Thursday, January 24, 2008
This Day in the History of Islam
On this day in 661, Caliph Ali ibn Abu Talib, son-in-law of Mohammed (PBUH), was assassinated and his followers thereafter started their own Muslim group. This was the start of the Shi'ite/Sunni split in Islam. One of the things that has kept the split alive, and deadly, is that most Shia (the new group) are Persian while most Sunni are Arabs. Before we Christians, however, look down our nose at the poor, benighted Muslim who have spilled so much blood over so little, we would do well to recall the Thirty Years War and the centuries of bloodshed between Catholic and Protestant which has only recently quieted down. I've been both Catholic and Protestant and there is not a dime's worth of difference between those two large branches of the Christian religion, certainly nothing worth killing someone over.
Labels: Muslim History
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:28 AM 
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Dead on about the Christian schisms. We shouldn't forget about the early heresies such as Monophysitism, or the filioque debate. The latter leading to the Great Schism which would sever Orthodox from Catholic. Quite a shame what a difference a single word can make.
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