Feb 11, 2015

Helping Shiite groups in their military operations against Israel or the United States has always been a source of discord among Salafists. Radical Salafists consider both Shiites and Jews the enemies of Islam. But anti-Shiite enmity is often stronger than that against Jews among Salafists, who consider the Shiites a fifth column and thus see "damage" by Shiites as more serious than that caused by others.

In the latest chapter of this contentious relationship, a number of Salafist clerics praised the deaths of Shiite leaders in an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian Golan Heights on Jan. 18. Among the most prominent of these Salafist clerics is Mohammed al-Barrak, a professor at Umm al-Qura and a member of the Muslim Scholars Association in Saudi Arabia. He tweeted: “When the [Shiites] die at the hands of the Jews we thank God that he answered our prayers,” and “The damage inflicted by the [Shiites] on the Muslims is more than that inflicted by the Jews.” He also criticized Hamas for issuing a statement of condolence to the leadership of Hezbollah after the event. Barrak said that the statement “shows a theological deficiency within [Hamas], which is not fighting the Jews according to doctrine.” He asked Hamas’ leaders not to be courteous at the expense of doctrine and the community, adding, “No matter what the [Shiites] gave to Hamas, it does not justify appeasing them or supporting them.”

Comparing Shiites to Jews, Barrak said over Twitter: “Shiites are more harmful [to the Muslims] than the Jews because the [Shiites'] crimes in four years have exceeded all the Jews’ crimes in 60 years,” adding, “Shiites are the Muslims’ worst enemy because they are polytheists in terms of belief and religion and because their religion is creation of the Jews, making [the Shiites] worse enemies than the Western infidels or the Jews loyal to the State of Israel.”

Most Sunni radicals believe that Shiism emerged as a result of a Jewish infiltration by a legendary character named Ibn Sabaa. According to them, he was a Jew who falsely claimed to be Muslim in order to introduce Jewish beliefs to Islam and succeeded in forming the Shiite sect. According to the legend, the Shiites are considered a fifth column. The Shiites are thus blamed for the major defeats in the history of Islamic confrontation with the enemies of Islam — including the Crusades, the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate and the control by the Tatar armies over Islamic countries. Sunni historical texts include dozens of stories woven around the role of Shiites in those events.

This hard-line Salafist attitude is due to a doctrinal dispute among Salafists about the jurisprudential rule regarding cooperation with "misguided groups" such as the Shiites. Most Salafists, especially the radicals, contend that cooperating with Shiites is completely prohibited because the Shiites follow a "bidaa" (heretical belief), while the followers of other religions, such as Jews and Christians, don’t represent a bidaa position within the Islamic religion. Thus, a number of Salafist clerics, including Ibn Hanbal, issued a religious edict permitting the acceptance of help from "infidels" in cases where there is a benefit. However, he still ruled that it was forbidden to use the help of those who follow a bidaa, like the Shiites.