The Shia-Sunni divide has torn apart West Asia for decades. What is the root cause of this conflict? Is it driven by religion or politics? #ShiaSunni #GravitasPlus #PalkiSharmaLive

In my view, the narrative in this video is not correct. The political differences among Muslims had started even at the death bed of the Prophet and the Prophet had observed the subject difference and then refused to write any advice for his followers for the future political discourse. 

The division for the political leadership right after the death of the Prophet was, The Muhajirun, the Household of the Prophet, and the Ansar. These three groups were the contenders for political power, and we can call them the first three political parties after the death of the Prophet in Islamic political-cultural evolution. 

At the stage of 3rd Caliph, it turned into a civil war, developed into bloody civil wars, where thousands had been killed on each side, and the contest, had narrowed down into two political and warring parties, the Shian-E-Ali and the Shian-E-Muawiya. These were political groups not religious. 

There was no group known as Sunni till Abbasi Caliph Mutwakil who had allowed the Hamalite school to dominate the new religious discourse by allowing traditions in the name of the Prophet into the fold of Islam. This is where the division become religious and sectarian in the name mainly known as Sunni and Shia but there were many more. 

Therefore to call it religious divide as Sunni and Shia in early Islam is wrong. It was political.