A lethal disease is currently sweeping Arab societies. It is Shiite-phobia. Among its symptoms is the undermining of anything related to the Shiite sect, from jurisprudence to history and traditions, while casting accusations against all the followers of the Shiite sect – dead or alive – and attempting to strip them of any virtues. In short, the spread of this disease reveals two things. The first is the existence of a phenomenon featuring the hatred and exclusion of the other and the downplaying of what it represents and believes, a phenomenon known in troubled societies including our Arab ones, and usually resulting in practices that degrade politics and society to the level of fascism. The second is the existence of a great lack of self-confidence towards the changes occurring around us, to the point where the testing of any Iranian missile – even if it is a flying piece of junk – becomes a cause for concerns among wide Arab factions towards the “Iranian-Safavid expansion," and a justification for a new round of Shiite-Sunni tensions in the countries of the region. First of all, let us put aside the religious differences between the sects of the Sunnis and the Shiite sect. Numerous events revealed the ability of Islam to tolerate jurisprudent and theoretical plurality and coexistence between the various sects in the presence of factors embracing this plurality and this coexistence. At this level, the positions of Al-Azhar towards the Jaafari sect are known. Hence, the religious issue is the least one fueling Sunni-Shiite dispute. Historically speaking, it would be illogical to rely on the literature of cursing other sects while glorifying one's sect. And we should recognize that Arab-Islamic history was the least subjected to scientific-historical criticism, due to its proximity with religion and sanctities and what this reality imposes in terms of a thick veil of mystery preventing any objective analysis. In our present times, it seems that the accusation of “spreading Shiism" - which is sometimes addressed to religious activists - is closer to an accusation of collaboration with a foreign state than to an unjustified stand against freedom of belief that is guaranteed by the Declaration of Human Rights and all the constitutions around the world, including those based on the Islamic Sharia. The issue is not related to loyalty to the Family of the Prophet and hostility towards their enemies, considering that this position is shared by many Sunnis as well. It is related to the current political situation and the struggle for power in every Arab country and society, bearing in mind that the Arab authorities did not show great wisdom in dealing with this issue. In the backdrop of the scene, Iran is widely contributing to the emergence of this climate in the Arab states, believing that the easiest way to resolve the structural crisis affecting the Iranian regime is by finding focal points of strength in neighboring states. And thanks to the weapons which reached Lebanon from Iran, this country now constitutes the first defense line for Iran, a bargaining card at the level of the Iranian nuclear program and an element of deterrence in the face of the Israeli threats. On the other hand, the Iranian institutions are widely spread in Iraq, in order to ensure a market for Iranian products and a backdoor for evading the international sanctions. The reason behind this Iranian behavior is the failure of the reform project which former President Muhammad Khatami tried to instate to salvage the Islamic regime, due to the fact that the more conservative powers had another opinion and preferred to rush towards a more hardline position in both domestic and foreign policies. One of the facets of this policy is the escalation of sectarian propaganda to unprecedented levels, in an environment which is already unfriendly towards Iran and anything that comes from it. Moreover, the Iranian positions towards the Arab revolutions and its differentiation between these revolutions by standing behind the protest movement in Bahrain and supporting the Syrian regime without any restraint or condition, provided new ammunition to all those attempting to target the Shiites and Shiism itself. The Arab Shiites might pay the price for these policies and the reactions to them, which could be summarized by fear of the Shiites, or Shiite-phobia. And none of these policies can be defended.
