M. Basheer Ahmed M D.
Sadly, the Muslim community is plagued by sectarianism and in recent years the majority of Muslims were killed by other Muslims in the name of Islam.
Islam is one religion (deen) with no sects or sub sects, whoever believes in one God and prophet Muhammed is a Muslim. It is the religious and political leaders who divide Muslims for selfish reasons, to exploit people and gain control. The religious leaders interpret Quranic verses and often use weak or fabricated ahdith to make it part of the faith. Once a doctrine becomes part of a faith it is virtually impossible to bring any change by use of logic or reasoning. We were not involved in the political conflicts which occurred centuries ago so why should we be the subject of animosity? We must develop unity among all Muslims for betterment of the world, for our community and for our children. This is what the Holy Quran and our beloved prophet teaches us.
Soon after the Prophet’s death (632 AD) two different opinions surfaced about who should exercise religious authority among Muslims. One supported the majority opinion and the other insisted on Hazart Ali based on a weaker Hadith of Gadir. Our prophet did not nominate a successor during his lifetime. The Sunni sects believe that the four successors of Prophet Muhammad or caliphs were legitimate as they were chosen by the community in accordance with the custom of those times. Shiite Muslims believe that the true leadership comes through the Prophet’s bloodline and Allah and his prophet had clearly designated the Prophet’s cousin and son in law Ali-ibne-Abi-Talib as the only legitimate successor. Quran says “. “As for those who split their religion into sects, -you have nothing to do with them (O Muhammad!). Their affair is up to God, and He will tell them of what they had been doing” (6:159).
The third Khalifa Hazrat Uthman’s election led to the emergence of the Umayyad clan who were the bitterest enemies of Prophet Mohammed during the Pre-Islamic and early period of Islam. The murder of Hazrat Usman was the major reason for civil war among Muslims in which Hazrat Ali the 4th Khalifa fought with prophet’s wife Hazrat Aisha. Prophet Muhammed’s major accomplishment for which he was recognized as the greatest personality in the world was to unite the centuries old Arab warring factions under one religion, but this was later destroyed by their own close relatives and companions due to the instigation of rival groups. Fortunately both parties came to their senses and signed a truce but the seed of animosity was planted and the Muslims were not able to conquer the human weakness of power, greed and revenge. The subsequent war was fought between Khalifa Ali and Amir Muawiyya. Hazrat Ali showed magnanimity and did not prolong the war for the sake of Umma but Muawiya’s son Yazid’s massacre of Hazart Hussain and his entire family caused irreparable damage and we are still facing the consequences. The frictions and fights continued between Shias and Sunnis throughout the Islamic history of 1400 years. Shias made the memories of the massacre of Hazrat Hussain as part of their religious rituals and made Karbala as the holiest city and gave equal importance to visiting Karabala for pilgrimage as it was for visiting the Kabba. Thus, the whole political conflict gave birth to a very strong unshaken faith. The division of Islam between Sunnis and Shia has witnessed the fights, massacres, and annihilations by both groups whenever they got a chance.
God has intentionally created us to be different, but he also expects us to know each other and to live in peace and harmony as our salvation depends on our piety, not on faith. The Prophet even told his daughter Fatima that there is not place for her in paradise just because she is the daughter of the Prophet, but rather she has to earn it. We must accept and respect others’ faith without criticizing or humiliating them and leave the judgement of right and wrong in the hand of God.
Until the 18th century, there was coexistence between the Safawid Shia dynasty, the Sunni Ottoman, and the Mughal Empires. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the British and other imperialists created division among Muslims and supported one group against the other in all the colonies in India and the Middle East. By promoting conflicts among various groups, they ensured that no country gains enough power and that the civilians continue to destroy each other by in-fighting. They have been successful in achieving their goal due to our own sheer stupidity.
At the instigation of the U.S. and Saudis, Saddam Hussain started the war with Iran which resulted in the loss of life of millions of people and billions of dollars in two rich Muslim countries, and made the U.S. and Russia richer for sales of their arms to these two warring nations.
In the 1990s, a few years after the end of the Iran-Iraq War, neoconservative politicians developed plans for the U.S. to regain access to the oil reserves in several Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq and Libya and to make them powerless. With the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers as justification, a US-led coalition invaded Iraq in 2003. According to the Chilcot report published in Britain in July 2016, the illegal Iraq War was initiated on false information that Iraq had hidden weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to British interests, the report concluded. Unfortunately, the prolonged Iraq War resulted in giving birth to the terrorist organization ISIS, which declared sovereignty in part of Iraq and Syria (that ended in 2017). Since the invasion of Iraq, there has been a marked increase in sectarian violence in Iraq and the entire region. Syria is disintegrating with Alawite Shias fighting Sunnis and killing hundreds of thousands of people. Shia Hezbollah of South Lebanon with Shia Iran and Iraq are supporting the Shia-led army of Bashar Assad in Syria. Yemen is almost destroyed by Saudis to curb the rising Shia Hootie’s influence.
The Saudis, their protégés, Taliban, the Jhangvi groups; the Iranians, their protégés Hizbullah, Jundallah and other similar groups in different parts of the Muslim world are playing a major role in promoting this sectarian divide.
In Pakistan, Shias and Sunnis had largely lived together peacefully until the 1980s when General Zia ul Haq adopted the salafi/Wahabi doctrine which promoted sectarian discrimination. A large number of Madrasas opened where the clerics who taught in these institutions declared Ahmadis, Shias and other minority sects as heretics and apostates. Terrorist groups such as Jhangvi Sipah-e-Sahaba and lashker e Tayyaba were organized declaring Pakistan a Sunni state.
Muslims vehemently insist that Islam is a religion of peace and these violent practices are contrary to the teachings of Islam. It is therefore incumbent upon Muslim leaders to do what they can locally while thinking globally to ensure that, at least within our own circles, we unite Muslims to counter this violence, making it a model for other communities and the countries to follow suit.
We must avert this serious situation before it damages the entire Muslim world. Instead of killing each other we should resolve the differences by negotiations and compromise.
The efforts for reconciliation between Muslims: During the last few years, we have seen hundreds of Fatwas against terrorism from many Muslim scholars. Hundreds of Muslim scholars and Muslim organizations have issued statements condemning the atrocities in Pakistan and other parts of the Muslim world. Articles have been written exploring the underlying causes of the problem and recommending an educational process to highlight unity and harmony among different factions. These writings have not reduced the incidents of violent behavior. ISNA and other respectable organizations in the US and other parts of the world made strong statements on the Muslim code of honor promoting religious harmony. Unfortunately, it has not produced any significant impact on sectarian violence around the world. In fact, it has intensified much more in the last decade.
Shaikh Mahmud Shaltut, the former Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, stated that the Shia Jafari madhab (school of thought) was acceptable for Muslims to follow. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini also made efforts to bring Muslim schools of thought closer together. King Hussain of Jordon organized an intra-faith conference where leading Shia and Sunni Muslim leaders and theologians strongly condemned the sectarian divide and issued joint statements to show respect and dignity towards each other. Unfortunately, all these efforts have not produced any significant change.
Our recommendations:
Muslim unity is the most important step in achieving Islamic Renaissance so that Muslims can regain leadership in the world. Our focus should be on creating a just civilization where people live in peace and harmony by following Quranic guidelines. Allah says, “And hold fast to the secure rope of Allah and do not be divided from among yourselves (3: 103).” Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) emphasized that no person can be a true Muslim until he desires for his brothers and sisters what he desires for himself.
It is the responsibility of Muslims to seriously consider the following recommendation to put an end to this rising sectarian violence. “Verily never will God change the condition of people until they change it themselves” Qur’an 13:11
We need to stop wasting energy in trying to prove who is right or wrong in the matter of faith. You believe or practice what you think is right and let others do the same. Let God decide who is right or wrong on the day of judgement
Ignore the differences in their respective outlooks and work on what is common. Develop joint projects to work together for humanitarian causes. The Shias should give up “tabarra” of the predecessors of Ali and the Sunnis should develop tolerance for the Imamate theology without subscribing to it.
Dialogue is the key to understanding and resolving conflicts by developing a mutual understanding of the different sects and furthering human relations to defeat the sectarianism. American Muslims can start a dialog in North America where there is no conflict in the Shia-Sunni community and then inspire dialogues in other parts of the world. Dialogue allows parties to understand each other better by allowing participants to acquire direct knowledge about beliefs instead of relying on propaganda and stereotypical images. The dialogue group must issue press releases and documents to explain their goals and missions and make sure there is media coverage for their humanitarian projects.
Each Muslim community in USA must start a dialogue group
Muslim intelligentsia (scholars and religious leaders) should now take a serious step in condemning the political and religious leaderships which are promoting hate and intolerance and force them to resolve their disputes through dialogue.
The entire Muslim block of 57 countries, mainly Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria and Malaysia must persuade Iranian and Saudi governments to come to the negotiating table, implement immediate ceasefire and find a peaceful solution.
Conclusion: Young Muslims today are confused by the different “brands” of Islam practiced today. In Islam, the essential building blocks of faith or Aqidah is comprised of beliefs in one omnipotent God who is a sustainer of life and also in angels, revealed books, prophets, and the Day of Judgment. Beyond this essential foundation, the practice of religion has many variations in Shia, Sunni and other sects. Practicing any one sect or religious school of thought or none at all should be acceptable. Getting into intricacies must be considered divisive and, therefore, counter-productive to a harmonious Intra-faith relationship. If you have strong faith, a diversity in religious practices must be accepted as based on human understanding and should not be the cause of anger, hatred, and violence.
It is impossible to have an entire community of 1.6 billion to think alike on all issues, but it is possible to coexist with people of different beliefs. The major challenge is to teach people to stop killing one another because they have different interpretations of the Quran or events in history that took place 1,500 years ago.
Today, young Muslims are learning more about Islam from the media and unfortunately our Imams and Muslim scholars are not addressing the issue of sectarianism and violence. The silence of our community leaders on the dangers of bigotry is resulting in more death and destruction. We should not wait until our youth become fanatics or frustrated. It becomes complicated for the many Muslims to reach out to the illiterate and superstitious Muslims in the Muslim majority countries especially when the well-organized Madrasas ingrain young minds for 10-15 years with orthodox teachings with a primary emphasis on rituals and unshakeable beliefs in creeds which cannot be subjected to logical thinking. We must make every effort to spread the word in all Muslim countries to stop this divisiveness among each other and learn to live together peacefully.
One day our collective, sincere and unbiased grass root efforts will bring Muslim dictators and presidents to the negotiating tables. This independent group must continue this process until our goal is achieved.
.