The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad passed away in 631 AD. From that time on, Islam and Muslims have been fighting a civil war, with the battle of Karbala in 680 AD being the defining moment when the hatred between two ideologies became sealed with the blood on the sands of Karbala in present day Iraq.

On that fateful day, October 10, 680 AD the Prophet's own grandson, son of Fatima, his daughter with his son-in-law Sayidina Ali and his small group of followers and family members were brutally and mercilessly slaughtered by a Caliphate army in the tens of thousands.

Imam Hussein (Husayn) Bin Ali was beheaded. His head was brought to the Caliph of that time in some macabre rejoicing. This was the grandson of the Prophet himself. A man so revered as a Prophet of God, the last Prophet no less and yet, they lobbed of the head of his own grandson and massacred his great-grandchildren (some as young as 6) other family members and followers of his household.

Personally when I read this story, I was aghast. I have been ignorant of the history of Islam, and I wager so are most born Malay-Muslims. We learn only what has been allowed, cemented by misinformation if not downright lies that we most probably have heard in the sermons of Friday prayers. I am no Shia or Ahl al-Bayt. Born Muslim in this country, I am to follow Sunni or the Sunnah wal-Jama'ah and my general ignorance of the religion forbids me to follow a particular sect or Mazhab (school of thought).

Many Malay-Muslims here, uninformed as we are, view Shias as heretics and there are fatwas (religious edicts) by religious authorities stating this to be so. BUT! Malaysia itself is a signatory of the Aman Message or the Aman Declaration that recognises Shia as very much Islam. An extract:

1) Whosoever is an adherent to one of the four Sunni schools (Mathahib) of Islamic jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi`i and Hanbali), the two Shi'i schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Ja`fari and Zaydi), the Ibadi school of Islamic ju