Shia crescent

Last updated
The Shia Crescent. The numbers shows the percent of Shia in the population Schiitischer Halbmond.jpg
The Shia Crescent. The numbers shows the percent of Shia in the population

The Shia Crescent (or Shiite Crescent) is the notionally crescent-shaped region of the Middle East where the majority population is Shia or where there is a strong Shia minority in the population.

Contents

In recent years the term has come to identify areas under Iranian influence or control, as Iran has sought to unite all Shia Muslims under one banner. On the other hand, this concept shows the increasing political weight of Shia in the Middle East. [1]

Areas in the Shia Crescent include Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Yemen, and western Afghanistan. [2] In addition to the Twelver Shia, the term also included Ismaili, Zaydi, Syrian Alawite, and Alevi groups in Turkey. [1]

Overview

If it was a Shia-led Iraq that had a special relationship with Iran, and you look at that relationship with Syria and with Hezbollah-Lebanon, then we have this new crescent that appears that would be very destabilising for the Gulf countries and actually for the whole region. [3]

Abdullah II of Jordan, Hardball , NBC News .

The term was coined in 2004 by King Abdullah II of Jordan at a time when Iran was reportedly interfering in Iraq in the run-up to the January 2005 parliamentary elections. [4] This was in the context of a threatened, later realised, boycott of the elections by Sunnis in Iraq potentially leading to a Shia-dominated government and the assumption that a Shia Iraq might fall under the influence of Shia Iran. The suggestion was that the common religion gives good potential for cooperation between Iran, Iraq, Alawite-dominated Syria and the politically powerful Shia militia Hezbollah in Lebanon; as well, the suggestion was that these others would be proxies for Iran in a regional power play. [5]

The term has developed since to encompass other Shia areas of the Middle East. The nations where Shia Muslims form a dominant majority are Iran and Iraq. Shias also represent a large majority in Azerbaijan, however it is constitutionally a secular state. [6] Those who are actual practicing adherents are much lower, [7] which has led to them generally being excluded from the crescent. [8] Shia are also the majority of citizens in Bahrain, however the government is largely Sunni. [8] Large Shia minorities also exist in Lebanon, Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and to a lesser extent, UAE. Excepting Lebanon, where the weak central government structure of Lebanon has allowed Hezbollah to become involved in the Syrian civil war, [9] these are not usually described as part of the crescent.

Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in a speech on June 5, 2005, on the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death, cited the "Shia Crescent" project as evidence of a policy of religious divisiveness. [10] In 29th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on December 27, 2015, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on Muslim countries to unite and strive to improve Islam’s public image, adding that "There is neither a Shiite nor a Sunni crescent. We have an Islamic moon. We, Muslims, are in a world where we must be united". [11] Noam Chomsky, an American university professor and linguist, in his book, Making the Future: Occupations, Interventions, Empire and Resistance , claims that most of the Middle East's energy reserves lie in the so-called "Shiite Crescent" Iran's influence in the Shiite Crescent challenges US efforts to control Middle East energy resources. [12] Washington's nightmare is for a Shiite coalition to take control of the world's most important oil reserves independently of the United States. [13]

In January 2016, a confidant of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman claimed that the Arab world was confronted "by a Shia full moon”, rather than just a Shia Crescent, as a result of the expanded activities of Iranian-backed Shia militias in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen. [14] In December 2017, Mohammad Ali Jafari, the chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that "Today, armed cells of resistance have been established in Islamic countries, and small networks of resistance have been created in other countries, and we will see their influence in the future.” According to him, large forces of volunteers have joined the "anti-terror" struggle in Syria. [15] Jafari had also previously talked about the regime's need to create a Shia Islamist bloc loyal to Iran. [16]

In 2014, Qods Force Chief Qassem Suleimani outlined Ali Khameini's strategy of toppling the Arab governments through military insurgencies waged by Iran-backed Khomeinist militants. Explaining that Iran's goal was to occupy "70 percent of the world's oil", Suleimani stated:

"The revival of Shia under the leadership of Iran creates a polarity and power for Iran, which has a political dimension and also a security dimension and also an economic dimension .... We know that three countries Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq contain the most oil in the world. [Saudi] Arabia is first, Iran and Iraq are second and third, and that approximately 70 percent of the worlds oil is located where the Shia live or about 80 percent is where the Shia live. Iraq's oil is in this corridor between Basra and Baghdad; Kuwait, and [Saudi] Arabia, which 80 percent of its oil is located in the Shia-populated places like Damam [and] Qatif, and it is also clear for Iran. The political leadership of Shiism exponentially adds to Iran's ethnic power." [17]

Demographic transformations and Shiization

In 2017 or later, Hussain Ibrahim Qutrib, an Associate Professor of Geomorphology at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, wrote an article about the demographic changes that have occurred in "Useful Syria" as a result of the Syrian Civil War. [18] Specifically, Qutrib defined "Useful Syria" similar to how Syrian President Bashar al-Assad defined this term in early 2016—as in, including the Syrian governorates of Damascus, Rif Dimashq, Homs, Hama, Latakia, and Tartus. [18]

Qutrib pointed out that these six governorates contained 46% of Syria's total population at the end of 2011—as in, 9.8 million people out of a total Syrian population of almost 21.4 million people at that point in time. [18] Qutrib points out that, at the end of 2011, the demographics of "Useful Syria" were 69% Sunni, 21% Alawite (which is an offshoot of Shi'a Islam), 1% Shi'a, 1% Druze, 2% Ismaili, and 6% Christian. [18]

In contrast, by 2016, the population of "Useful Syria" fell from 9.8 million to 7.6 million but its demographics have also significantly changed in the intervening five years; in 2016, "Useful Syria" was just 52% Sunni, 24% Alawite, 13% Shi'a, 1% Druze, 3% Ismaili, and 7% Christian—with the main change being the explosive growth of the Shi'a population in "Useful Syria" between 2011 and 2016. [18]

The demographic transformations in Rif Dimashq and Homs governorate between 2011 and 2016 were especially notable: Rif Dimashq went from 87% Sunni in 2011 to 54% Sunni in 2016 while the Homs governorate went from 64% Sunni to 21% Sunni between 2011 and 2016. [18] This demographic transformation has been described by Qutrib as Shiization. [18]

See also

Shia topics
Geography topics

Related Research Articles

Sectarianism is a debated concept. Some scholars and journalists define it as pre-existing fixed communal categories in society, and use it to explain political, cultural, or religious conflicts between groups. Others conceive of sectarianism as a set of social practices where daily life is organized on the basis of communal norms and rules that individuals strategically use and transcend. This definition highlights the co-constitutive aspect of sectarianism and people's agency, as opposed to understanding sectarianism as being fixed and incompatible communal boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alawites</span> Arab ethnoreligious group

Alawites are an Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant and follow Alawism, a religious sect that splintered from early Shia Islam as a ghulat branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali ibn Abi Talib, the "first Imam" in the Twelver school, as the physical manifestation of God. The group was founded by Ibn Nusayr during the 9th century. Ibn Nusayr was a disciple of the tenth Twelver Imam, Ali al-Hadi, and of the eleventh Twelver Imam, Hasan al-Askari. For this reason Alawites are also called Nusayris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab League–Iran relations</span> Bilateral relations

The dynamic between the League of Arab States and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been ambivalent, owing to the latter's varying bilateral conduct with each country of the former. Iran is located on the easternmost frontier of the Arab League, which consists of 22 Arab countries and spans the bulk of the Middle East and North Africa, of which Iran is also a part. The Arab League's population is dominated by ethnic Arabs, whereas Iran's population is dominated by ethnic Persians; and while both sides have Islam as a common religion, their sects differ, with Sunnis constituting the majority in the Arab League and Shias constituting the majority in Iran. Since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, the country's Shia theocracy has attempted to assert itself as the legitimate religious and political leadership of all Muslims, contesting a status that has generally been understood as belonging to Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, where the cities of Mecca and Medina are located. This animosity, manifested in the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, has greatly exacerbated the Shia–Sunni divide throughout the Muslim world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Syria</span>

Several different denominations and sects of Islam are practised within Syria, who collectively constitute approximately 87% of the population and form a majority in most of the districts of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hezbollah Al-Hejaz</span> Shia militant organization operating in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain

Hezbollah Al-Hejaz, or Hizbollah in the Hijaz, is a militant Shia organization operating in Saudi Arabia. It was founded in May 1987 in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. In the years 1987–89 the party launched attacks against official Saudi targets inside and outside Saudi Arabia. After being implicated in the Khobar Towers Bombing in 1996, the party was outlawed in Saudi Arabia. The party was part of the Iranian government's "exporting the Islamic revolution" policy. Most of its members were arrested and the party practically ceased to exist. In 2014 it was designated a terrorist organization by the kingdom's government.

Islam is divided into two major sects, Sunni and Shia Islam, each with its own sub-sects. Large numbers of Shia Arab Muslims live in some Arab countries including Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, and Qatar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shia–Sunni relations</span> Relations between the two largest Islamic sects

After the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632, the Muslim world split into two camps, the Sunnis, who believed that the Caliphs of the Islamic community should be chosen by consensus, and a second group, the Shia who believed that Mohammed’s successors should be members of his own family, beginning with Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law.

For approximately a millennium, the Abrahamic religions have been predominant throughout all of the Middle East. The Abrahamic tradition itself and the three best-known Abrahamic religions originate from the Middle East: Judaism and Christianity emerged in the Levant in the 6th century BCE and the 1st century CE, respectively, while Islam emerged in Arabia in the 7th century CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Syria</span>

Religion in Syria refers to the range of religions practiced by the citizens of Syria. Historically, the region has been a mosaic of diverse faiths with a range of different sects within each of these religious communities.

The Saudi government does not conduct a census on religion or ethnicity, but some sources estimate the Shia population in Saudi Arabia to make up around 10-15% of the approximately 34 million natives of Saudi Arabia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lebanese Shia Muslims</span> Lebanese adherents of Shia Islam

Lebanese Shiite Muslims, communally and historically known as matāwila, are Lebanese people who are adherents of Shia Islam in Lebanon, which plays a major role alongside Lebanon's main Sunni, Maronite and Druze sects. The vast majority of Shiite Muslims in Lebanon adhere to Twelver Shi'ism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq</span> Iraqi Shia paramilitary group

Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, also known as the Khazali Network, is a radical Iraqi Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary organization previously active in the Iraqi insurgency and Syrian Civil War. During the Iraq War it was known as Iraq's largest "Special Group", and it is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in the 41st, 42nd, and 43rd Brigades, cooperating with the Iraqi government in its fight against ISIS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sayyidah Zaynab</span> Town in Rif Dimashq, Syria

Sayyidah Zaynab, commonly known as Sitt Zaynab, is a town in the Rif Dimashq Governorate of Syria, 10 km (6 mi) south of Damascus, the national capital. With a population of 136,427, it is the 10th most populous city in Syria and the most populous satellite city of Damascus. Administratively, the town is located in Markaz Rif Dimashq district and belongs to the nahiyah ("subdistrict") of Babbila. The municipality of Sayyidah Zaynab is still considered as a rural community by the governorate of Rif Dimashq. The city contains the Qabr Essit Palestinian refugee camp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iran–Syria relations</span> Bilateral relations

Syria was usually called Iran's "closest ally", until the fall of the Assad regime after the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives were completed on December 8th, 2024. Iran and Syria had a strategic alliance ever since the Iran–Iraq War, when Syria sided with non-Arab Iran against neighbouring Ba'ath-ruled Iraq. The two countries shared a common animosity towards then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and coordination against the United States and Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Shi'ism</span>

Anti-Shi'ism or Shiaphobia is hatred of, prejudice against, discrimination against, persecution of, and violence against Shia Muslims because of their religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural heritage. The term was first used by Shia Rights Watch in 2011, but it has been used in informal research and written in scholarly articles for decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axis of Resistance</span> Informal Iranian-led military coalition in West Asia

The Axis of Resistance is a coalition of Iranian-supported militias and political organizations across the Middle East. Formed by Iran, it unites actors committed to countering the influence of the United States and Israel in the region. In particular, the network aimed to achieve the shared goal of destroying Israel. Some media outlets and figures supporting the Resistance Axis refer to it as the Empire of the Resistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian civil war</span>

Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian civil war has been substantial since the beginning of armed insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war in 2011, and evolved into active support for Syrian government forces and troop deployment from 2012 onwards. By 2014, Hezbollah was deployed across Syria. Hezbollah has also been very active in preventing Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State penetration into Lebanon, being one of the most active forces in the Syrian civil war spillover in Lebanon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict</span> Indirect conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia

The Iran-Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, or the Iran-Saudi Arabia rivalry, is an ongoing struggle for influence in the Middle East and other regions of the Muslim world. The two countries have provided varying degrees of support to opposing sides in nearby conflicts, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen; and disputes in Bahrain, Lebanon, Qatar, and Iraq. The struggle also extends to disputes or broader competition in other countries globally including in West, North and East Africa, South, Central, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and the Caucasus.

The demographics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region show a highly populated, culturally diverse region spanning three continents. As of 2023, the population was around 501 million. The class, cultural, ethnic, governmental, linguistic and religious make-up of the region is highly variable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sectarianism in Saudi Arabia</span>

Sectarianism in Saudi Arabia refers to the Saudi government's "top-down push towards sectarian polarization" between the Sunni majority, and Shi'ite minority. This encompasses anti-Shi'ite policies by the Saudi regime, as well as tensions between the Sunni majority and the Shi'ite minority. The Saudi government is often viewed to be oppressing the Shi'ite community, who constitute up to 15% of the Saudi population. This occurs against the backdrop of the broader Iran-Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, since Iran is a Shi'ite republic.

References

  1. 1 2 Muhammad Reza, Yusefi; Mohammadali, Rezaee Esfahani (2013). "Objectives of Islamic Awakening in Quran's Viewpoint". Islamic Revolution Research (in Persian). 10 (33). Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran.
  2. ↑ Mudhoon, Loay (2006-07-23). "Die Hisbollah in der arabischen Misstrauensfalle". Deutsche Welle (in German). Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  3. ↑ "Jordan's Abdullah concerned Iraq may tilt toward Tehran". NBC News . 2004-12-09. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  4. ↑ "Hardball with Chris Matthews:King Abdullah II of Jordan". NBC News. 7 December 2008.
  5. ↑ "Iraq, Jordan See Threat To Election From Iran". The Washington Post . 8 December 2004.
  6. ↑ "Religion" (PDF). Administrative Department of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 1992. p. 2.
  7. ↑ "Azerbaijan". CIA Factbook . 9 May 2023.
  8. 1 2 "Emerging Shia "Crescent" of Power in the Core of the Middle East". Gulf/2000 Project . 2009.
  9. ↑ "Analysis - Hezbollah's Syria victory risks wider Sunni-Shi'ite conflict". Reuters . 6 June 2013. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
  10. ↑ بیانات در مراسم بیست و ششمین سالگرد رحلت امام خمینی (رحمه‌الله) [Statements of the Ceremony of the 26th Anniversary of the Death of Imam Khomeini (May Allah Have Mercy on Him)]. farsi.khamenei.ir (in Persian). 2015-06-04. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  11. ↑ "Iran's Rouhani urges Muslim countries to unite". euronews. December 27, 2015.
  12. ↑ Chomsky 2012 , pp. 84–86
  13. ↑ Chomsky 2012 , p. 266
  14. ↑ "Muhammad bin Salman gambles on intervention abroad and radical economic change at home. But forget about democracy". The Economist . 9 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "Iran: We have established 'resistance cells' across Middle East - Middle East". Israel National News.
  16. ↑ Kazemzadeh, Masoud (2020). "5:The sources of the Middle East's crises and American grand strategy". Iran's Foreign Policy: Elite Factionalism, Ideology, the Nuclear Weapons Program, and the United States. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017: Routledge. pp. 75–77. ISBN   978-0-367-49545-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  17. ↑ Kazemzadeh, Masoud (2020). "5:The sources of the Middle East's crises and American grand strategy". Iran's Foreign Policy: Elite Factionalism, Ideology, the Nuclear Weapons Program, and the United States. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017: Routledge. p. 78. ISBN   978-0-367-49545-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Qutrib, Hussain Ibrahim (2016). "Useful Syria" and Demographic Changes in Syria (PDF) (Report). Riyadh: King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. Retrieved 2024-06-07.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.