This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for ...

Several days ago, before the Saudi government’s execution of prominent Shia religious leader Nimr al-Nimr took tensions between Riyadh and Teheran to a new high, a reader emailed me a deceptively ...

Nimr al-Nimr was just one of 47 people Saudi Arabia executed on Saturday, but his death laid bare the volatile divide that has cleaved Islam for nearly 1,400 years and now threatens to re-ignite a ...

An ancient religious divide is helping fuel a resurgence of conflicts in the Middle East and Muslim countries. Struggles between Sunni and Shia forces have fed a Syrian civil war that threatens to ...

Ashura is a day of commemoration in Islam and holds great significance for Muslims across the world. It falls on the 10th of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar, carrying spiritual and ...

Every year on the tenth day of the holy month of Muharram, the first on the Islamic lunar calendar, Shia Muslims show a distinctive face of Islam, one that sees spirituality in passion and rituals ...

Pope Francis had a private, 45-minute meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, 90, a revered spiritual and highly influential leader of Shia Muslims, on the second day of his visit to Iraq. The ...

The recent wave of repressions against Shia activists in Azerbaijan, and the prison hunger strike of one of the most prominent Shia leaders in the country, have focused attention on a new ...

Polarity is palpable at the present time. Whatever the causes, large swaths of American society are deeply alienated from one another. The issue does not matter: pandemic, racial equity, education or ...

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in 2013 nearly 700 Shia were killed and more than 1,000 were injured in more than 200 sectarian terrorist attacks. Over 90 percent of those ...

Several days ago, before the Saudi government’s execution of prominent Shia religious leader Nimr al-Nimr took tensions between Riyadh and Teheran to a new high, a reader emailed me a deceptively ...