TRIBALISM 227of our customers, Iraqi and foreign alike, who depended very much on
Babylon Inc. and its true 24/7, 365-days-per-year philosophy.
To the average American, Iraq’s Sunnis and Shi’ites appear and
behave remarkably alike and would seem to have more in common than
not. Serbs and Croats also strike outsiders as having more in common with
each other than with anyone else on the planet, but that did not prevent
them from hating and slaughtering one another. There are books devoted
to explaining the differences between Sunnis and Shi’ites and are worth
reading for those interested in understanding the history behind today’s
conflicts. I will very briefly explain the differences between Shi’ites and
Sunnis, since knowing that saga even in very basic terms is key to under-
standing what’s happening today in the Middle East (and beyond). It will
also help to explain what happened to three of my employees—and why—
when they were captured by dangerous Islamic extremists in Mosul.
When the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, died in 632, a
violent dispute arose among the growing religion’s faithful over who should
succeed him. Those who believed Muhammad wanted his title passed to
his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, went on to form the Shia branch of the
religion. The word Shi’ite derives from the term Shiat-Ali, meaning “par-
tisans of Ali.”^1 Shi’ites have generally been an oppressed minority in the
Muslim world. Those who believed the Prophet Muhammad died without
appointing a successor regard themselves as the true adherents to the
Sunnah, or the Prophet’s tradition. Sunnis make up about 85 percent of the
world’s 1.5 billion Muslims and are led by Saudi Arabia.^2 Saudi Arabia has
historically promoted an extreme form of Sunni Islam called Wahhabism,
which underpins beliefs and actions by extremists like al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Iran is the dominant Shi’ite country, and there are also Shi’ite majorities
in Iraq and Bahrain. Iran extends its often malign influence across the
Middle East through its Shi’ite allies and proxies in Iraq, Syria (Bashar al-
Assad’s Alawite Shi’ite regime), and Lebanon (Hezbollah). Understanding
the Shi’ite-Sunni schism also helps explain why the United States found
itself on the same side as (Shi’ite) Iran and Syria—two regimes it otherwise
opposes—in the effort to eradicate (Sunni) ISIS. Our enemy’s enemy is
sometimes, at least temporarily, our ally.