How do Iraqi Sunnis and Shia Muslims tell each other apart?

[ugarte]

This may be a dumb question, but are there any visible differences? I don't mean the clergy, I mean just ordinary people.

I guess what I'm getting at: two Iraqi strangers meet on a Baghdad street. Is it immediately apparent to one another whether they are of the same sect?

[WoodrowFan]

1. gang colors`

gang colors and hand signs, like the Bloods and Crips.

seriously, I've wondered the same thing.

[ProfessorPlum]

2. The same way that Repukes and real humans

will soon have to tell each other apart on the streets of America. And for the same reasons.

[ugarte]

3. True, but there don't seem to be as many obese Iraqis in SUVs

so my question still stands.

[rkc3]

4. It's tattooed on the backs of their necks.

[LynnTheDem]

5. Sunni & Shia are not "tribes"

Iraq is tribal; many Sunni & Shia are in the same tribes. They marry each other. They share the same mosques.

I know of a few Iraqis whose parents are Sunni & Shia, one each, who call themselves "Sushi". :D

If you met me, would you know my heritage is Scots? Would I know your heritage?

Or would you & I meet as AMERICANS?

Coz Iraqis meet each other as IRAQIS.

[ugarte]

6. You misunderstand my point

You and I would meet as Americans, although we would probably have some speech and ethnic differences as well. (I'm a little darker than you, probably, with a different accent.)

If you are telling me that Sunni and Shia cannot tell one another apart except by asking, then I will take your word for it.

[LynnTheDem]

8. Sunni and Shia cannot tell one another apart unless they tell each other

they're Sunni or Shia.

Just like I couldn't tell by meeting you what you are other than, I presume, a fellow American.

Would I know you were a Catholic? Anglican? Protestant? Not likely, in average conversation of 2 strangers meeting.

[ugarte]

9. Then a Shia, stopped by armed Sunnis insurgents,

could pass for Sunni if he had to. That's all I really was curious about.

[WoodrowFan]

11. good point, however

in a tight knit community you'd know who was who. Two strangers would not necessarily but you'd know that family down the block were in that "other" group. Plus, any group can tell members of other, related groups. Americans can tell accents of other Americans. I can tell a Kentucky from a Georgia accent because I have fmaily in botha reas. My New England wife can't, but she can tell a Mainier from a Boston-area resident and I can't.


Of course, we're assuming that they DO make accurate assessments.

[Ironpost]

7. just like the Vietnamese could tell who was Charlie

Just like the Native Americans here can tell the difference from one another. The way you talk, the way you walk, its the little things.

[SmokingJacket]

10. I was under the impression there were differences in dress.

Saddam is a Sunni, correct? He didn't dress like the Shi'a in Iran, for example.

Does anyone know about this? I tried google but it didn't help. :shrug:

[LynnTheDem]

13. Nope not always.

Many Shia wear their religious dress, but many do not. Especially in Iraq under Hussein, which was secular, Shia were not forced to wear religious dress. Many did/do out of preferance, but many do not.

A playground full of Sunni & Shia kids or teens, you would not know which was which; most all of them would be wearing jeans and t-shirts.

Lots of nuns in the USA and Canada & the UK etc no longer wear their religious gowns and headwear; they dress in jeans or skirts just like anyone else, and you wouldn't know they were nuns.

[theboss]

12. Isn't that sorta innate in people

When I was growing up, I could usually tell who was from what neighborhood in my town just by talking to them.

[Rapcw]

14. probably the same way any religious

people tell people of different religions apart. I think you would have to ask someone to get the answer.

[hel]

15. They ask

If they want to know.

It's exactly like Catholics and Protestants in your country.