Why do Shiites hate Sunnis?

Answer 1

Answer 1

They don't necessarily HATE them (though, yes, some do); mainly they just look down on them because they're a minority within Islam. It's a very old human story: whoever is sufficiently different is bad.

The split goes back to the question of who was going to be the Top Muslim after Mohammed died. Most Muslims thought it should be a merit decision (which is to say, the people who would do the deciding were themselves in the running) whereas the friends of Mohammed's son-in-law Ali, thought it should stay in the family. The latter became the Shiites (the partisans of Ali), while the former became the Sunni, the traditionalists.

Answer 2

Hate is mostly from Wahhabi groups like Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Ansar,... toward shia Muslims. it is not from all sunni Muslims. please refer to question below:

Answer 3

It is not true that there is hatred between Sunnis and Shiites. They are both Muslims believing in same God, same holy book Qur'an, same God prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them), praying to same direction, going for pilgrimage (hajj) to same places and doing same rituals, and fasting same month of Ramadan. Accordingly, the relations between Sunnis and Shiites are normal relations with no hatred, conflicts, or clashes.

Answer 4

There is no universal conflict between Sunnis and Shiites and the majority of Sunnis bear no ill will towards the Shiites. However, a significant minority do and where it occurs, it occurs for the following reasons:

1) Historical Grievances: Although, Shiites endured more persecution at the hands of Sunnis than the reverse, this is not to say that Sunnis have not endured persecution at Shiite hands. Both groups remain defiant that since they have the moral high-ground as granted from their faith, their actions in repressing the other sect, torturing its adherents, and murdering its leaders was progress towards removing the heresy.

2) Ethnic Identities: In many countries, especially Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, people identify "ethnically" by their sect of religion. Therefore saying somebody is Shiite in Iraq is similar to how people view being Irish-American or Japanese-American in the United States. It marks you socially and it determines who your friends are, who you marry, what jobs you take, who you love, who you despise, etc. As a result, whenever conflict has broken out, each religious group comes together to defend its people's interests. This results in political and social hatred of the other religion in addition to any theological issues.

3) Rumors of the Other's Theology: Some Sunnis think that Shiites are deluded into believing that 'Ali was a second prophet, which would violate Mohammed being the final capstone of the Prophets, a huge theological issue. Some Shiites believe that Sunnis were paid off to accept the three Rightly-Guided Caliphs before 'Ali and that Sunni Islam was therefore corrupt and ineligible to continue the Islamic tradition. Both have alleged the other was deceived by Jews, which says more about how Muslims view Jews than each other. Of course, both of these are mis-characterizations of the actual theologies of these two sects, but the point remains that as long as these problematic rumors exist, the two sides cannot reconcile.

4) Approaches to Government: Ever since the abolition of the Caliphate in 1936, Sunni Islam has been leaderless and there has come to be an understanding that religion does not participate in actual governance. Saudi Arabia is an example of this policy where the Wahhabi Clerics do not have direct power, but maintain a great amount of influence in the decisions. (This is not a separation of church and state since the two can cooperate closely, but this prevents direct theocracy.) Shiites, on the other hand, have religious leaders called Imams (infallibles Imams) and Ayatollahs (at occultaion of current Imam) who do attempt to have terrestrial authority and in Iran have actually achieved it. This has led to animosity over who has the right to govern and how they should do so.

Answer 2

There is no universal conflict between Sunnis and Shiites and the majority of Shiites bear no ill will towards the Sunnis. However, there is great degree of distrust between the two groups and hatred at the fringes and a significant minority of Shiites do hate their Sunni brothers. Where the hatred occurs, it occurs for the following reasons:

1) Historical Grievances: Shiites endured an incredible amount persecution at the hands of Sunnis. During the Umayyad, Abbassid, and numerous other Caliphates, Shiite leaders were imprisoned, tortured, and forced to recount their "heresies". Both groups remain defiant that since they have the moral high-ground as granted from their faith, their actions in repressing the other sect, torturing its adherents, and murdering its leaders was progress towards removing the heresy. The failure of Sunnis to apologize for the sanctioned murder of their leaders leaves behind a grievance

2) Ethnic Identities: In many countries, especially Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, people identify "ethnically" by their sect of religion. Therefore saying somebody is Shiite in Iraq is similar to how people view being Irish-American or Japanese-American in the United States. It marks you socially and it determines who your friends are, who you marry, what jobs you take, who you love, who you despise, etc. As a result, whenever conflict has broken out, each religious group comes together to defend its people's interests. This results in political and social hatred of the other religion in addition to any theological issues.

3) Rumors of the Other's Theology: Some Sunnis think that Shiites are deluded into believing that 'Ali was a second prophet, which would violate Mohammed being the final capstone of the Prophets, a huge theological issue. Some Shiites believe that Sunnis were paid off to accept the three Rightly-Guided Caliphs before 'Ali and that Sunni Islam was therefore corrupt and ineligible to continue the Islamic tradition. Both have alleged the other was deceived by Jews, which says more about how Muslims view Jews than each other. Of course, both of these are mis-characterizations of the actual theologies of these two sects, but the point remains that as long as these problematic rumors exist, the two sides cannot reconcile.

4) Approaches to Government: Ever since the abolition of the Caliphate in 1936, Sunni Islam has been leaderless and there has come to be an understanding that religion does not participate in actual governance. Saudi Arabia is an example of this policy where the Wahhabi Clerics do not have direct power, but maintain a great amount of influence in the decisions. (This is not a separation of church and state since the two can cooperate closely, but this prevents direct theocracy.) Shiites, on the other hand, have religious leaders called Imams (infallibles Imams) and Ayatollahs (at occultaion of current Imam) who do attempt to have terrestrial authority and in Iran have actually achieved it. This has led to animosity over who has the right to govern and how they should do so.