Identitatea religioasă versus deriva sectară ca factori de potenţare a războaielor civile din Orientul Mijlociu: implozia Ummah şi redefinirea 'alterităţii ostile'

Abstract

This article analyzes the ways in which the Ummah or Islamic community is affected by division and internal conflicts, taking as main example the case of Syria’s conflicts. The research is based on the combination of two theoretical approaches: the Islamic religion’s interpretations from ancient times to the contemporary world, and the analysis of civil wars taking place in the Middle East. The main research question concerns the role of domestic and external factors in shaping the violent civil conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Currently, the Islamic world is affected by civil wars, episodes of state collapse, insurgency and terrorist activity. With the constant involvement of foreign non-islamic powers (USA, Russia, etc.) and regional Islamic powers (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran) and the divisive line between Sunni and Shia Islam, the Ummah does not have any chance, on the short and medium term, to become a unified and coherent community. Civil wars create durable psychological and material barriers among the civilians, based on fear and hatred, while the presence of strong external powers make the likelihood of ending such wars other than by massacres and ethnic or religious cleansing remote and difficult. The conclusions of this investigation are that the Islamic world is more and more splitted according to geopolitical and tribal lines, and that foreign interference by external actors (non-muslim states and muslim ones) contributes to the further radicalization and jihadist trends affecting Middle Eastern societies.