Word: sunni
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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When strict confessional differences are considered, the pull of Iranian- style fundamentalism appears to be greatly exaggerated. The overwhelming majority of Central Asian Muslims, including the ethnically Persian peoples of Tajikistan, follow the Sunni Islam observed in Saudi Arabia and most of the Muslim world. A true religious revival in Central Asia would probably produce an Islamic state more like Pakistan than Iran, which holds to the more extreme fundamentalist Shi'ite dogma...
...even worse if Saddam were toppled by an American- supported Kurdish-Shi'ite rebellion. Far from clasping hands in a new regime, the guerrillas would be more likely to wage a bloody civil war for supremacy -- and not only against each other. They might join in slaughtering the Sunni Muslims in central Iraq from whom Saddam has drawn the elite of his regime. "It would make Kuwaiti brutality against the Palestinians ((who supported Iraqi occupation or were suspected of doing so)) seem mild," says a senior British diplomat...
...religious dictatorship would not sit well even among Algeria's fundamentalists, mostly Sunnis who do not exalt clerics to the same degree that Iran's Shi'ites do today. "The concept of theocracy is not something which has roots in Sunni society," says Professor Mary-Jane Deeb of American University's School of International Service in Washington. Algeria's former colonial ties to France also give the country a Western complexion that cannot be easily erased. Most Algerians speak French, many are exposed to European culture through French television and have relatives among their millions of compatriots now living...
...help overthrow Saddam Hussein. Makeshift camps have been set up near Saudi and Kuwaiti border towns for thousands of Shi'ite refugees. While the world's attention is focused on the tragedy of the Kurds, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah has agreed in principle to let anti-Saddam Iraqis, mostly Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, set up training sites as a base for infiltrating Iraq. The Saudis are "much more committed to overthrowing Saddam Hussein than the allies are," says Muwafaq al-Rubai of the Shi'ite al-Dawa party...
...Kurds' ethnic roots reach back thousands of years to the dawn of Mesopotamia. They were not actually called Kurds until the 7th century, when most of them converted to Islam. Numbering between 14 million and 28 million, most Kurds are devout Sunni Muslims who speak a western Iranian language related to Farsi. Kurdistan has no official borders, but stretches from the Zagros Mountains in Iran through parts of Iraq, Syria and eastern Turkey. Most Kurds today are farmers who live in small villages noted for their competitive clan structure and unruliness. They have at times even earned a reputation...