Is ISIS Shia or Sunni?

One of the single most important factors in ISIS's resurgence is the conflict between Iraq's largest two Arab religious groups: Shias and Sunnis. read more

ISIS follows wahhabism in its ultra form - a sect of sunni Islam. Sunni Islam is divided into many sects - Hanafi, Barelvi, Shafi, Hambali, Deobandi, Wahhabis, etc. You can’t understand ISIS If you don’t Know the history of wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and if you don’t know Abd al-Wahhab. read more

ISIS fighters themselves are Sunnis, and the tension between the two groups is a powerful recruiting tool for ISIS. In the most basic theological terms, the Sunni-Shia split in Islam originated with a controversy over who would take power after the Prophet Mohammed's death. read more

“ISIS was a tsunami that swept away the Sunnis,” said Sheik Ghazi Mohammed Hamoud, a Sunni tribal leader in the northwestern Iraqi town of Rabia, which was briefly overrun by the Islamic State in 2014 and is now under Kurdish control. read more