Divisions deepened by Saddam's death

[GarzaUK]

This is exactly what I didn't want to happen.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Divisions deepened by Saddam's death

A week after Saddam Hussein stood on the scaffold at Camp Justice in Baghdad and was taunted during his final moments on Earth by followers of the militant Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, none of the emotions that were aroused have faded.

On the contrary, the revulsion which was felt in the West and among Sunni Muslims has grown even greater.

Many Sunni Arabs are outraged by the timing of the execution
Yet so has the sense of triumph among Shias in Iraq and elsewhere.

In death as in life, Saddam continues to divide his enemies.

His execution has acted like an explosion along the seismic fault-line between the two leading forms of Islam.

Under Saddam, who was himself a Sunni and ruled through the Sunni minority, Iraq counted as a Sunni country even though the clear majority of the population was Shia.

When he invaded Iran in 1980, soon after the Shia Islamic revolution against the Shah, the Iran-Iraq war was seen by many people in the Muslim world as a Sunni-Shia one.

 

[Lightdemon]

I just wanted to add to the significance of the timing of execution of Saddam.

There's one very important difference in the celebration in Eid ul-Fitr, which is celebrated after Ramadan (the month of fasting).

Shiites fast for 30 days, and Sunnis fast for 29 days. This is because one of the group prefers the scientific calendar, and the other prefer to use actual siting to confirm the dates, such as sightings of the moon.

This year, Sunnis celebrated Eid ul-Fitr on the day Saddam was executed. However, Shiites celebrate Eid ul-Fitr the day after. Now, it is very important to note that Iraqi law says that no executions may take place on this sacred holiday. But you see, the Shia is making one thing very clear. Iraq is no longer a Sunni state, they have overthrown the Sunni leader. They are trying say, we are going follow Shia rules now. And this is very significant in a cultural sense because it shows you where they draw thier legitamacy from.