Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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The religious sphere in Rural Damascus Governorate is poised to become a political battleground as both the regime and the exiled opposition seek to court a new rising group of religious leaders.
Shia and Sunni endowments have gone different ways since Saddam Hussein's fall, and the Iraqi state is poised to take advantage where it can.
The Syrian civil war has reshaped Sunni Islamic identity in the country. As a result, the regime will struggle to use religion to enhance its own power and legitimacy.
The rise in Salafi militancy in Lebanon is not only due to the spillover of the Syrian war, but also to the Sunni elite’s failure at tackling the grievances of their co-religionists.
The ethnic and sectarian power-sharing systems in Lebanon and Iraq are in crisis.
The official Muslim religious establishments in Arab countries give governments a major role in religious life, but these institutions are rarely mere regime mouthpieces and can be difficult to steer in a particular direction.
The denial of democratic opportunities, the rise of successful violent movements, and the shifting regional and Islamist contexts make it likely that the coming period of Islamist politics will be dominated by non–Muslim Brotherhood organizations.
While Iran’s foreign policy writ large exists mostly beyond the confines of confessionalism, this much is clear: as Iran’s neighborhood has become more sectarian, so has its behavior.
Hizb al-Nour is not an Islamist party, at least in its current form; for Salafis, politics is just a means to an end—a way to protect and reinforce their religious movement.
The struggle between Saudi Arabia and the self-proclaimed Islamic State is also a contest for the soul of Wahhabism.