Brigitte Marechal is Professor in the Socio-Anthropology of Religion, Catholic University of Leuven. She is also director of Cismoc (Centre Interdisciplinaire d'Etudes de l'Islam dans le Monde Contemporain) and a member of IACCHOS (Institute of Analysis of Change in Contemporary and Historical Societies). Sami Zemni is Professor of Political and Social Sciences at the Centre for Third World Studies, Ghent University (Belgium) where he leads the Middle East and North Africa Research Group.

'At a time when the conflict in Iraq, and the more recent uprisings in Syria, Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, have prompted a resurgence of essentialist generalisations on the Sunni-Shia divide, this collection of brilliant contributions by leading scholars from various disciplines is a welcome reminder of the complexity of the sectarian question in Islam which does not simply derive from textual and interpretative divergences, but is also socially constructed and politically instrumentalised.'

Brigitte Marechal is Professor in the Socio-Anthropology of Religion, Catholic University of Leuven. She is also director of Cismoc (Centre Interdisciplinaire d'Etudes de l'Islam dans le Monde Contemporain) and a member of IACCHOS (Institute of Analysis of Change in Contemporary and Historical Societies). Sami Zemni is Professor of Political and Social Sciences at the Centre for Third World Studies, Ghent University (Belgium) where he leads the Middle East and North Africa Research Group.

'At a time when the conflict in Iraq, and the more recent uprisings in Syria, Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, have prompted a resurgence of essentialist generalisations on the Sunni-Shia divide, this collection of brilliant contributions by leading scholars from various disciplines is a welcome reminder of the complexity of the sectarian question in Islam which does not simply derive from textual and interpretative divergences, but is also socially constructed and politically instrumentalised.'

Brigitte Marechal is Professor in the Socio-Anthropology of Religion, Catholic University of Leuven. She is also director of Cismoc (Centre Interdisciplinaire d'Etudes de l'Islam dans le Monde Contemporain) and a member of IACCHOS (Institute of Analysis of Change in Contemporary and Historical Societies). Sami Zemni is Professor of Political and Social Sciences at the Centre for Third World Studies, Ghent University (Belgium) where he leads the Middle East and North Africa Research Group.

'At a time when the conflict in Iraq, and the more recent uprisings in Syria, Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, have prompted a resurgence of essentialist generalisations on the Sunni-Shia divide, this collection of brilliant contributions by leading scholars from various disciplines is a welcome reminder of the complexity of the sectarian question in Islam which does not simply derive from textual and interpretative divergences, but is also socially constructed and politically instrumentalised.'