The Hebdo Matrix.

On January 8th (8/1/15) Jihadist gunmen stormed into the offices or French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killed 10 members of staff because they had published images of the Prophet Mohamed. They then went on to kill 3 police officers and 4 Jews in a Paris supermarket because there is nothing more offensive to lunatics then being presented with people who aren't lunatics. A week later Charlie Hebdo was back in print with an edition showing the Prophet apologising for the actions of the attackers.

I should start then by pointing out that the attack on Charlie Hebdo was a clear attempt to use violence to intimidate the magazine into not doing something the Jihadists disliked. Therefore the only way that Charlie Hebdo could respond in their survivors issue was by doing exactly the thing the Jihadists disliked to show that they are not afraid and that they will not be intimidated

However the events of that week has caused the chattering, liberal classes in the UK in particular a massive intellectual crisis. On the one hand they've felt compelled to oppose the attacks because they are supposed to be opponents of violence and supporters of freedom of expression. However since the 9/11 attacks in the US they have become conditioned to think of all of the World's 1.6bn Muslims as innocent victims who must not be questioned in any way. Unfortunately they've also been conditioned not to think at all so are painfully unaware that there are currently at least 1.6bn different interpretations of Islam.

Therefore to assist them I've decided to draw up a simple matrix based on a co-ordinate plane graph to help explain the 4 main splits within modern Islam. Hopefully I should be able to post an image of this shortly.

The main split within Islam is between Sunnis and Shias (sometimes called Shi'ites although in English that's very close to an offensive term meaning "Shit.").  Upon the death of the Prophet Mohamed in 632AD there was a dispute between his followers over who should lead them. Some chose Abu Bakhr while others chose Ali ibn Abi Talib who is said to have been chosen by Mohamed himself. The supporters Abu Bakhr went on to become known as Sunnis while supporters of Ali ibn Abi Talib became known as the Shias - "Shia" simply being the shortform of the Arabic word for "supporter" or "follower of."

As the two groups moved apart from each other through conflicts such as Battles of Yarmouk in 636AD and the Battle of Karbala in 680AD they developed slightly different ideologies in order to distinguish themselves from the other. Probably the main one of these is that Sunnis believe that Mohamed is the last prophet that God will send to earth while the Shias believe that God will send at least one more.

However cutting across the Sunni/Shia divide there is another split between Salafis and Sufis. The Salafis believe that Islam should only be practised as it was back when the Prophet Mohamed died in 632AD and their name comes from "Salaf" which in this context means the contemporaries of Mohamed. As a result Salafi Islam contains all the unpleasant tribal practises of the time such as women being nothing more then the property of men. Salafis are also deeply opposed to education often forbidding their followers from learning to read. Instead Salafis are expected to memorise the Qu'ran as it is recited to them and follow it to the letter without considering context or complex uses of language such as metaphors.

Sufis by contrast consider Islam to be an ongoing spiritual quest for perfection. As such they are encouraged to educate themselves and study the Qu'ran in its full context. In this practise of improving their understanding through questioning they are also encouraged study what other religious scholars have written and said. At the more extreme end some Sufis almost worship some of these other Islamic scholars in the way that Christians revere saints.

In recent times the big problem has been the First World War (WWI). To this day I still do not understand how WWI began but it rapidly turned into the German Empire trying to fight everyone else in Europe including the Russian Empire. The Germans only real ally was the Turkish-Ottoman Empire which was the last Sunni-Islamic Caliphate under Caliph Mehmed V. The German/Ottoman alliance ultimately lost WWI leading to the German Empire being dismantled which arguable led to the rise of Hitler and the Second World War (WWII). The Ottoman Empire fared even worse so although the role of Caliph nominally continued with Mehmed VI and Abdulmecid II by the time Abdulmecid II was deposed in 1924 the Caliphate which had stretched across the Middle-East, North Africa (MENA) region had been reduced to what we now know as modern Turkey.

The void left by the Ottoman Empire was filled by the European nations that won WWI along with the US. In an act of almost Victorian colonialism the Arabian Peninsula was handed to the Al-Saud family on the understanding that they would ensure the free flow of oil to the victors of WWI and the nation of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932.

The problem was that apart a lot of oil the Arabian Peninsula is also home to Mecca which is both the birthplace of the Prophet Mohamed and the site of his first revelation as Prophet. As such it is considered the holiest site within all branches of Muslims. Obviously the Al-Sauds know that they have no religious or theological right to rule over Mecca so in order to maintain their power they have been forced to promote a very aggressive form of Sunni-Salafi Islam known as Wahhabism (which even many Salafis such as Osama bin Laden consider backwards and offensive) in order to prevent their subjects educating themselves and questioning the Al-Saud's rule. Unfortunately because it is being pumped out from Islam's holiest sites many Muslims - particularly Sunnis - have made the mistake of thinking that Wahhabism is a legitimate interpretation of Islam rather then a political invention of the 18th Century.

Knowing full well that a strong gust on wind could bring their fiefdom crashing down around their ears the Al-Sauds reacted to the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain by cranking the rhetoric up to an even more extreme level. Now it is not only considered the duty of a 'good Muslim' to never think or question their rulers they must now also destroy anyone who is prepared of question starting with Alawites like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who represent a very specific Shia sect with a strong Sufi tradition. I though will continue to refuse to acknowledge the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as any type of Muslim.

Despite the howls of protest from western liberals I hope that at least some Muslims react to the attacks in France by thinking about how and why their religion has become twisted to the point that they may not question their rulers. After all its been a very long time since Islamic society has contributed something like Algebra to the World.

16:40 on 17/1/15 (UK date).