The Pulse | Society | South Asia

Is Khamenei’s Killing Narrowing the Shia-Sunni divide in South Asia?

Arab-Iran conflicts have traditionally roiled Shia-Sunni relations in South Asia. Things are a little different this time.

A poster carrying a photograph of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with a slogan calling for Shia-Sunni brotherhood, hangs above a street at the Beckbagan Crossing, a Sunni majority neighborhood in Kolkata, India.

At Beckbagan crossing, a Sunni Muslim-dominated neighborhood in Kolkata, the largest city in eastern India, a poster hangs above a street. It carries a photograph of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with a slogan “Iran Se Sadaa Ayi/ Shia-Sunni Bhai Bhai” (Echoes are coming from Iran, Shia and Sunnis are brethren) written below.

Indeed, in a rare moment of unity between the two major sects of Islam, which are more often than not at loggerheads, Shias and Sunnis are rallying together in India. Kolkata has witnessed a significant Sunni participation in the protests following the killing of Khamenei by the U.S.-Israeli forces.

In a protest organized by the All Bengal Minority Youth Federation, a predominantly Sunni organization, in Kolkata last week, Shia and Sunni participants carried portraits of Khamenei, a revered Shia figure, and chanted slogans against the U.S. and Israel.

Sunni participation in protests against the killing of a Shia religious figure is significant. It comes at a time when Shiite Iran is targeting several Sunni-majority Arab countries — Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, among others — in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

These Arab monarchies have strategic ties with the U.S.

For years, the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the Shia-majority Islamic Republic of Iran have remained engaged in a proxy war, and also, in a competition for the leadership of Muslims of the world. Iran’s conflict with Arab countries has exacerbated the sectarian divide within the Muslim community in different parts of the world in the past.

However, things are a little different this time in South Asia.

“Muslims are not looking at the attack on Iran through the lens of internal sectarian conflict. They are seeing it as a dangerous assault on Islam by Western imperialism that is spearheaded by the U.S. and Israel,” Abdul Matin, a political scientist at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University, told The Diplomat. This war on Iran is being seen as a continuation of the Palestinian conflict. Iran’s solidarity with Palestine has earned it the solidarity of the Sunnis, he added.

Kolkata was no exception. In northern India, the federally-administered Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is predominantly Sunni. But the valley witnessed large-scale protests in which Sunnis participated in large numbers.

Protests also took place in northern Indian cities like Delhi and Lucknow and southern cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru. These demonstrations largely mourned Khamenei’s death, condemned the strikes as violations of international law, and expressed solidarity with Iran.

“Lucknow has never seen such huge crowds. From across communities (Shias, Sunnis, ahle hadith, and all other sects),” wrote a journalist on X.

Those speaking for pro-Iran solidarity are also highlighting how Khamenei issued a fatwa in 2010 prohibiting insult to any revered figure of the Sunnis.

The Indian government initially tried to curb the protests. In areas the administration deemed sensitive, they enforced temporary restrictions on public gatherings and movements and deployed security forces. The internet was slowed down. In some cases, protesters were arrested or slapped with police cases for unlawful assembly.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued alerts to all state governments about the risks of unrest linked to the Iran crisis, asking them to heighten vigilance.

The Shia-Sunni divide has its origin in the period following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE. Those who wanted the Prophet’s cousin/son-in-law, Ali, to be the successor were later known as Shias, while those who wanted the leadership to be chosen through consensus among scholars have come to be known as Sunnis. This is the main schism in Islam, which solidified after the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.

Many scholars argue that in recent decades, especially from the time of the Arab Spring and the beginning of the Syrian civil war, that divide has been shaped more by Iran’s conflict with the Arab world than by theological doctrines.

Approximately 85-90 percent of the world’s Muslims are Sunnis. In South Asia, too, Sunnis form the overwhelming majority of Muslims.

The situation is no different in Bangladesh, an overwhelmingly Sunni majority country. During a protest in Dhaka on March 1, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s principal Islamist party and a Sunni political force, condemned the attack on Iran as “not only against Iran and the Muslim world; it is against democracy, humanity and human rights.”

According to Altaf Parvez, a Dhaka-based researcher and commentator on South Asian developments, a large majority of the common people are deeply anguished by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. Many people from Bangladesh work in the Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to earn a living, he pointed out. Despite that, most Bangladeshis are exhibiting no sympathy for the Arab monarchies—in private or social conversation and social media posts. Instead, many are celebrating Iran’s attacks on those Gulf countries.

“The Palestine conflict has made it clear that the Gulf countries are acting as puppets of the U.S.-Israel alliance, while Iran’s solitary fight for Palestine has earned it the sympathies of the large majority of Bangladesh’s Muslims,” Parvez told The Diplomat.

Among South Asian nations, Pakistan has historically faced the worst impact of the Saudi-Iran rivalry and proxy war, fueling sectarian violence domestically, often with bloody outcomes. Shias form about 15 percent of Pakistan’s population.

There, the large and violent protests against Khamenei’s killing were led by Shia groups, but Shias were not alone in protesting. Sunni organizations and activists also organized protest marches and issued statements criticizing the attack on Iran.

Pakistani social media handles with large followings shared Khamenei’s statement saying, “If there were no divisions between Shia and Sunni, the Palestinian people would not face such hardships in their homeland.”

Curiously, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called Khamenei a “martyr” despite the country being a strong ally of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

Khamenei’s stand on Palestine has taken his influence well beyond the Shias.

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At Beckbagan crossing, a Sunni Muslim-dominated neighborhood in Kolkata, the largest city in eastern India, a poster hangs above a street. It carries a photograph of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with a slogan “Iran Se Sadaa Ayi/ Shia-Sunni Bhai Bhai” (Echoes are coming from Iran, Shia and Sunnis are brethren) written below.

Indeed, in a rare moment of unity between the two major sects of Islam, which are more often than not at loggerheads, Shias and Sunnis are rallying together in India. Kolkata has witnessed a significant Sunni participation in the protests following the killing of Khamenei by the U.S.-Israeli forces.

In a protest organized by the All Bengal Minority Youth Federation, a predominantly Sunni organization, in Kolkata last week, Shia and Sunni participants carried portraits of Khamenei, a revered Shia figure, and chanted slogans against the U.S. and Israel.

Sunni participation in protests against the killing of a Shia religious figure is significant. It comes at a time when Shiite Iran is targeting several Sunni-majority Arab countries — Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, among others — in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

These Arab monarchies have strategic ties with the U.S.

For years, the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the Shia-majority Islamic Republic of Iran have remained engaged in a proxy war, and also, in a competition for the leadership of Muslims of the world. Iran’s conflict with Arab countries has exacerbated the sectarian divide within the Muslim community in different parts of the world in the past.

However, things are a little different this time in South Asia.

“Muslims are not looking at the attack on Iran through the lens of internal sectarian conflict. They are seeing it as a dangerous assault on Islam by Western imperialism that is spearheaded by the U.S. and Israel,” Abdul Matin, a political scientist at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University, told The Diplomat. This war on Iran is being seen as a continuation of the Palestinian conflict. Iran’s solidarity with Palestine has earned it the solidarity of the Sunnis, he added.

Kolkata was no exception. In northern India, the federally-administered Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is predominantly Sunni. But the valley witnessed large-scale protests in which Sunnis participated in large numbers.

Protests also took place in northern Indian cities like Delhi and Lucknow and southern cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru. These demonstrations largely mourned Khamenei’s death, condemned the strikes as violations of international law, and expressed solidarity with Iran.

“Lucknow has never seen such huge crowds. From across communities (Shias, Sunnis, ahle hadith, and all other sects),” wrote a journalist on X.

Those speaking for pro-Iran solidarity are also highlighting how Khamenei issued a fatwa in 2010 prohibiting insult to any revered figure of the Sunnis.

The Indian government initially tried to curb the protests. In areas the administration deemed sensitive, they enforced temporary restrictions on public gatherings and movements and deployed security forces. The internet was slowed down. In some cases, protesters were arrested or slapped with police cases for unlawful assembly.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued alerts to all state governments about the risks of unrest linked to the Iran crisis, asking them to heighten vigilance.

The Shia-Sunni divide has its origin in the period following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE. Those who wanted the Prophet’s cousin/son-in-law, Ali, to be the successor were later known as Shias, while those who wanted the leadership to be chosen through consensus among scholars have come to be known as Sunnis. This is the main schism in Islam, which solidified after the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.

Many scholars argue that in recent decades, especially from the time of the Arab Spring and the beginning of the Syrian civil war, that divide has been shaped more by Iran’s conflict with the Arab world than by theological doctrines.

Approximately 85-90 percent of the world’s Muslims are Sunnis. In South Asia, too, Sunnis form the overwhelming majority of Muslims.

The situation is no different in Bangladesh, an overwhelmingly Sunni majority country. During a protest in Dhaka on March 1, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s principal Islamist party and a Sunni political force, condemned the attack on Iran as “not only against Iran and the Muslim world; it is against democracy, humanity and human rights.”

According to Altaf Parvez, a Dhaka-based researcher and commentator on South Asian developments, a large majority of the common people are deeply anguished by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. Many people from Bangladesh work in the Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to earn a living, he pointed out. Despite that, most Bangladeshis are exhibiting no sympathy for the Arab monarchies—in private or social conversation and social media posts. Instead, many are celebrating Iran’s attacks on those Gulf countries.

“The Palestine conflict has made it clear that the Gulf countries are acting as puppets of the U.S.-Israel alliance, while Iran’s solitary fight for Palestine has earned it the sympathies of the large majority of Bangladesh’s Muslims,” Parvez told The Diplomat.

Among South Asian nations, Pakistan has historically faced the worst impact of the Saudi-Iran rivalry and proxy war, fueling sectarian violence domestically, often with bloody outcomes. Shias form about 15 percent of Pakistan’s population.

There, the large and violent protests against Khamenei’s killing were led by Shia groups, but Shias were not alone in protesting. Sunni organizations and activists also organized protest marches and issued statements criticizing the attack on Iran.

Pakistani social media handles with large followings shared Khamenei’s statement saying, “If there were no divisions between Shia and Sunni, the Palestinian people would not face such hardships in their homeland.”

Curiously, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called Khamenei a “martyr” despite the country being a strong ally of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

Khamenei’s stand on Palestine has taken his influence well beyond the Shias.

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, the author of two non-fiction books on India’s ultra-Left and the Hindu right, writes and comments on India’s politics, environment, human rights and culture.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Gaza War

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Palestine

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