Modern Middle East The turbulence in the Middle East continues to attract the attention of the international community as the reports on gross human violations, and the unrestrained wanton bloodshed continues to capture news headlines. The international community can no longer afford to ignore the issues happening in the region as threats associated with the conflicts and destabilizations in the Middle East continue to spread to other parts of the world. Furthermore, the fighting in the modern Middle East has led to an unprecedented increase in the number of asylum seekers to various European countries as well as America. Thousands of immigrants have detached themselves from their families and risked their lives in the last few years since the 2010 Arab Spring with the hopes of finding sanctuary from the constant fighting and bloodshed witnessed in their native lands. How did it come to this? Why does peace and stability among the Muslims remain so elusive in the Middle East despite professing in the same Allah? Would the bloodshed and fighter ever end? Many people ask these questions as the global media houses continue to report about massacres and attacks on unarmed civilians as well as the rise of terrorist organizations affiliated to different governments in the Middle East. The international community has been largely drawn into the fighting witnessed in the modern Middle East due to varied geopolitical interests. For instance, the United States and Russia have openly shown their support for opposing sides in the Middle Eastern wars despite calls for two superpowers to intervene to end the bloody conflicts that threaten global peace. A worrisome prospect of the issue is that sustainable peace would remain unrealized due to the differences in opinion between Washington and Kremlin. However, a significant factor that often remains underreported or deliberately ignored in the instability in the modern Middle East is the roles of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the issue.  International security analysts and human rights groups have accused the two Islamic powerhouses of supporting various rebel factions and fighting proxy wars to establish regional superiority with the backing of their main allies, Russia and the U.S. respectively. An essential issue in the matter is understanding why Iran and Saudi Arabia remain at odds over the years. An online news article titled “Why Saudi Arabia and Iran are bitter rivals” that was published by a BBC reporter, Jonathan Marcus, attempts to associate the constant conflicts in the Middle East with the religious differences that the two countries maintain. The sustained conflicts in the Middle East is due to the centuries-old differences between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims and have little to do with the geopolitical interests of the world’s superpowers. Instead, the United States and Russia appear interested in the continued fighting to support their strategic interests in the region by exploiting the disagre.

1. Modern Middle East
The turbulence in the Middle East continues to attract the
attention of the international community as the reports on gross
human violations, and the unrestrained wanton bloodshed
continues to capture news headlines. The international
community can no longer afford to ignore the issues happening
in the region as threats associated with the conflicts and
destabilizations in the Middle East continue to spread to other
parts of the world. Furthermore, the fighting in the modern
Middle East has led to an unprecedented increase in the number
of asylum seekers to various European countries as well as
America. Thousands of immigrants have detached themselves
from their families and risked their lives in the last few years
since the 2010 Arab Spring with the hopes of finding sanctuary
from the constant fighting and bloodshed witnessed in their
native lands. How did it come to this? Why does peace and
stability among the Muslims remain so elusive in the Middle
East despite professing in the same Allah? Would the bloodshed
and fighter ever end? Many people ask these questions as the
global media houses continue to report about massacres and
attacks on unarmed civilians as well as the rise of terrorist
organizations affiliated to different governments in the Middle
East.
The international community has been largely drawn into the
fighting witnessed in the modern Middle East due to varied
geopolitical interests. For instance, the United States and Russia
have openly shown their support for opposing sides in the
Middle Eastern wars despite calls for two superpowers to
intervene to end the bloody conflicts that threaten global peace.
A worrisome prospect of the issue is that sustainable peace

2. would remain unrealized due to the differences in opinion
between Washington and Kremlin. However, a significant factor
that often remains underreported or deliberately ignored in the
instability in the modern Middle East is the roles of Iran and
Saudi Arabia in the issue.
International security analysts and human rights groups have
accused the two Islamic powerhouses of supporting various
rebel factions and fighting proxy wars to establish regional
superiority with the backing of their main allies, Russia and the
U.S. respectively. An essential issue in the matter is
understanding why Iran and Saudi Arabia remain at odds over
the years. An online news article titled “Why Saudi Arabia and
Iran are bitter rivals” that was published by a BBC reporter,
Jonathan Marcus, attempts to associate the constant conflicts in
the Middle East with the religious differences that the two
countries maintain. The sustained conflicts in the Middle East is
due to the centuries-old differences between the Sunni and
Shiite Muslims and have little to do with the geopolitical
interests of the world’s superpowers. Instead, the United States
and Russia appear interested in the continued fighting to
support their strategic interests in the region by exploiting the
disagreements between the two Muslim factions.
Although the Shiites and Sunnis share some fundamental
practices and beliefs, the two sects have contrasting rituals,
religious organizations, theology, laws, and doctrines with each
faction appearing committed to dominating the other in regional
and international matters. Such differences have primarily led to
the Shiite versus Sunni conflicts witnessed in the modern
Middle East over hundreds of years. Historical accounts
indicate that the two sects have always been at odds ever since
the death of Prophet Mohammad. The historians observe that the
Shiite Muslims recognize Ali ibn Abi Talib as Prophet
Mohammad’s chosen successor while the Sunnis consider Abu
Bakr as their legitimate leader. Thus, the differences between

3. the Sunni and Shiite Muslims lies mainly to their recognition of
the two leaders as the true successor to the prophet, and their
disagreements led to numerous wars for legitimacy and
migrations. The Iranians initially observed the ideologies of the
Sunni teachings of Shafi’i Sunnism. However, the situation
changed gradually during the Safawid Empire due to the
acceptance of Shiism and the Safawids’ political power.
Cleveland and Bunton suggest that the influence of Shiism in
Iran became dominant during the reign of Ismail’s successors
(96).
While the prevalence of Shiism as a religious culture in Iran did
not make it synonymous with the country’s national heritage, it
helped in distinguishing Iran from its neighbors who remained
Sunni Muslims. The tensions between the Shiites and Sunnis
increased significantly after Ismail as the Sunnis considered the
threats posed by the Shiites as serious to their existence.
Consequently, the levels of hostilities that existed between the
Shiites and Sunnis increased during the Sawafid Empire in the
Middle East because of the persecutions of the minority groups
from either sect in various parts of the region. Moreover, the
Shiites established themselves through military conquests and
forceful loyalties that caused discontentment among the Sunnis
as well as increasing the calls for revenge for the atrocities
committed by the Shiites during the conflicts under the Sawafid
Empire. Such discontentment and disagreements persist to the
modern Middle East as the Shiites and Sunnis continue to fight
to establish themselves as the faithful adherents of Islam and
Prophet Mohammad.