Islamic State Kills Shi’ite Cleric in Damascus
ISIS — the Islamic State — is opposed not only to non-Muslims (Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists), but also to those who profess a brand of Islam that ISIS deems illegitimate. For the fanatical Sunnis of ISIS, this means the Shi’a, whom many Sunnis, even those outside ISIS, regard as Infidels (kuffar).
These Sunnis describe Shi’a as “Rafidite dogs.” “Rafidi” means “rejectors”, and here the “rejectors” referred to are the Shi’a, who “rejected” the caliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar. Some Sunni groups, especially those whom Salafi or Wahhabi interpretations influence, and who rely on scholars such as Ibn Taymiyyah, view Shia doctrines — such as the accusation that the Quran is incomplete, reverence for Imams, and cursing of the Companions (Sahaba) — as “vile and evil” acts of apostasy or polytheism.
The Sunni hatred of the Shi’a has led to wholesale killings of Shi’a believers. In Pakistan, for example, there is a Sunni group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, that attacks Shia mosques and madrasas, and kills Shi’a individuals. According to Stanford University’s “Mapping Militant Organizations,” as of February 2012, the “primary methods” of Sipah-e-Sahaba were targeted killings of prominent Shi’as – including political activists, doctors, businessmen, engineers, and intellectuals. The Shi’a have sometimes fought back, and assassinated some of the Sipah-e-Sahaba leaders, including Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in 1990, Isar ul-Qasmi in 1991, Zia ul-Rehman Farooqi in 1997, and Azam Tariq in 2003.
In Afghanistan, the Sunni fanatics of the Taliban have killed the Shi’a, bombing their mosques, killing them at checkpoints, and randomly selecting Shi’a for execution whenever the spirit moves them. The Taliban have repeatedly carried out massacres of the Hazara, an ethnic minority whose members are Shi’a. The Shia have been subject to at least ten mass killings. The worst of those massacres was carried out in August 1998 at Mazar-e Sharif, where the Taliban massacred an estimated 8,000 Hazara civilians. Many thousands more Shi’a Hazara died between 2002 and 2022, with both the Taliban and ISIS targeting unarmed civilians in mosques and schools. In addition, the Taliban have been systematically forcing Hazaras off their land and homes.
The ISIS killing of an important Shi’a cleric in Damascus on May 1 is just the latest example of Sunnis killing Shi’a religious figures, as they have done in the past in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Robert Spencer wrote about this briefly here, and more on the cleric’s assassination can be found here: “ISIS claims responsibility for killing of Shiite imam in Damascus car bombing,” The New Region, May 8, 2026: Continue reading For ISIS (Sunni Muslims) Shi’a are “Rafidite dogs.”
