The Historical Roles of Jihād in Sunnī-Shīʿī Relations

ABSTRACT This article provides a taxonomy of the ways in which jihād and jihād propaganda have been used in medieval Islamic history and in modern times within the framework of Sunnī-Shīʿī relations. It identifies five main relevant patterns of usage: I) Sunnī jihād against a Shīʿī foreign power; II) Shīʿī jihād against a Sunnī foreign power; III) Shīʿī use of jihād propaganda against a foreign power – usually a Christian power – as a means to gain legitimacy among Sunnīs; IV) Sunnī-Shīʿī cooperation and solidarity through jihād against a foreign power; and V) Sunnī jihād against an internal, Shīʿī enemy. It then discusses the implications of the continuity of these patterns over many centuries for the understanding of Sunnī-Shīʿī relations generally and critiques some aspects of recent scholarship on “sectarianization.”