The Sunni-Shia split goes back to the beginning of Islam and has often been violent throughout Islamic history. The perception of an insult to Islam has all too often led to demands for the death of the offender, and if legal authorities don’t take action, mobs riot and call for lynching. In Western countries, such perceived insults have resulted increasingly in the vilification, demonization, and marginalization of the offender, indicating the West’s growing tacit acceptance of Islamic blasphemy law, which forbids criticism of Islam as part of its attempt to establish Islam and Muslims as supreme. Any other faith besides Islam can withstand criticism.
Inflaming the sectarian division and violence even more, al-Azhar in Egypt denounced the insults against Aisha.
“Lebanon Deescalates Sectarian Clashes After Tense Night,” Associated Press, June 7, 2020:
BEIRUT — The Lebanese military on Sunday said overnight riots and sectarian tensions in central Beirut and other areas left dozens of people injured, including 25 soldiers, and warned that the clashes had endangered national unity.
Riot police fired tear gas at protesters, after Saturday’s attempt to reboot anti-government demonstrations quickly degenerated into rioting and stone-throwing confrontations between opposing camps. Lebanese troops deployed to separate the rival groups, and the tensions eventually subsided before dawn Sunday.
The Lebanese Red Cross said 48 demonstrators were wounded, 11 of whom were hospitalized.
Shooting broke out in several areas around Lebanon late Saturday after videos circulated on social media showing some supporters of Lebanon’s two main Shiite Muslim groups — Hezbollah and Amal — chanting sectarian insults.
Saturday’s protests were the largest since the government last month began gradually easing a lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus. Nationwide protests against Lebanon’s political leaders had erupted on Oct. 17 amid an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, but were eventually put on hold due to the pandemic.
Lebanon’s army — one of the few institutions seen as a uniting force in the deeply-divided country — called Saturday’s clashes “a serious crisis that could have taken us into dangerous turns. What happened undermined national unity, civil peace and would have increased divisions.”
Political and religious leaders issued calls for calm Sunday, after many Sunnis were angered by the online videos of insults against one of the wives of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The schism between Sunni and Shiite in the early days of Islam was deepened when the Prophet Muhammad’s widow, Aisha, fought a battle against the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali, who is one of Shiite Islam’s most revered figures.
Hezbollah and Amal issued statements condemning the type of insults seen in the videos, as did Shiite religious leaders. Sunni leaders also condemned the insults and urged calm…..