Word: sunniness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...gulf states that fear their brawling neighbor the most. As the world's only Shi'ite-ruled Muslim country, Iran seeks to export its brand of Islamic revolution throughout the region and to overthrow the Sunni-ruled Muslim regimes in countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The two religious factions have been fierce rivals for centuries. Painfully vulnerable to Iranian subversion, the Sunni gulf nations have been understandably reluctant to alienate Tehran...
While they honor Ali, the Sunnis do not venerate their imams as divine intercessors. Sunni imams mainly conduct community prayers. Each Sunni (from sunna, "the tradition of the Prophet") believes he can have a direct relationship with God. While the Sunnis scorn emotional outbursts and engage in private, meditative piety, Shi'ites are more likely to indulge in displays of religious ardor. Indeed, the Sunnis, who consider themselves the orthodoxy, did not accept Shi'ism as a legitimate school of Islam until...
Among some Arab states on the Persian Gulf, the relationship between Sunni rulers and Shi'ite subjects remains volatile. After all, in the eyes of the Shi'ites, any regime not under the rule of the Prophet's true heirs is an abomination. Indeed, Bahrain, which is more than 70% Shi'ite, defused a 1981 coup attempt allegedly inspired by Tehran. Kuwait, which is 24% Shi'ite, has been victimized by a wave of bombings believed to be the work of pro-Iranian terrorists...
Nearly all Iranian Moslems belong to the Shiite minority. Shiites have been at odds for 1300 years with the Sunni sect, which the Saudi royal family follows and which makes up 85 percent of the world's 850 million Moslems...
Saudi Arabia's rulers follow Abdul-Wahhab, who founded an austere Sunni sect more than 200 years...