1250119847

LANDSCAPES OF ISLAM
Saif,
You know that Islam is the religion of the Muslims, as revealed to us just over fourteen hundred years
ago by the Prophet Mohammed. The Prophet lived in Mecca but had to flee to the nearby city of
Medina with the early followers of Islam because the people of Mecca rejected the message of Allah.
Soon, though, the followers of Islam grew in number and power and took over command of Mecca.
These two cities are now the holy cities of Islam and are located in Saudi Arabia. You might not yet
know about the different schools of Islam. You belong to the largest group within Islam, called the
Sunnah or Sunnis. The Sunnis came into existence sometime after the passing of the Prophet when
disagreements arose as to who should take up his position as head of the Muslim community. There
were those who believed that the next leader should be a member of the family of the Prophet, and
there were those who believed that the best man should be the next leader. In the end, the next leader
was someone that many Muslims regarded as the most able to lead, and the fourth leader after the
Prophet was a member of his direct family. Those who supported the family are now called the Shia,
and those who supported the best man to lead are called the Sunnis.
When I say best man, the group around the Prophet—known as the Sahabah—were all men with
the best moral qualities. Each had his own particular personality. I do not want to go into the detail of
the disputes that have pursued the two groups through the centuries, because the Sunni-Shia divide is
one of great stress for the Muslims of the world.
While you will hear loud voices on both sides denouncing the other, you should know that there is
a vast number of Muslims on both sides of this divide who see the differences as minor and the joint
faith as central. Given that there are said to be three hundred million followers of the Shia sect, and
fourteen hundred million Sunnis, we must look forward to the day when Sunni and Shia clerics can
put their differences behind them and thus remove the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
Beyond these broad groupings, you will be able to find all kinds of approaches within Islamic life.
You will find Muslims like the Salafis, who copy every action ever recorded about the Prophet. Their
worldview is that the only way to be a Muslim is by copying, or emulating, the Prophet. There is a
powerful logic behind this. The Prophet was the Messenger of Allah. Who would know better than
the Prophet what being a Muslim means? How do they know what he did in such detail? Through the