Sunni and Shiite Islam: Do you know the difference? Take our quiz.

Most of the world's major religions are made up of multiple sects or denominations, and Islam is no different. Islam's two major sects are the Sunnis and the Shiites, and the division and interplay between the two is a major factor in the geopolitics of the Middle East. How well do you understand Sunni and Shiite Islam? Take our quiz and find out!

17. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is most closely associated with which sect?

Muzaffar Salman/AP
A pro-Syrian regime protester holds a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a demonstration to show support for their president, in Damascus, Syria, on Jan. 20, 2012.

Sunni

Shiite

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About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

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