Anti-Shi'ism

[16] On 21 April 1802, about 12,000 Wahhabi Sunnis under the command of Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad, the second ruler of the First Saudi State attacked and sacked Karbala, killed between 2,000 and 5,000 inhabitants and plundered the tomb of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad and son of Ali ibn Abi Talib,[17] and destroyed its dome, seizing a large quantity of spoils, including gold, Persian carpets, money, pearls, and guns that had accumulated in the tomb, most of them donations.

In the medieval period, the Middle East saw bloody clashes between both sects but the Indian subcontinent remained safe and peaceful because of the secular policy of Mughals.

Until the end of the seventeenth century AD, only two anti-Shia books were written in India: Minhaj al-Din by Makhdoom-ul Mulk Mullah Abdullah Sultanpuri and Radd-e Rawafiz by Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi.

In this he argues: Since the Shia permit cursing Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and one of the chaste wives (of the Prophet), which in itself constitutes infidelity, it is incumbent upon the Muslim ruler, nay upon all people, in compliance with the command of the Omniscient King (Allah), to kill them and to oppress them in order to elevate the true religion.

‘Ali Muhammad Khan, whose father accompanied Aurengzeb during his Deccan campaigns, reports:During the reign of the late emperor, tremendous emphasis was placed on matters of the shari‘a and on refuting various [non-Sunni] schools of thought.

Because of religious bigotry, which is the bane of humankind, they placed a group under suspicion of Shi‘ism (rafḍ), thus destroying the very ramparts of the castle of their existence [i.e., having them killed], while others were thrown into prison.

He started his career by translating the anti-Shia track of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, radd-e-rawafiz, into Arabic under the title of al-muqaddima tus-saniyyah fil intisar al-firqa te-sunniya (المقدمۃ الثانیہ فی الانتصار للفرقۃ السنیہ).

He continued to criticise the Shias in his books like Qurat-ul Ainain (قراۃ العینین), Azalah-tul Khafa (ازالۃ الخفا), Fayyuz-ul Haramain (فیوض الحرمین), etc.

[29] In a letter to Sunni nawabs, Shah Waliullah said: Strict orders should be issued in all Islamic towns forbidding religious ceremonies publicly practised by Hindus such as the performance of Holi and ritual bathing in the Ganges.

[37] Syed Ahmad Barelvi and Shah Ismail Dihlavi took up arms to enforce their puritanical views and migrated to Peshawar region to establish an Islamic Caliphate.

Muhammad Isma’il wrote, ‘a true believer should regard the breaking of a tazia by force to be as virtuous an action as destroying idols.

If this even be out of his power, let him at least detest and abhor them with his whole heart and soul’.Sayyid Ahmad himself is said, no doubt with considerable exaggeration, to have torn down thousands of imambaras, the building that house the taziyahs".

Instead of honouring the Sahaba on their birthdays, he started to arrange public meetings under the banner of bazm-e-siddiqi, bazm-e-farooqi and bazm-e-usmani, in the first ten days of Muharram to revere the first three Caliphs and named it Madh-e-Sahaba.

After the failure of the Khilafat movement in the 1920s, the political ulema had lost their support in public and Muslims started to follow modern minds like Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Dhulipala says:The problem broke out with renewed vigour in 1936 on Ashura day when two Sunnis disobeyed orders and publicly recited Charyari in the city centre of Lucknow.

Birdwood says that, in Bombay, where the first four days of Muharram are likely to be devoted to visiting each other's tabut khanas, women and children as well as men are admitted, and members of other communities – only the Sunnies are denied ‘simply as a police precaution".

[46] The Sunni Muslim cleric Yusuf Ma Dexin who had traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire, picked up anti-Shia views and after returning to his homeland Yunnan, staunchly preached against Shiism and Sufism, including while he was supporting the Panthay rebellion.

[47] This rhetoric was partly due to the growing marginization of the Hui Muslims within China and calls for unity and defense against the increasing dominance of Han society.

Shiites believe that the Al Khalifa failed to gain legitimacy in Bahrain and established a system of "political apartheid based on racial, sectarian, and tribal discrimination.

Writing in the Daily Mirror, Ameen Izzadeen asserts thatafter the dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa, Bahrain remained the only country where a minority dictated terms to a majority.

[59]The Christian Science Monitor describes Bahrain as practicing a form of sectarian apartheid by not allowing Shiites to hold key government posts or serve in the police or military.

[64][65] The Egyptian government began to focus its attention on Shiites during the presidency of Hosni Mubarak in order to build better relations with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

"[74][75] Amnesty International had recorded many cases of intimidation and violence against religious minorities in Indonesia by radical Islamic groups and urged the Indonesian government to provide protection for hundred of Shiites who have been forced to return to their village in East Java.

Following 2006 tens of thousands of people were killed across Iraq, when a civil war between the two Muslim rival sects erupted after the 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing, lasting until 2008.

[89] In April 2018, clashes broke out as Nigerian police fired teargas Shia protesters who were demanding the release of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, who had been detained for two years with no trial.

[111] In March 2011, police opened fire on peaceful protesters in Qatif, and after Shia unrest in October 2011 the Saudi government promised to crush any further trouble in the eastern province with an "iron fist".

According to the Independent, "Satellite television, internet, YouTube and Twitter content, frequently emanating from or financed by oil states in the Arabian peninsula, are at the centre of a campaign to spread sectarian hatred to every corner of the Muslim world, including places where Shia are a vulnerable minority, such as Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Malaysia.

[114] Mohammad Taqi writes thatThe Saudi regime is also acutely aware that, in the final analysis, the Shiite grievances are not merely doctrinal issues but stem from socioeconomic deprivation, as a result of religious repression and political marginalization bordering on apartheid.

Khomeini's efforts were respected by Sunni Islamists, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas who "didn't accept his leadership".After the victory of the Iranian revolution and the establishment of the Shia power in Iran, Saudi Arabia tried to spread Wahhabism globally.

[5] Two decades ago, extremist groups have gotten financial support from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and they were able to speared propaganda and attract recruits by satellite television and high-speed Internet.