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Originally posted by johnny:
Just curious..... would Al Qaeda be more on the Shia side, or on the Sunny side ? Or are they a faction completely different then any other ?
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A difficult question, there are plenty of factions within Islam, although I think probably more in Christianity. Sunni Muslims are the most orthodox and could maybe be loosely compared with Catholics in that literature and doctrine play an important part as well as the holy texts themselves. So for example, whereas lots of the Catholic faith is built around the early church and the writings of people like St. Aquinas and St. Augustine, the Sunni's also draw on the decisions and writings made after the death of Muhammad.
In terms of religious dedication (however misplaced) I would therefore place them more in the Sunni camp, and certainly they have been implicated by the Americans in a few anti-Shia explosions, although how reliable this accusation is I find unclear.
Certainly both Sunni and Shi'i moderates distance themselves from Al-Qaida, so that doesn't particularly help. I got fed up hearing some people say that the Qu'ran was a peaceful book and others use it for suicide bombings, so I'm reading it myself at the moment, and so far have found nothing that would condone any such action. If that were the case, then they're either nutters using religion as an excuse, or they're deluded into interpreting the text in a perverted way. But there's still plenty to go yet, I'll let you know when i'm finished...luckily it's not as long as the Bible!