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This is Speaking of Faith, conversation about belief, meaning, ethics, and ideas.

I'm Krista Tippett. Today, we'll explore the complexities of the religious landscape of a rock.

In recent days, a devastating attack on a holy Shiite ritual delayed approval of a rock's new

interim constitution. This violence was intended perhaps to deepen the divide between Iraqi Sunnis

and Shiites, but the process leading to the new constitution was marked by negotiation and

compromise on every side. Here is the announcement of the Iraqi governing council.

We have adopted unanimously an instrument, the law for the administration of the Iraqi state

during the transition period, which includes, among other things, a comprehensive bill of rights,

something which is really unheard of, unprecedented in this part of the world.

The new Iraqi constitution prohibits legislation against Islam,

but it cites Islam as merely one source, not the primary source of Iraqi law.

This hour, I'll speak with an Iraqi-American thinker and educator, Ahmed Al Rahim,

for background on the complicated evolving role of Islam in Iraqi civil society.

First, some history. 97% of Iraq's 25 million people are Muslim. Islam came to this region

in the year 637, just five years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Pivotal events in the

early history of Islam happened here, including two civil wars between Muhammad's contemporaries

over the question of who was to succeed him. This schism led to the division of Islam

into two major traditions, Sunni and Shiite. Sunni and Shiite Muslims agree on basic

tenets of their faith, the belief in one God, the belief that the Quran is from God,

...