Shia identity is rooted in victimhood over the killing of Husayn, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, in the seventh century and a long history of marginalization by the Sunni majority. Islam's dominant ...

The religious differences that contribute to Iraq's sectarian violence have deep historical roots. We asked University of Michigan professor of Middle East history, Juan Cole, when the split took ...

The division between Islam's Shiite minority and the Sunni majority is deepening across the Middle East. The split occurred soon after the death... The Origins Of The Shiite-Sunni Split Editor's Note: ...

Sunni-Shia antagonism, a root cause of violence across the Middle East in recent decades, has diminished lately. But provocation by either side could undo this progress, so a Saudi-owned television ...

Commentator Anisa Mehdi is Iraqi American. And she says the current sectarian violence is part of the legacy of Saddam Hussein. ANISA MEHDI (Commentator): For my dad's generation being Sunni or Shia, ...

An excerpt from Geneive Abdo's new book. Editor’s Note: Reprinted from The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi’a-Sunni Divide by ...

Uh, isn't John McCain supposed to be the guy who knows who's what in terms of foreign policy, and specifically in the Middle East? So how it is exactly he thinks that Iran is arming al Qaeda? During a ...