03/03/06: Unity Center brings Muslims together
March 3, 2006-The Arab American News
Unity Center brings Muslims together
By Aatif Ali Bokhari -- The Arab American News:
BLOOMFIELD HILLS - In a first of its kind event, a Sunni-Shi'a gathering was held at the Muslim Unity Center in Bloomfield Hills last week. A number of local Muslim leaders gathered in solidarity, not only against violence overseas, but for understanding at home.
The bombing of the Askariyah mosque destroyed its golden dome and triggered more than 90 reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques. The violence overseas threatens to heat up into a civil war that could spark a wider regional confrontation.
Beginning at 8 p.m. and going on late into the night, the March 3rd event was an attempt to establish dialogue between Muslims, an effort that attendees said is much needed.
The event drew over 150 participants from both schools of thoughtas well as Sufis and a handful of non-Muslims.
Speaking before the event, Unity Center Imam Mohamed Musa said, "As spiritual leaders we are here to show the community…that we are Shi'as and Sunnis and that we are together."
"We want to give a strong message to the community that what is going on [in Iraq] should not negatively affect us here. Every religious community has its criminals," said Musa.
After 8 p.m. evening prayers, Musa called on the mainly Sunni congregation to join him downstairs for the Shi'a-Sunni event. But once the meeting got underway it seemed at least 90% of the crowd was Shi'a.
Punctuating the night with loud group chanting for peace and blessings on the Prophet and his family, it was clear that the Shi'a community easily filled most of the hall. Part of that was because some had come on a bus rented by Husham al-Husainy, an imam at the Karbalaa Islamic Center in Dearborn,
The panel was a more religiously balanced group consisting of many faces from both Shi'a and Sunni communities. They generally struck a respectful tone calling for mutual understanding and cooperation.
"American people do not recognize us as Sunnis and Shi'as, and it's time we see each other as [part of] one community…we all believe in one God and I assure you we love the family of the Prophet. We all love Ali and Fatima, we all love Hassan and Hussain,"said Mouhib Ayas, president of the Muslim Unity Center.
"You are all welcome to the Unity Center, the center of unity," added Musa.
"Even if we sit down and simply have coffee, this is the strongest message we can give to [Satan], who seeks to divide us...the most important thing is that we should not lose hope in Allah," he said.
Musa said that while there is a civil war going on in Iraq, he draws inspiration from the example of the American states that fought each other during the civil war, but which are now united.
He also pointed out that while Europe was war-torn in World War II, it is now possible to take a train across the same countries, "from coast to coast." He prayed peace would also come to Iraq in the same way.
"People in Iraq are suffering…Iraq is burning, but like a candle is giving light to unity," said Mohammad Ali Elahi, imam of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights.
He said that "aggressive" elements seeking to exploit general ignorance in the masses were part of a "policy of divide and rule," a strategy he said is currently held by "policy makers in Iraq."
Elahi also put blame on Wahabbism, the movement most notably promoted by Saudi elements, for supporting false ideas about Shi'as and spreading hatred.
"Where is this second Qur'an…this Qur'an which no one has ever seen?" he asked, drawing attention to one false notion, that Shi'as have a separate Qur'an from Sunnis. Drawing chuckles from some attendees he said, "Now the Shi'as are laughing, the Sunnis are laughing."
"What is the difference between praying with hands down or up? Even there are many Sunnis who pray with their hands down…there are some scholars who say a Shafa’i [Sunni] and Hanafi [Sunni] cannot marry, these are the same people that say Shi'as and Sunnis cannot marry," added Elahi.
"I'm proud to be coming from a family which is half Shi'a and half Sunni," said al Husainy, noting that sectarianism was coming into Iraq from outside.
Al-Husainy said that in a stampede which took place on a bridge at the Kazimiyyah Shrine in Baghdad, there was a man who saved several women and children falling into the water.
He saved six but drowned trying to save a seventh, a woman. The hero here was a Sunni. All the people he had tried to save were Shi'as. "This is Iraq,"said al-Husainy.
The local community "needs to establish an organization that allows meaningful Muslim-Muslim dialogue," said Muneer Fareed, associate professor with the Department of Near Eastern and Asian Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit.
"[But] if we look at ideological and theological differences, we're going to get bogged down. We have to look towards the future," mentioned Fareed, suggesting that there were numerous other issues Muslims should focus on.
"We should seriously look towards the issues and practical realities and work towards the future," he noted.
Not only are there problems between Sunnis and Shi'as, but each community suffers from internal divisions. "It is so strange to hear about differences among Iraqis and Lebanese and they belong to the same school of thought. We all know this…there are problems between Arabs and non-Arabs,"said Dawud Walid, Executive Director for CAIR-Michigan.
Walid too drew attention to divisions among Muslims as being a weak link that the communty's enemies could easily abuse.
He said those sought to keep slaves weak, created artificial divisions such as favoring lighter skinned individuals over darker skinned ones. "We need to learn about not creating differences,"said Walid, who mentioned CAIR-Michigan "has been working with Sunni and Shi'a leaders to bring about more dialogue.
"This gathering should be the beginning, not the end [of dialogue and cooperation], said Aly Lela, a teacher at Islamic American University in Southfield and student at Wayne State University in Detroit.
After the gathering, Lela said he had dropped all his plans and drove all the way from Toledo, Ohio to be present at the intrafaith gathering. He had only received his invitation to be on the panel the same day of the event, but that didn't stop him from coming. "This was more important," he said.
"I know many Shi'a brothers who I have conversations with…we need to decrease the sensitivity and increase the tolerance for another," said Lela, a Sunni, during his speech.
Almost all the panel members, Sunni and Shi'a, who spoke made it clear that the bombing of the Askariyah Shrine was an attack, not on just a building, but on a symbol of Islam for all Muslims and peace throughout humanity. The attacks on the mosques used by Sunnis were also roundly condemned as being un-Islamic.
It was the first face to face meeting for many on the panel. And it was not a meeting billed as a debate, but one in which everyone looked at what they had in common.
But there was one person who said too much was being made out of the attack on the Askariyyah shrine. "It’s only a building," said Eide Alawan.
Alawan, who is Interfaith Coordinator at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, a Shi'a institution, said he was speaking for himself at this event. "Forget about the Middle East, the Middle East doesn’t matter," he said.
He was met by silence from the crowd that until that point in the night had been calling out praise for the panel. But later when asked by this reporter if he still stood by his quote, Alawan nodded and smiled.
After the event was over, attendees seemed generally pleased with what they saw although they were also critical.
"Individuals need to draw their own conclusions and that can only happen with interaction. [It will be more possible] the more Shi'as and Sunnis work together," said Farhan Latif, currently working with Admissions at University of Michigan in Dearborn. Latif is a past student body president at U of M Dearborn, as well as past president of the campus Muslim Student Association.
"Initially there was a feeling of tension but [the crowd] relaxed," said Sofia Begg-Latif, Latif’s wife and currently a double political science and journalism major set to graduate in December.
"The greater community has realized that [the division] is a problem that needs to be addressed. [Unity] should be taught to children growing up and at Sunday schools," she said, adding that growing up she did not realize that the Shi'a community was so significant.
"Beyond the discussion we need to take more practical steps [for unity],” said Ibrahim Kadiri, a marketing major in Dearborn.
Kadiri also said that some of the imams had mentioned that they were unfamiliar with one another and that he would like to see “more dialogue.”
“It’s about time that the broader community addresses this issue,” noted Amal Killawi, an administrative assistant at Becker Public School in Dearborn, joining Kadiri, her husband.
Killawi added that she wished “there were more people” at the event but that she was “awestruck” by the number of scholars on the panel.
“Hopefully these events will help us open our eyes to the fact that we are brothers,” added Jafar Abbas, chairman of the Islamic Community Center in Madison Heights
Abbas noted that while Islam teaches love, compassion, dignity, and peace, a good part of negative relations could be chalked up to ignorance. “There are a lot of misconceptions about the Shi’a, there is a lot of hearsay,” he said.