 dakotayii says: - dar al-Islam, the land of Islam and peace, - dar al-harb, the land of infidels The theological foundation of the Arab Empire was the supremacy of Islam and the obligation of each Muslim to advance its domination. The notion of Jihad, in particular, served to establish the Muslim community's permanent state of war against the dar al-harb until the infidels' conclusive submission and the absolute world supremacy of Islam. Yet even as Islamic armies were coming to dominate the known world, fissures emerged within Islam, which would give rise to the bloody internecine battles that continue to this day in Iraq and elsewhere. Most notably, the relentless oppositions within tribal life have been reflected on a large scale in the battles between Sunni vs. Shiite, a battle originating in a squabble between closely related kin groups over the leadership of the Islamic empire following Muhammad's death. Their divergent philosophical orientations are based on two tribal principles: Sunnism recognizes leaders based on consent; Shiism recognizes leaders based on descent. The continued anatagonism between the two groups ... Without reference to the particular interpretation, it is good to see a rare slant on the mideast as a tremendously complex emergence of historical factors, ongoing and of the deepest relevance to the situation today. An antidote to the board-playing mentality of journalistic thinking characterised by narrow focus on a few ephemeral details, Thank you Lifestar ......... |
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