Table of Contents
What is the difference between Sunni Shia and Kurds?
Kurds who follow Shia Islam live in Southeastern Iraq and central Iraq. They are called Fayi Kurds. The main differences between the Sunni and Kurds is that the Sunnis are people who follow Sunni Islam which is a branch of Islam. Whereas Kurds are an ethnic group of people who may or may not follow Sunni Islam.
Was Syria divided?
Syria was divided into four districts: Damascus, Homs, Palestine and Jordan.
What is the difference between Alawite and Sunni?
Sunnis believe that succession to the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632) rightly followed the line of his most able and pious companions. Alawites follow the Shiite interpretation, claiming that succession should have been based on bloodlines.
Is Syria a country?
Syria, country located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Asia. Its area includes territory in the Golan Heights that has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Who rules Syria?
Bashar al-Assad
| Marshal Bashar al-Assad | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Bashar Hafez al-Assad 11 September 1965 Damascus, Damascus Governorate, Syria |
| Nationality | Syrian |
| Political party | Syrian Ba’ath Party |
What do the Alawites believe in?
Named after Ali, Alawites believe he was divine, one of many manifestations of God in a line with Adam, Jesus, Mohammad, Socrates, Plato and some pre-Islamic sages from ancient Persia.
Is Kurdish mutually intelligible?
Kurdish is divided into three or four groups, where dialects from different groups are not mutually intelligible without acquired bilingualism.
Do Syrians drink alcohol?
Alcohol in Syria is not banned as it is in some Muslim countries. Nor is it reserved for the upper class elite or religious minorities. Syria, Lebanon and Iraq have long produced their own alcoholic beverages, from beer to wine to the anise-based arak.
Why are Alawites and Sunnis fighting each other in Syria?
The reason for the tension is primarily political rather than religious: Top positions in Assad’s army are held by Alawite officers, while most of the rebels from the Free Syrian Army and other opposition groups come from Syria’s Sunni majority.
Is the Syrian Civil War between Sunnis and Shi’ites?
The war today has in many ways become a war fought between the majority Sunnis, on one side, and Shi’ites with the support of minority Alawites on the other. Alawites are adherents of a syncretistic belief with close affinity to Shi’ite Islam and, importantly, the Assad family is Alawite.
Are Alawites Shia or Sunni?
Alawites were never part of the mainstream Shiite structures. It wasn’t until 1974 that the Alawites were officially recognized for the first time as Shiite Muslims, by Musa Sadr, a Lebanese (Twelver) Shiite cleric. Moreover, Alawites are ethnic Arabs, while Iranians are Persians.
Why does Assad have so many Sunnis in his government?
However, Assad also drew the support of powerful Sunni business families. At one point, Sunnis constituted the majority of the ruling Baath Party and rank-and-file army and held high government positions. Nevertheless, Alawite families over time cemented their hold on the security apparatus, securing privileged access to state power.