“The largest ethnic group in the world, announced The Economist magazine, “feels encircled”.
The group in question was “The Sunni Muslim”, and the explanatory piece a sprawling assessment of the geopolitical currents of our time – the kind of article the The Economist, an esteemed British weekly, specializes in.
There was one problem, however, with the headline’s premise: Sunni Muslims are not an ethnic group.
The internet wasted no time reminding the magazine of this fact.
What a rag! Crapulent piece tells us Sunnis are an ethnicity & Jerusalem is a Sunni city "in the hands of others" https://t.co/AWvrof4W7N
— The Security Guy (@thesecurityguy1) 10 October 2016
Someone tell orientals at @TheEconomist that "Sunni" isnt ethnicity. Once again desperate, lazy journalism from a dying print media outlet
— Method (@el_resistencia) 10 October 2016
So what do we mean when we say “Sunni”, if not an ethnic group?
Sunnism is actually one of the two major branches of Islam, alongside Shiism: its followers believe that the Prophet Muhammad, Islam’s founder, didn’t appoint a clear successor. On the other hand, Shias believe the Prophet Muhammad chose Ali Ibn Abi Talib as the Caliph after his death.
Over centuries, the disagreement evolved into two distinct iterations of Islam, and the relationship between the two groups has fluctuated with the context of global politics, trade and war.
Looking forward to @TheEconomist writing on the divide between ‘ethnic Anglicans’ and ‘ethnic Catholics’ in the U.K.@KarlreMarks https://t.co/oO2hFdktOj
— Didier Bourguignon (@ddabourguignon) 10 October 2016
Sunni Muslims live all over the world, including all over Africa, Asia and Europe, and belong to many ethnic groups. They also have a wide range of political allegiances, religious practices and national identities – a reality some commentators found was equally lacking from the article itself.
I hadn't read the article yet, this is worse than I thought pic.twitter.com/TpkvduoQdJ
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) 10 October 2016
That being said, the mistake The Economist (or an intern tasked with writing its Tweets) made is understandable given how we speak about Sunni Muslims.
The division between the two streams of Islam is often presented as a clash between two very distinct groups. In Syria and Iraq, Sunni and Shia are often spoken of as two thirds of a geopolitical triad with the Kurds – a people who are generally classified as an ethnic group, the majority of whom are Sunni Muslim.
And coming to a definition of what ethnicity actually is is a little more difficult than deciding what it’s not. Ethnic identity is a complex idea that brings together many different factors – race, nationality, culture and heritage, for example – tied to a common ancestry. And the existence of ethno-religious groups further complicates its meaning.
BS
