Role of Religion in Building Society and Conflicts: A Study of Sunni-Shia Conflict in Yemen

Running head: RELIGION
Religion
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1RELIGION
The aim of the following essay is to look at the role of religion in building up society and
many conflicts that have arisen within the society for broader areas. The topic that has been
chosen for this paper is the conflicts between two sects of Islam- Sunni and Shia. The probable
outcome was that of the war of Yemen. This is a civil war and it began in the year 2015. The war
is still going on and it has destroyed large portions of the country. This topic has been chosen to
show the influence of religion behind such civil wars that takes away lives of many.
The differences between the two main sects of Islam began a long time ago. The Shia
Muslims are mainly on the minority and only about 15% belong to the total Muslim population
all around the world (Hokayem and Roberts: 157). Therefore, it is very crucial that The
beginning of this split between the Sunni and Shia Muslims was very much violent. The two
communities of the same religion have lived in peace for a long time now. This conflict between
these two communities of Islam has been in this situation for mainly two reasons. One is gaining
the dominance over the local politics and other is stabilizing a proper relationship between other
Islamic countries and Western world (Hokayem and Roberts: 157).
The countries in which both communities live are Yemen, Iran, Iraq and some others.
However, Yemen has been one of the countries in the recent times where this conflict has been
seen on a larger scale. There might have been some disputes or discrepancies between these two
religious groups of Islam. Evidently, this conflict has been converted into a religious war. It is
because the old issues between these two sections of Islam have come back so members
belonging to this group feel enraged (Sharp: 45).
The preliminary split took place between the two sections of Islam after 632 AD, after the
death of the Prophet Muhammad. The main factor that was responsible for this split was the