Religious and Spiritual Origins and Historical Conditions of the Formation of the Modern Sunni-Shiite Conflict in the Middle East

Abstract

The aim of the article is to highlight the historical conditions and spiritual origins of the modern Sunni-Shiite conflict in the Arab countries. The research methodology is based on acombination of general scientific, special - historical and interdisciplinary research methods, taking intoaccount the principles of impartiality, systematicity, historicism, human centrism and scientificity. Thescientific novelty lies in the author's attempt to reveal the main historical and spiritual-dogmaticorigins of the modern Sunni-Shiite conflict in modern Arab countries with a view to its future solution.In writing this article, we have drawn on a wide range of sources of scientific literature and historicalsources, including the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Conclusions. The Sunni-Shiite conflict has deephistorical roots and dates back to the second half of the seventh century. It is then that Islam splits into two branches of Sunnis and Shiites. The fundamental difference between these areas is the differentattitudes to the basic dogmatic principles of Islamic doctrine. Yes, Sunnis call for strict adherence to the Qur'an and Sunnah. In turn, Shiites introduce into the spiritual tradition, in addition to the Qur'an and Sunnah, the legends and sayings of Caliph Ali (Ahbar) and the doctrine of imams - the spiritualleaders of the community. Today, it is clear that the current dogmatic differences between Sunnis and Shiites are not significant, which lays the groundwork for resolving Sunni-Shiite controversies at thelevel of the basic tenets of Islamic doctrine.