Shia Muslims versus Sunni Muslims in IraqReligious conflict is a terrible but inevitable part of many religions. This becomes even more inevitable when religion itself calls for the extermination of unbelievers. Originally, the intrafaith religious conflict between Iraq's Shia and Sunni Muslims began as a result of minor differences in political beliefs. Small misunderstandings quickly turned into terrible problems due to discrimination in the form of unequal opportunities for Shia and Sunni Muslims and violence, such as suicide bombings, attributed to the fact that Islam itself dictates the murder of non-believers. For these reasons, the religious conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq has only been exacerbated over the past 1,300 years. Islam began in the 7th century CE when the Prophet Muhammad received revelations from God. Originating in Mecca and Medina, today Saudi Arabia, Islam quickly became a very important religion because "Muhammad himself had succeeded in establishing the new faith through the conversion and conquest of those who opposed him” (World History Project 2002). After the death of Muhammad in 632, the expansion of Islam continued at an even faster pace due to Muslims' engagement in jihad, or "holy war", which calls for the protection of the Islam and the conversion of non-believers. Jihad did not originally call for the violent conquest and conversion of non-Muslims, but some followers' interpretation of the Quran allowed them to do so. As a result, Islam quickly spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. During its spread, Islam split into two sects, the Shiites and the Sunnis. The divide arose because of a small political disagreement over who Muhammad should be... middle of paper ... towards violence. In order to end the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, we must end the violence between them. However, because the violence is closely linked to their religion, it can be difficult to stop. As a result, what could happen is that Iraq would have to become an exclusively Shia country. Since Iraq is one of the few Shia-majority countries, the rest being Sunni-majority, Sunni Muslims can move from Iraq to one of the neighboring Sunni-majority countries, and any Shia Muslims who wish settle in Iraq can. Since Iraq will no longer have Sunni Muslims, the Shiites will no longer have a target against which to direct their discrimination or violence, thus ending their conflicts there. Although this may be difficult to implement, it could end the conflicts, born of discrimination, violence and religion itself, between Iraq's Shia and Sunni Muslims...