Muslims recognize Muhammad as the first prophet of Allah, but whether or not he had a legitimate successor has been a source of debate around the globe for hundreds of years. This debate, among others, recently played out at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The short version of the story of Muhammad begins around 610 A.D., when Muhammad was on a spiritual retreat in the mountains outside Mecca and the Angel Gabriel appeared to him.

Over the next 23 years, the Angel Gabriel relayed the word of God to him. Muhammad ultimately collected these verses to form Islam’s holy document, the Quran.

When Muhammad died in 632, the religion of Islam was born. But its birth also hatched many different Islamic sects. The Sunnis, the largest sect, believe Muhammad does not have a successor. The second-largest sect, the Shiites, along with many other sects, believe Muhammad does have a successor.

On Feb. 26, the Muslim Student Association, headed by Tahir Khan, sponsored a lecture in the Union Ballroom featuring three speakers who covered the areas of Arab, Asian and African contributions to Islam in America.

This lecture was not intended to cover current Islamic conflicts, but they were unavoidable.

Caroline Seymour-Jorn, an assistant professor in foreign languages and linguistics at UWM, spoke about Arab Muslims in America. Maudood Ahmad, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community and graduate of UWM, covered Asian Muslims. And Rashid Ahmad, a long-time pillar for the Milwaukee Chapter of the Ahmadiyya movement and regular guest on the TV show “Islam Live,” covered African Muslims.

They each spoke for about 15 to 20 minutes, giving an informative history of how the Muslims of these three ethnic regions became entrenched in American society.

Given the Bush administration’s predicament in Iraq over the past three years, the topic of Islamic strife was bound to come up. It was not long into the question-and-answer section that the word “jihad”— the term for struggle or, more commonly, holy war — came up.

A younger, devout-looking man walked up to the mike holding a copy of the Quran that had gold leaf designs on the cover. He was mumbling, and carried on about sects, jihads, and other inaudible things. No response from the guest speakers satisfied him. He eventually said, “It’s a waste of time to stay here,” then walked out.

Tension oozed into the air, and the discussion started to heat up. The guest speakers could not avoid the Iraq situation any longer.

Many audience members had baffled or stiff expressions on their faces. No one else walked out — the new subject matter was too interesting.

“Because somebody says something, you are gonna kill them?” said Rashid Ahmad. “That authority is given to no man.”

Maudood Ahmad was on the same page as his colleague.

“If you wanna fight for a piece of land, that is not a jihad,” said Maudood Ahmad. “The wars going on have nothing to do with religion.”

Maudood Ahmad would also suggest an alternative to a jihad.

“You can do with the pen what we used to do with the sword,” Maudood Ahmad said. “This is the literary age.”

The U.S. plan to democratize Iraq has led to increased terrorist attacks in that region. Car explosions, gunfire and suicide bomber attacks are daily occurrences in a country submerged in war and death.

The recent bombing of a major Shiite mosque in Samarra led to an eruption of counter attacks that spilled onto the streets of Baghdad. Many fear this new attack on one of Iraq’s oldest and most revered shrines could be a catalyst to future civil war.

“What’s going on is a lot of politics. It has nothing to do with Islam,” Kahn said. “Sunnis had a monopoly for a long time. Now they have to share the government. Everybody wants to be president.”

Back in America, Ahmadiyya Muslims — a large worldwide sect of Islam — strive for peace and unity.

“Love for all, hatred for none. That is what we strive for,” said Maudood Ahmad. “All religions come from the same God.”

Source: islamworld.net

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