The origin and growth of sectarianism is different than communalism: It is not a clash between two  religions but a clash within a religion which subsequently leads to its division and  disintegration. The study of sectarianism shows that all religions in their early stage kept unity within their original structure,  but with the passage of time when changes occurred in a society and social, cultural ,economic and political traditions ,values and institutions reshaped and restructured to fulfil the changing needs, under these circumstances   disruption  took place in the main body of religion; and  resultantly,  divided a homogenous  religious community into different branches. Thus, we see that  at the juncture of a change. a new interpretation is required  by  the interested groups to use it as tools and weapons for the advantage of their material and  spiritual  requirements. This is how new sects come into being. Out of them, some sects have flexibility to survive all up and down of the time and others , after fulfilling  their task disappear in the pages of history.

Therefore, a sect is a group of people who , in order to fulfil their social, political, and economic needs, rebel against the established or original religion and redefine its teachings according to their needs and requirements .In the past as well as in the present a sect was/is regarded as a rebel, renegade, and traitor , which after isolating from the main body ,weakened its strength and unity. Wherefore, sects were/are regarded hostile groups whose annihilation and destruction become  the main task of the adherents of  pure and original religion. Their argument is that emergence of new sects not only disrupts the continuity but disintegrates homogeneity of the main body of religion Consequently  it effects its vitality and weakens it internal structure. A crime that the followers of  pure religion were/are and not ready to forgive. This conflict initiated a discussion within different religious groups : whether homogeneity is a source of strength or weakness. If strength ,then all renegade groups and sects should be forced to join the main body in order to keep unity. This attitude and logic justifies the policy of intolerance and persecution of renegade sects. That is why in the medieval period it was believed that to tolerate the enemies of God meant to invite His wrath which came in the shape of epidemic, famine, or earthquake. That is the reason that in Europe up to the beginning of  18^th century religious tolerance was a pejorative meaning .Both Catholics and Protestants sects were proud to be intolerant to other sects.

Whenever there  is sectarian clash in any society, the sect, having majority of its followers, attempts to crush or weaken the minority sect with the help of state power. The oppressed  sect, to escape from persecution, adopts some ways and means for its survivals. : either it rebels and fights and asserts its identity; or to migrate to some other country and safe place, or to assume dissimulation  and keep silence, and never dare to proclaim its beliefs openly. We have a number of instances in history following these patterns. In the Islamic history  when the Kharjis, Qaramatis, and Mahdavis( followers of Mahdi Jaunpuri ) attempted to put their teachings in practice, they were crushed by the state with the help of conservative and orthodox parties. The Ismailies, realizing themselves not powerful enough to challenge the state, adopted another strategy: they took refuge in the inaccessible mountain fort of Alamot and saved themselves from the wrath of  state. In the recent history of USA, the Mormon sect to avoid the persecution, migrated from the main land and founded their own settlement in Lake city. The so called discovery of America provided  golden opportunity  to the persecuted sects in Europe to migrate to the New World  in order to  observe their beliefs freely.

 There is an argument in favour of  creating more sects: the proponents of this argument believe that diversity is more important than homogeneity . Because orthodoxy makes religion stagnant. The phenomenon of emergence new sects keeps religion alive , active and makes it relevant to time. If there is no scope for new sects, the main body of religion would loose its strength and become irrelevant. Therefore, diversity in unity is essential for the life of a religion. What is required for the strength of society is sectarian tolerance.

In  Christianity the emergence of the Protestant  sect created intense sectarian conflict. Although there were number of sects in  Christianity before,  but the Protestant  sect greatly weakened the Catholic church. This conflict further intensified when the European states were also divided on the basis of their sectarian affiliations. The result was that each state persecuted  the opponent sect with full religious fanaticism .In England the Catholics were not tolerated by the state and stringent laws were passed against them. Similarly, the Protestants were persecuted in France. The sectarian conflicts had devastating effects on Europe. How was France affected as a result of the sectarian clashes? L. Fisher in his book “ History of Europe” writes:

“But the wars of religion very nearly broke up the hard -won unity of France, inflicting evils which cannot be measured by battle losses alone. Town was divided against town, village against village, family against family. Armed affrays and assassination became incidents of ordinary life. Some murders were committed out of religious fanaticism, other in pursuit of private  vengeance, others, as in all times when the hideous taint of espionage infests the body politic, out of senseless terror.” The culmination of the sectarian conflict was the Bartholomew massacre of the French Protestants(24 August 1527) which shook whole France. The result of these sectarian clashes was that not finding  themselves secure in France, number of talented Protestants migrated from France to different European countries which deprived her from best of her artisan and professional classes. Realizing the loss, the French government in 1598 passed the Edict of Nante which in the opinion of L. Fisher:  “is notable in the history of civilization as the first public recognition of the fact  that more than one religious community can be maintained in the same polity.”

The Edict of Nante had far reaching effects on the political, social, and economic life of France. It provided a new energy and vitality to the French society to respond the emerging challenges and to have more politically stable society.

However, the sectarian wars continued in Europe. Germany remained a battle ground of these sectarian wars from 1618 to 1648 .Fisher again points out the results:” war waged with a ferocity to which history offers few parallels. It is indeed impossible to exaggerate the miseries which the helpless peasants of German empire were compelled to endure in these iron times. There was marauding, there was starvation, there was even cannibalism. Whole villages  died out, and, as is always the case in time of extreme and desperate calamity, moral restraints broke down and ceded to wild bursts of profligacy.”

Europe learnt a lesson from these sectarian wars. Intolerance and hatred  blocked their  progress. To came out of this situation  practical efforts were made to secularised the European mind and state. Subsequently, religion was separated from politics and equal rights were granted to every citizen irrespective of his religion or sect. This is how democratic and secular tradition took roots in Europe.

In the history of Islamic societies, whenever, state remained non sectarian, no religious conflict occurred nor any sect was persecuted by the state. Bur when a state became sectarian, then other sects were not tolerated and persecuted. In India, the Sultans of Delhi and the Mughals remained non sectarian and therefore followed a policy of religious toleration. The sectarian polemic  remained outside the domain of the state. That is why sectarian differences did not assume worst shape. Even Aurangzeb (1658-1707 ) refused to dismiss his Shia Mansabdars or offices on the ground of their sectarian affiliation to the Shiite beliefs and reprimanded to those who demanded it by saying that religion and politics were two different things having no relation with each other. When his successor Shah Alam (1707-1712 ), who after becoming shi’a, ordered that the Shi’a khutba  be read in the Friday prayer, he faced opposition. The Imam of Lahore, who complied the order of the king, was murdered by the crowd. Realizing his mistake, he withdrew his order. During the colonial period, when Islam was attacked by the colonial state, it was defended jointly by the Sunnis and Shi’as. The emergence of religious nationalism further brought both sects closer to each other.

After the independence, Shi’a- Sunni  relations remained normal, except occasional riots which did not effect the deep rooted understanding of both sects. The state also acted neutral and did not adopt any  sectarian agenda. However, during Zia ul Haq ‘s  period, the    attempt was made to make the state sectarian by implementing Zakat according to the Sunni Fiqh. That  became the starting point of Shi’a resistance. The interference of the state in religious matters opened Pandora’s box. Questions were raised on the implementation of the shari’a: Should it be Sunni or Shi’a? The state’s sectarian character encouraged different religious parties to launch a campaign in favour of their religious programme So much so that armed gangs emerged to assert their interpretation of Islam. It followed assassination and counter assassination. The Shi’a and Sunni armed groups sought to get financial support from out side Pakistan. The results of these sectarian conflicts  are that first of all, the state has lost its credibility; different sectarian factions shifted their loyalty out side of country; terrorism, after assuming religious character, justified all crimes including murder, looting and plundering opponents’ properties, and insulting their past and present religious heroes.

As a result of these clashes, the sects belonging to  minority group, feel depressed, insecure,  deprived and isolated from the mainstream. Taking advantage of the weakness of minorities, the sect belonging to majority, established its dictatorship and made attempt to capture state and use its institutions to curb and crush the hostile sects. This is what at present is going on in Pakistan. Attempts are made to make state a sectarian and use it to implement its religious agenda against the wishes of others..

The question is how to end sectarian clashes and create confidence among those  sects which feel insecure. One of the methods to end sectarian clashes is to make the state neutral. Only a neutral state can give guarantee of sectarian peace. The other method to create religious toleration is  to make the mind of society tolerant and secular by  propagating enlightened and liberal ideas. There is a need to convince people that sects emerge out of historical necessity and compulsion, so they should be tolerated rather  treated as enemies History has plenty of material to teach us how to behave towards other sects and religious minorities. We can learn lessons from the European history and also from our own traditions and culture which  has enough material to make us tolerant .