Shi’a-Sunni tensions: who is to blame?
Feb 03, 2007 in Middle East, Sunni/Shi'a Issues
According to this article, the ongoing escalation of Shi’a-Sunni tensions is the result of American efforts to foster and encourage sectarian infighting in the Muslim World. The article claims that the campaign is part of the United States’ anti-Iran policy and is supported by the Arab regimes, who perceive Iran as their biggest threat and rival in the Middle East.
Although I agree with such claims insofar as they are presented as a political analysis, Muslims often exhibit a troubling tendency to attribute sectarian violence exclusively to external forces while ignoring the Muslim role in perpetuating it. There comes a point where we Muslims need to take responsibility for our own shortcomings. Our enemies do indeed have an interest in fostering hatred and distrust between Shi’a and Sunnis, but we’re the ones who are giving them ample opportunities to do so. It’s not Americans who are attacking Shi’a Ashura processions. It’s not Americans who are gunning down worshipers in Shi’a masajid. It’s not Americans who are issuing fatawa pronouncing takfir (excommunication) on the Shi’a, calling them “al-Rawafidh” (the deviants), and deeming them worse than the Jews and Christians. And it’s not Americans who are inspired by these fatawa to perpetrate such horrible crimes. Even here in the United States, many Shi’a can share stories about how they’ve been kicked out of Sunni masajid and discriminated against by their Sunni “brothers”. At some Sunni masajid in the West (usually those with strong Salafi contingents), anti-Shi’a propaganda (usually published by Saudi-backed “da’wah” centers) can be found among the newsletters, fliers, and other materials left for distribution after Friday prayer. Although the majority of Muslims do not harbor hatred toward the Shi’a, this alarming prevalence of anti-Shi’a violence and rhetoric indicates that there are serious problems in our Ummah. Even if external forces are behind such nonsense, whom must we ultimately blame if Muslims are doing the dirty work?
Does the United States manipulate and exacerbate divisions in the Muslim World to serve its own ends? Of course it does. But this is nothing new; these are the same tactics European colonialists used to bring most of the Muslim World under Western domination a century ago. At some point, we need to look inward and acknowledge some painful realities about our own issues. Blaming every problem on America is a counter-productive form of denial and self-delusion.