Another factor was that the Islamic Republic’s ideology began revolving less around pan-Islamist ideas and more distinctly around Ayatollah Khomeini’s concept of wilayat al-faqih (or ‘rule of the jurisprudent’), which hailed from a specifically Shi‘a tradition and was less compatible with Sunnism. One of them was Iran’s own domestic politics and the sense that the clerical faction associated with Ayatollah Montazeri, which was inclined to forge alliances with Sunni Islamists, was being marginalised in Iran. Several factors explained this newfound caution. Yet, by the early to mid 1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood started to distance itself from the Islamic Republic of Iran. The early stage of the Revolution was a time marked by strong ideological and social bonds between Shi‘a and Sunni Islamism. As a result, the Islamic Republic invited Muslim Brotherhood delegations to come to visit Tehran. But it was also because some of the leading Iranian revolutionaries drew intellectual inspiration and references from Brotherhood ideologues such as Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb, whose books they translated into Persian and made Iranian activists read. This was partially because of the coming to power of clerics who expressed a willingness to implement Islamic law, thus coming close to the Muslim Brotherhood’s own idea of what an Islamic state should look like. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mixed ReactionĪlthough some of its branches would later grow critical of Tehran, the Muslim Brotherhood was key amongst the Sunni Islamist groups which initially applauded the Iranian Revolution.

Indeed, even as this may appear surprising in a contemporary context marked by Sunni-Shi‘a sectarian tensions, the Iranian Revolution inspired, and sometimes even empowered, Sunni Islamist clerics and groups who viewed it as an Islamic – rather than narrowly Shi‘a – achievement. Yet this focus on the relationship between the Islamic Republic and Shi‘a across the world obscures not only the complex dynamics which typify transnational Shi‘a politics, but also the impact which the revolution had on many Sunnis in the Middle East. The global impact of the Islamic Revolution has generated much academic and policy attention, especially with respect to how it spurred the growth of militant Shi‘a Islamist groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Source: Tehran University Central LibraryĪlthough forty years have now passed since the downfall of the Shah, Iran’s 1979 Revolution continues to be the subject of much scholarly discussion. When asked why they converted, they answered that they converted to Shea’ism in order to attain Ahlul-Bayt friendship,” Sistani accounts, and “I was telling them that Sunni Imams (four Sunni Scholars) had defended Ahlul-Bayt.By Mohammad Ataie, Raphaël Lefèvre, Toby Matthiesen Cover of al-Shahid magazine, an Arabic-language magazine discussing pan-Islamic affairs published in Tehran after the revolution.

“During Saddam’s era, I saw many Sunnis’ conversion to Shea’ism. Sistani also points to Sunni legal issues and says that “we are united in Kaaba (Holy Shrine), prayer, and fasting.” We do not discriminate between Arabs and Kurds, and Islam has collected all of us ,” he asserts. “We should attend Sunnis’ Friday prayers more than Shiite’s. “As I have said before, Shiites should not call Sunnis their brethren, but their ‘souls.’ “Shiites should defend Sunnis’ social and political rights before defending their own rights, and we call for unity,” Ayatollah Sinstani adds. Sistani’s message, also sent to first Conference of Sunni and Shiite Scholars, asserts that “ this kind of conferences are highly important, since they help Shiites and Sunnis find out that there is no real difference between their beliefs, and the difference simply is on legal (Fiqh) issues.”

He expresses his surprise that how the enemy could have succeeded to divide Islamic sects. “I love everyone, and this religion is the religion of love,” he adds.

“There is no real difference between Shiite and Sunni beliefs, and I am the servant of all Iraqis ,” he emphasizes. Recently, with the outbreak of unrest in Iraq, he has reissued the message.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraqi Shiite marja issued a landmark message on Shiite-Sunni unity. Great Iraqi Shiite cleric (Marja) has stressed that Shiites should assume the Sunnis as their souls.

Shia sunni unity quotes