Early Origins of the Shi'a /Sunni Divide

Islam, not unlike Christianity, isnot a homogeneous religion but split into two large 

branches Sunni and Shi'i Islam, each with their own offshoots.

While the history of the divide goes back nearly to the rise of Islam, the effects of this division are still seen to this day. 

Source: Council on Foreign Relations

Origins of the Divide

In the year 632 the prophet Muhammed died. Muhammed was more than a religious figure: through his establishment of the Muslim community or ummah, he became an important political leader in the area as well. His death left the ummah without a leader-- a position which needed to be filled. As Muhammed was the "seal of the prophets," the leader would not be a prophet himself. But how to choose? Some followers of Islam said that Muhammed had designated 'Ali-- his son-in-law, cousin, and devoted follower to be his successor. Many others insisted he had not named a successor  and companions of the prophet gathered together to appoint a  new leader.

During the meeting ('Ali was not present), 'Umar a charismatic leader from the ummah, went up to Abu Bakr and gave him his support as leader or khalifa [successor]. According to the shiite tradition, 'Ali gave Abu Bakr his support after he was elected in oder to preserve the unity of the ummah. 

'Umar Source: Wikipedia 

Abu Bakr served as caliph from 632-634, and 'Umar is chosen as his successor during the period of 634-644. After 'Umar is killed by a Persian slave in 644 there are two strong candidates for khalifa: 'Uthman and Ali. Ultimately, 'Uthman is selected to succeed 'Umar and serves from 644-656 when he is killed during riots by his own people. 

'Uthman Source: Wikipedia

'Ali succeeded 'Uthamn in 656 during a troubled time in the caliphate. Some of the ummah felt that Ali had not performed his duties in avenging the death of 'Utham. Talha and ibn al Zubayr found Ayesha, one of the prophet's widows, and together they plotted against 'Ali. This resulted in the Battle of the Camel near Basr in present day Iraq. Talha and ibn al Zubayr are killed and Ayesha returned to medina. This divided the ummah.

'Ali: Source: Wikipedia

'Ali realized the consequences of this division and sought the support of Mu'awiya, the governor of Syria, who was well respected.  Mu'awiya did not feel that 'Ali had properly avenged the death of 'Uthman and refused his support. The two met in battle in 657, known as the Battle of Siffin. Mu'awiya's forces were loosing and at the suggestion of one of his military commanders, 'Amr ibn Al-As, had his men place pages of the Qu'aran on their lances and hold them up, which confused the opposition and stopped the fighting. 'Ali and Mu'awiya decided to enter into negotiations and each send a man to deliberate as to wether or not Ali had fully avenged the death of 'Uthman.

Negotiations determined 'Ali had not fully avenged the death of 'Uthman. Some of the followers of 'Ali, known after as the kharijites, left his camp after this incident because they felt he was at fault for allowing things to go into negotiation. 'Ali starts to massacre some of the kharijites which causing more trouble in the ummah. He also decides to go after Mu'awiya which many find dishonorable as the negotiations were legally binding. In 661, Ali is stabbed to death in a mosque near Kufa.

                                         The Imamate

Source: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Shi'ias believe in a form of government of the caliphate known as the Imamate, starting with 'Ali. The Imams are religious and political leaders who are often given some deity like qualities such as the ability to perform miracles.  Arguments over who was the true Imam  have caused further branching of Shiism. 

Source: Wikipedia

The Caliph

Sunnis believed in the caliph as a political leader, and the ulema or religious scholars as the spiritual leaders of the ummah. 

Conclussions

This is a very basic overview of the early origins of the Shi'a/ Sunni divide. There are many more events that take place in Islamic history that deepen these divides but this is a blog post and not a history book.  It is also important to note that while there is a schism not all Shi'as and Sunnis live in rivalries. In some places they do co-exist peacefully, and even intermarry. 

Historical dates and information taken from Professor Pulcini's Islam lecture, Fall 2014 at Dickinson College.

Water Footprints

Water is an essential and irreplaceable part of life. Even if life on Earth could be mysteriously sustained without water, many of our day to day activities would be disrupted. Water is used to produce meat and crops which we then consume, for bathing ourselves and cleaning objects, in religious rituals, for transportation, to produce industrial goods, and the list continues. In short, without water, there would be no hamburgers, no iPhones, no cars, no tea or coffee, etc...

Source: National Geographic's Water FootPrint Calculator

Source: Water Footprint Network

The amount of water an individual consumes per day/week/year is actually a measurement that can be calculated. The result is called a water footprint. Both National Water Footprint Network and National Geographic have tools that can calculate your water footprint. Each tool uses slightly different information to provide their answers so it's worth visiting both.

Possible Failures of the Data

I am not sure how accurate my results are as I live on a college campus. I personally do not wash my own dishes but a worker for the caf must use water to wash the dishes I used. I don't choose what food is purchased/ cooked but I do have some choices in meals once I enter the caf. I also do not water the lawn but it is possible that Dickinson College does.  However, once could argue that the school would be doing this services for another student even if I never matriculated.

 Another discrepancy I found was expenditure on material goods. I tend to be a careful shopper and buy either second hand or with sales/ coupons so I end up spending less per item. It is possible in the long run that I am a bigger consumer than the average American but my water scores dropped very low when I input my personal expenditure in dollars. I used the year 2014 for my calculation but in terms of travel it is a bit of an odd year for me: as much as I enjoy it I don't typically fly from New York To Istanbul to Casablanca (roundtrip), New York to London to Madrid (roundtrip), from Casablanca to Tunis (roundtrip), from Ouarzazate to Casablanca,  and Philadelphia to Miami to Lima (roundtrip). Nor do I typically take the ferry to and from Spain, or the bus/train around more or less all of Morocco.  I do however, typically do a lot of driving for work during the summer months as I photograph at different universities/ races.  I also wash my hands a lot at my other part time job (hosting/bussing tables at a restaurant) and I included this in my calculations because I work on average four nights a week.

Personal Consumption compared to Others

Using google's converter tool, I converted 1,529 gallons of water per day to 558,085 gallons per year to approximately 2113 cubic meters per year. This is over twice the amount of water calculated by the other tool (980 cubic meters per year). However, according to National Geographic's Measures, I am well below U.S. average  in my personal water consumption.

According to the National Water Footprint Network, the water footprint per capita in Iran is 

1866 cubic meters per year. This is higher than the global average (1385 cubic meters per year). My score on the National Water Footprint Network's calculator was approximately half of the consumption in Iran. According to National Geographic's measures I consume 247 cubic meters per year more than the average Iranian. Averaging my two scores out gives a consumption of 1,546 cubic meters per year which while higher than the global average is still below the Iranian levels of consumption.

Turkey's water footprint per capita is 1,642 cubic meters per year, according to the National Water Footprint Network. Again, my score with the same calculator falls well below this average at 980 cubic meters. My score with National Geographic is 471 cubic meters more per year than the average Turk. Averaging my two water scores places me 96 cubic meters per year under the Turkish average. 

Source: The Economist

There was no data provided for Iraq.

Reflections

In the US though water is considered an abundant resource, there is a lot of emphasize on sustainability and conservation in modern US culture. Dickinson College places a water bottle tax to encourage reusable water bottles. The school caf has a big focus on composting and there are no trash cans in site.Everything is sorted by school workers into appropriate bins. I am not sure if there is this same emphasize in my region of study. Both Iran and Turkey have a fair amount of fresh water compared to the rest of the region but logically water conservation is in everybody's best interest.

Are politics local? Reflections on Activism

Source: Asl.org

Since the rise of globalization, even local politics have become something for the world to access, assess, and even get involved. It is a lot easier to learn of events and struggles in other parts of the world now with computers and social media. A great example of technological activism is the ASL ice bucket challenge. ASL affects a small number of the population and was not a commonly known medical condition prior to the viral ice bucket challenge. The original challenge was to either donate $100 to support ASL research or to put up a video of having a bucket of ice poured over your head. The challenge has since been modified and many people donate in addition to the video. While making a video of pouring ice over your head may seem silly, ASL is now a household term and according to ASL.org, the ASL association has received over $115million  in donations from this challenge.

 Naturally, the group who is affected the most by certain policies has a stronger motive for changing said policies. However, sometimes a group does not realize the need for action, or is incapable of action. The situation may seem hopeless, there could be weaponry and threats to safety involved, etc. Sometimes activist groups lack organized leadership, and fail with the best of intentions.

With globalization, we also have an increasingly global level of politics. The United Nations is a supranational organization that tries to police the world and keep nations and states in check. There are also regional organizations such as the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council that can get involved in local politics if they see them as a threat to the greater good.