While Muslims describe themselves as the followers of Prophet Muhammad, the holy Quran describes a Muslim as someone who submits themselves to the will of the one Lord who created the heavens and earth and is the master of the day of the judgement. The divisions and sub-divisions into various sects like Sunni (Deobandi, Barelvi, Hanafi etc.), Shia (Twelver, Zaidiyya, Alawite, Ismali etc.) or Sufi (Chisti, Naqsbandi, Mawlawi etc.) are also divisions that are borne to subsequent times, leaderships, underlying tribal affiliations, regions and circumstances that disunite the Ummah (Islamic world) from within.

These internal faultlines and fissures are so deep that the hatred within is often more bitter than with those who are outside the Ummah. The brutal persecution of Yazidis in Iraq, Ahmediyas in Pakistan, Hazaras in Afghanistan, or the Baharana Shias in Saudi Arabia, are some examples of the seemingly irreconcilable sentiments, within.

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All these divides have led to internal intrigues and power struggles wherever there is majoritarianism ~ e.g., Saudi Arabia or Iran ~ or desperate hanging on to power by minority sects or tribes to the disillusionment of the larger majority denomination or tribe e.g., Bahrain. The picture gets further muddied when the already existing mess of sectarian divisions within the Ummah gets further fractured into realms of region, tribes, or familial-dynastic perpetuations. In an already bloodied and weaponised environment of constant unrest, it sets the scene for constant power struggles, violent purges and genocidal instincts.

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Saddam Hussein had stuffed all his vantage posts with cosectarian Sunnis and also added an additional filter of regionalism to the admixture, by ensuring that all sensitive posts were given to Tikritis (Sunnis from the township of Tikrit) e.g.,........

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