Between the Local and the Global: The Iranian Revolution and Sunni-Shia Relations in South Africa

Abstract

This article charts the contours of Sunni-Shia relations in South Africa, with a particular focus on the period since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which was received positively by many Muslims in a context of American hegemony globally and heightened anti-apartheid political activism locally. The growth of Saudi Arabian funded religious organisations within the Sunni majority community, and similar investment by Iran in emerging and existing Shia communities have fuelled relations between Sunni and Shia globally. This article considers the increasing tensions between Shias and mainstream Sunni Ulema in South Africa. The period has been witness to growing anti-Shia discourse, a physical attack against worshippers in a Shia mosque and a failed attempt at a truce. The growth in broadcast and social media and religious transnationalism have exacerbated historic fissures and antagonism, and these tensions seem destined to deepen and spread in the period ahead.