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Sunni, Shiite, War "We're taking action against evil people. Because this great nation of many religions understands, our war is not against Islam, or against faith practiced by the Muslim people. Our war is a war against evil. This is clearly a case of good versus evil, and makes no mistake about it - good will prevail." This statement said by George Bush in January of 2002, is very fitting for people to hear. We’re not engaged in this war because of a religion, but because of the actions that the people behind this religion are doing. Too many people are focused on what people believe in, and who is right, which is creating a hostile situation for people to be engaged in. Our society needs to take a closer look at the people who presume to be the most dangerous to Americans and find similarities, because if one is only finding differences how is anything getting achieved and building a common ground in the end? To really see how people feel the faith of Islam is involved in this war, one needs to know about this religion first. Similar to Christianity and Judaism, Islam originated from the Middle East. Near Mecca, the prophet Muhammad gave the Arabian people Islam. Muhammad was born around the year A.D 570 in the town of Mecca (Javed, 6). His parents died when he was a child and he was adopted by his uncle, Abu Talib. According to the BBC, on a very ordinary day Muhammad had a dream that the angel Gabriel appeared and revealed to Muhammad words that eventually became the first words of the Quran, the holy book for the Muslims. After this, Muhammad tried to persuade his tribe into believing this new religion Islam which is translated into “submission.” Muslims were the followers of this religion means, “those who submit.” The whole purpose of this new religion was submission to Allah, the one true God these people believed to be the truth. Muhammad told the people they have one basic choice to make, either to accept Allah and worship him, or reject him and suffer the consequences. Allah sent Muhammad, who was the last of his prophets to the Arabian people with the final message (Hilal, 3). Muhammad told his people that Allah had revealed himself through the Quran, which was revealed to Muhammad in sections over a period of twenty-two years. The word Quran means “recitation,” and this book was designed to be recited as an act of worship. Out of this book grew the understanding of the Sharia, which literally means “the path”. The Sharia is Islamic law based on the Quran, and the traditions neighboring Muhammad’s words and deeds, were called the Sunna, meaning “the right way” also originated from the Quran. The purpose of the Sharia was to regulate all Muslim behavior, for example, dress, law, diet, family life, marriage, and business practices (BBB, 7). The Sunna was also intended to provide instruction for the people following this faith. The Sunna is frequently used to clarify things written in the Quran. One example in referring to the Sunna deals with wudu, the washing before prayer. The holy book requires the Muslims to wash themselves before prayer because they felt they needed to be clean and pure before they enter into a time of prayer with Allah. All Muslims practice the five basic pillars of Islam: a public declaration of faith, prayer, tithes, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca. Prayer to most of the Muslim people is one of the most beautiful parts of the religion. Muslims are required to pray five times a day: before dawn, at midday, in early afternoon, before sunset, and in early evening. Except for Friday at midday prayer, Muslims are not required to pray in the mosque. When Muslims pray they face toward Mecca, because they believe this is where the prophet Abraham and his son, Ishmael, built their house in ancient times. For tithing, Muslims are required to give approximately 2.5 percent of their salary to Islamic charitable institutions, or to the poor and needy. Fasting is another major obligation. Fasting during Ramadan is such an important part of a Muslim’s life that many people who stop practicing this religion still respect this practice. The final pillar of the Islam faith is the haj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims are expected to make a trip at least once in their lifetime. Everybody dresses in white robes when they arrive to the holy city so that everyone is equal in the sight of Allah and this way there is no distinction between anyone After the death of the prophet Mohammed, there was doubt about who would lead the Muslim faith. The prophet did not indicate a successor so people were unsure of who this next descendent would be. Different Muslim sects developed as certain groups came to support the teachings of one leader over another. There two major divisions that became of Islam were the Sunnis and Shites. Over ninety-five percent of Muslims are Sunnis, which means they follow the deeds, the Sunna of the Prophet. They believe in a traditional understanding of Islam and their beliefs are widely accepted. As followers of Mohammed's Sunna, they give great meaning to the holy text that Mohammed's followers wrote of his teachings and practices. Many of Muslims whom Westerners call "fundamentalists" follow Sunni Islam. They strictly hold to the Sunni teachings and reject modern interpretations of Islamic law. Their strict approach includes a literal interpretation of the Quran, which is an account of the Prophet Mohammed's practices and teachings when the Quran was revealed (Hilal 3). Shiites, or followers of Shia Islam, make up the second largest group of Muslims in the world. They believe Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed, and Ali's descendants are the leaders of the Muslim community. The teachings of this leader are honored in a way similar to the teachings of the Quran. Shiites believe that the final Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi, who was born in about 870, continues to live today in a miraculous state of disguise from human view. It is believed that he will reveal himself at the end of time to bring justice on earth.(Young 18). The Shiites believe that Ali should have been the first commander of this Muslim faith. As we have become educated on this interesting Islam religion, it is now appropriate to take a closer look on how this religion is affecting the war. The Islam religion plays such a big role in the war on terror because there are radical people in this religion that feel they really need to go out and destroy the other religions in honor of Allah. If one would take a look at the Quran that these people are supposed to live by, it does not say fighting is the answer. Yet, these people are taking circumstances out of context and wanting to kill especially the Americans. A word that comes to mind when talking about war and Islam is [|jihad]. Contrary to popular belief, jihad simply means a spiritual or mental striving to attain nearness to Allah. The doctrine of jihad never encourages war or violence (Malek, 8). In reality jihad is an obligation of Muslims to commit themselves to a struggle on all forms in their life-moral, political, and spiritual. It is not a ‘holy war’ against the non-believers as most people thought to be true. The phrase ‘holy war’ was made up by the West in its struggle again the Muslims during the time of the Crusades. Many people in society today feel this war is based solely because of [|religion] and the people’s religious beliefs. Under the Muslim faith, groups of radical Muslims feel they are fulfilling their prophets’ wishes by taking part in suicide bombings. In this case, the Muslim religion is playing a huge role in the war because if they feel it is what Muhammad, and ultimately Allah, wants of them, they will do anything to achieve these desires. So when Americans hear of these suicide bombings taking place in Iraq and the neighboring countries, we cannot put the stereotype on the whole Muslim faith because this is only a minority of this religion who feel it is necessary to be killing Americans and themselves in the name of their love, Allah. Our society needs to take a closer look at the people who presume to be the most dangerous to Americans and find similarities, because if one is only finding differences how is anything getting achieved and building a common ground in the end? In this war, America has put stereotypes on all Muslims that they are threatening and dangerous. However if we would first see the people behind the white robes and realize that not all the people of this Islam faith are going to die for the acceptance of their prophet, because they knew it isn’t even in their holy book, we would know that this war is not centered around religion. One needs to look at all levels on both sides of the war to confidently say that the Muslims are, or are not a major conflict of this war. After doing intensive research about this topic I am appreciative of choosing this because I was unaware of the religious side of the war until doing this paper. My question, what are the major divisions of the Islam faith, and how is this religion causing conflict in the war has definitely been answered for me and it is in my hopes for one reading this.

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