Aya tried to focus on following along in her textbook, but when the book described her sect, the Shias, as a radical group that broke away from mainstream Islam because they wanted the prophet Muhammad’s successor to descend from the family line, Aya grew increasingly uneasy. The word radical made it sound as if she belonged to the wrong side, but there was so much more to the story of her religion’s division. Every year, Shias all over the world commemorated the martyrdom of the prophet Muhammad’s grandson, and Aya knew it was that tragedy that had caused the eventual rift. However, she
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