Shia vs. Sunni Muslims in Iraq Religious conflict is a terrible but inevitable part of many religions. This is made even more inevitable when religion itself calls for the extermination of unbelievers. Originally the intra-religious religious conflict between the Shia and Sunni Muslims of Iraq began as a result of a small difference in political beliefs. Small misunderstandings soon 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 mandates the killing of non-believers . For these reasons, the religious conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq has only exacerbated over the past 1,300 years. Islam began in the 7th century AD when the Prophet Muhammad received revelations from God. Born in Mecca and Medina, in what is now Saudi Arabia, Islam quickly became a very important religion because "Muhammad himself had successfully established new faith through the conversion and conquest of those who opposed him" (World History Project 2002). After Muhammad's death in 632, the expansion of Islam continued at an even faster pace due to Muslims' dedication to jihad, or "holy war," which requires the protection of Islam and the conversion of nonbelievers. Jihad originally did not involve the violent conquest and conversion of non-Muslims, but some adherents' interpretation of the Quran allowed them to do so. As a result, Islam soon spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. During its spread, Islam split into two sects, Shiite and Sunni. The rift appeared due to a small political disagreement over who should be Muhammad... mid-paper... vis-à-vis violence. To end the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, the violence between them must end. However, because the violence is so intertwined with their religion, it may be difficult to put an end to it. Consequently, what may be necessary is for Iraq to become an exclusively Shia country. Since Iraq is one of the few Shia-majority countries, while the rest are Sunni-majority, Sunni Muslims can move from Iraq to one of the Sunni-majority countries nearby, and any Shia Muslims who want to move to Iraq can do it. 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. While this may be difficult to implement, it could put an end to conflicts, born of discrimination, violence and religion itself, between Iraq's Shia and Sunni Muslims..