Sunni-Shia tensions rising in the US?
Sep 28th, 2007, 10:41 am
USA Today discusses this issue in a recent article:
For years, Sunnis and Shiites in this country have worked together to build mosques, support charities, register voters and hold massive feasts for Eid al-Fitr (on Oct. 13 this year in the USA), the celebration at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Now there are small signs of tension emerging in America’s Muslim community that are raising concerns among many of its leaders. They worry that the bitter divisions that have caused so much bloodshed abroad are beginning to have an impact here. Such concerns are rising at a time when the USA’s Muslim community has grown from less than 1 million in 1990 to nearly 2.5 million today, with two of three Muslims born overseas, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.
“You have people who recently arrived from other places where things may have gotten out of hand,” says Sheik Hamza Yusuf, the U.S.-born co-founder of the nation’s first Muslim seminary, the Zaytuna Institute, in Berkeley, Calif. “It takes just one deranged person with a cousin back home who died in a suicide bombing to create trouble here.” (more)
I would make extensive commentary and some witty remarks like I usually do, but I’m really pressed for time, so I’m just gonna say this: why can’t we all just be Muslims? The fact that there are even sects among us is disturbing. I mean, didn’t Allah reveal Islam to humankind because people had distorted the messages of their previous prophets? There were no “sects” during the Prophet Muhammad’s time. These emerged after his death, in response to the question of who would lead the Muslim community. From that point on, we began to distort Allah’s message at an early stage in Islamic history. I really doubt Allah introduced Islam so that we may become more divided. Or maybe that’s part of the test.
On a lighter note, the article also talks about HijabMan, friend and fellow blogger that sells shirts that say things like “My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?” and “Frisk me, I’m Muslim.” His products were recently mentioned on a segment of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Good job!