Why are sunni and shiites at war?

Answer 1

Personal benefits are the main reason for the discord between the two main sects of Islam. This fight is fueled by the so-called Muslim clergy who have material incentives in keeping the two sects fighting.

It must be noted that reccently, the intensity of Sunni-Shia enmity has almost dropped low to zero. Look around and you wont find any Sunni-Shia fight going on ( except Iraq, of course ). The enmity between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not a Sunni-Shia thing but a political fight.

Answer 2

The are not at war. but Salafi Muslims (like ISIS, Al-Qaede and other extremist groups) are at war with both Shia and Sunni. media Propaganda tries to show Shia and Sunni are at war. but for example in Iran Shia and Sunni are leaving at peace and pray at common mosques.

Answer 3

The Sunnis and Shiites have been religious rivals since the mid-600s C.E. since the First Islamic Civil War or Fitna al-Kubra. Historically, in Iraq, the Sunnis had control after the Shiites lost the First Islamic Civil War and the Shiites were repressed almost consistently for 1300 years. Kurds were largely absent from this since Kurdistan was separately administrated from the Arab-populated areas, assuming that it was even in the same empire.

In terms of the three-way political fighting between Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, and Kurds, this only started when the borders of Iraq were artificially drawn in 1919 to give the British access to petroleum reserves in Basra (in the Shiite-Arab-dominated south) and Mosul (in the Kurd-dominated north). Initially, there were some Kurdish independence movements in the 1920s in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, but all were brutally supressed by the national governments of those countries. As Iraq began to have a more Pro-Arab and Secularist agenda and alignment before and after World War II, the Kurds suffered more and the Shiite Arab situation did not improve from historical intemperance. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Iraqi government committed numerous atrocities against the Kurds (especially), but also against Shiite Arabs, and other religious minorities, including the Anfal Campaign (which is considered a genocide against the Kurds) as well as the Dujail Massacre against Shiite Arabs (which was the primary charge for which Saddam Hussein was hanged in 2006). This violence led to the Kurdish and Shiite Arab uprisings in late 1991, following Iraq's defeat in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Again, the government brutally supressed these uprisings.

With the US invasion and the Iraq War, the governing structure of Iraq was put into flux and the different groups (Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs and Kurds) are now vying for political power. As concerns the current interaction between Sunni Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and Shiite Arabs in Iraq, their fundamental differences are religiosity (how religious they are), tribalism, factionalism, militarism, and historic enmities. The conflict between these groups in modern Iraq is for the most part political, economic, and social (as opposed to religious) even though religious dialogue is often used to excite combatants.

As for the Community Answer, there are numerous inaccuracies. The first is how Iran is portrayed as promoting equality between Sunnis and Shiites. This is incorrect. Sunni Islam as a distinct religion is banned by the government of Iran and Sunnis are forced to attend Shiite mosques because they are denied the right to build their own mosques. The second is the allegation, without support, that ISIL is managed by Mossad or is an Israeli conspiracy. (This allegation was later removed by a Supervisor.) No evidence has ever been proffered by any person nor has this connection suggested by any political adviser who does not have a pre-existing Anti-Israel or Pro-Iranian bias. ISIL is its own animal, but has received monetary donations from Saudi Arabia, from the US and UK (when they masqueraded as part of the Free Syrian Army and through conversion of US Military assets in Iraq), and secretly from Turkey to avoid invasion. Neither Iran nor Israel has supported ISIL.