Shia Sunni Split

Shia Sunni After the Prophet Review The book opens with a story about the Sunni extremist group that is known as Al Qaida. This group is quiet infamous and has been the target of much of the geopolitical efforts derived from the West. In the Western media, much of the attention about Al Qaida has been directed upon their terrorist activities that affect the West.

However, the stories told about Al Qaida's activities in Iraq are quite revealing and this is the story that many people in the West do not hear about. In the seventh century, not even fifty years after Muhammad had passed, his closest male descendants were murdered at Karbala. On March 4th, 2004, Al Qaida launched an attack that back known as the "Ashura Massacre" on the Shia's at the same location (Hazleton 2009).

This was a preview of the ensuing civil war that would explode after the fall of the reign of Sadam Hussein in Iraq. To understand these events fully it is necessary to put them in the context of history. The roots of the conflict are nearly as old as the religion itself. When Muhammad passed away in his chamber in Aisha, he did not leave any sons to claim his heir.

If he would have had a son or multiple sons then the oldest born would have most likely been declared the new leader of the religion. Not only did Muhammad not have any sons, but he also failed to designate any heir that would take his place upon his passing; or at least a designation that was clear to his followers. This represents the beginning of the conflict that has persisted throughout the centuries. After the Prophet It is interesting that Muhammad did not appoint a successor.

The explanation provided in the book is that appointing a successor would have been a risk for Muhammad. The tensions between different groups or tribes were high in the period and appointing a successor would have put his life at risk. The book mentions that it could have also put Muhammad's life a risk if the successor would want to speed up the process by murdering the prophet.

Whatever the case may have been for the lack of a clearly designated successor, it is this situation that created the initial division among the Sunni and Shias and it is even possible that Muhammad himself foresaw the discontent that grew after his death. The two people that arose to attempt to fill the role of the successor were Muhammad's son-in-law Ali and his favorite wife Aisha. Ali was known as a philosopher warrior and a fierce opponent for Aisha.

However, Aisha proved to be unafraid of using might to challenge her opponents and led a force that massacred seventy-two of Ali's warriors which manifested the divisions in the Sunni. She was Muhammad's youngest wife and definitely something of a controversial character who demand to be seen as privileged woman. She married Muhammad when she was a very young girl. Aisha was six years old when she was betrothed to him and nine years old when the marriage was celebrated and consummated (Hazleton 2009).

It was said that she was spirited and somewhat mischievous but Muhammad tolerated this and actually was very fond of her. By contrast, Ali was an entirely different character altogether. He was the first man to accept the new faith of Islam when he was thirteen. The majority of people believed that Ali was to be the successor and there is evidence to suggest that this is the case. "I am from Ali and Ali is from me; he is the guardian of every believer after me," he said (Hazleton 2009).

In fact, Ali actually missed the event in which the successor was to be designated because he was at Muhammad's side. He believed that the Medinans would support him as the successor but that was not the case. Instead they believed that the successor to Muhammad should be placed in the hands of the many as.