The Implications of Legitimacy: Why Shia Muslims are Disproportionately Marginalized by the Islamic State

Abstract

History has shown that Shia Muslims are enemies of the Islamic State [IS], despite IS claiming to represent all Muslims. This contradiction is investigated within this paper, critically analyzing how the notion of takfir has been used to legitimize the discrimination which disproportionately affects Shia Muslims. Using a historiographical method, this paper will demonstrate where the takfir of Shi’ites stems from, finding its roots in the de-Ba’athification policies of the United States of America, the disenfranchisement of Sunni Muslims in Iraq under the Coalitional Provisional Authority, and the poverty that swept through the Iraqi civilian population. These factors led to a vulnerable population who were able to be deceived by the genocidal ideas of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Abu Ali al-Anbari who promised a better future. This history, strewn from the early 2000s to the rise of the IS, paints a picture as to how Shias were made one of the primary enemies of the IS.