Islam

As with many of the other traits that took to the stars that faithful day humanity left Earth, Islam was one of them. The religion expanded greatly in the early 2890's as many Imam's would accompany the colonists that left the Confederated Sol Alliance to go and spread humanity among many worlds. The first strictly Islamic colony was founded in 2906 on the world Al-Janna, this world would go on to create the first Islamic nation, the Caliphate.

Sunni and Shia
During the 2800's the conflicts between the two sects of Islam increased on Earth and on colonies. It would be quite known, however, that the Shia were on the losing side and it was not just through conflict that they were losing either. The Sunnis were constantly converting and by the time colonization began, the Shia were in the smallest majority they had been in a long time, with only about 5% of those who considered themselves Muslim saying they were Shia. Now, Shia are just a figment of the past, a small few may still practice, but the vast majority of Muslim people are Sunni and it has now worsened to the point that there is no differentiation in Islamic thought. When polled, 72% of Muslims in the year 3355 did not know that Sha was still practiced in parts of the galaxy.

The Caliph
In 2947, 41 years after the formation of the Al-Janna colony in the New Arabia System, the colony formally announced itslef as being a nation and was recognized by the Juvian Empire, which submitted a vote for the nation to be added to the UCN in the Judicial Branch and as such the colony became The Caliphate. The Caliphate was re-formed for the first time since the days of the Crusades and as such a Caliph was elected to it. Each Caliph is elected upon the death of the old Caliph, however, the eldest son of the Caliph is normally the one that wins the vote, but not always. The inclusion of the Caliph officially meant as well that the Islamic faith had a head again for the first time in almost two millenium.