middle East and within Islam are what I have warned about in my last column in Gulf News, The implosion of the Middle East. Today, it seems to have moved a step forward with the Sunni-Shiite infighting. The fall of the strategic Al Qusayr has boosted the Syrian regime’s morale, strengthened Hezbollah’s stature and its credentials and validated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s vow to stick it out and fight until the bitter end to defeat the “Takfiris” — Salafist jihadists — touching a raw nerve in the Sunni community. Thus Qusayr was seen as the first major Sunni-Shiite battle in recent times. This is bound to fester and haemorrhage for some time to come. In Iraq, the sectarian tension is reaching levels reminiscent of the 2006-2007 civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. In addition is the political stalemate. After six months of stand-off the Sunnis feel they are being marginalised and ostracised from Iraqi politics by the Shiite-led Nouri Al Maliki government. Now Sunnis are seeking to arm their rebellion, thus threatening to drag Iraq into the abyss.

But what is alarming about the Sunni-Shiite schism is the twists and turns which were highlighted by the leading Egyptian-Qatari Sunni firebrand scholar Shaikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi who lamented being disillusioned by Hezbollah for too long where he was fooled, unlike the Saudi religious scholars.” Qaradawi claimed “Alwaites and Shiites are even worse than Christians and Jews” and further slammed the Syrian government and its supporters, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, calling them “parties of Satan”. Al Qaradawi even called for Jihad against Al Assad and Hezbollah in Syria.

The Saudi Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh hailed Al Qaradawi’s stance against Iran and Hezbollah, praising him and appreciating his strong critique of Iran and Hezbollah. The Saudi Grand Mufti called for a united Sunni front to confront and contain Hezbollah. This is certain to add insult to injury and to fan the sectarian flames. From the implosion of the Middle East to the schism between Sunnis and Shiites no one is discussing the Arab Spring. The priority today is how to avoid and stave off the problem from hell, a Sunni- Shiite sectarian war.

 

Professor Abdullah Al Shayji is the chairman of the political science department, Kuwait University. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/docshayji