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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – April 17, 2006
Shia? Sunni? Here, labels are irrelevant
By Bill Osinski
Over there, everyone cares. Over here, who cares?
In the news from Iraq, the term "sectarian violence" has become a deadly catchphrase. Almost daily, there are reports of followers of different sects of Islam killing each other in staggering numbers and in brutal ways. Conflicts between the two main sects of Islam — Sunnis and Shias — have brought the country to the brink of civil war.
The worst of the violence has occurred at places of worship. Earlier this month, at least 70 people were killed in an attack by suicide bombers at a Shia mosque in Iraq.
But what happens when Muslims move into the neighborhoods of Gwinnett? The short answer is that as an import to America, trouble does not travel well.
Local and national Islamic leaders say the conflicts between Sunnis and the Shias, while real and dire in the Middle East, are simply irrelevant to their lives and to the lives of nearly all Muslim Americans.
Imam Hafiz S. Amjad, the spiritual leader of the predominantly Sunni Islamic worship center Masjid Omar in Lilburn, said sectarian politics is not part of the curriculum of the mosque's school.
"You could ask any of our children about the difference between Sunnis and Shias, and they probably don't know," Amjad said.
Nor are adults allowed to bring such topics into the mosque.
"If someone wants to make a speech, and if I even smell that he might have an agenda, I stop him right there," said Amjad. "We don't touch Middle Eastern affairs, and we don't let anyone talk about politics."
When Amjad opened his mosque about nine years ago, it was the first in the county; now there are six predominantly Sunni Muslim mosques in Gwinnett. In metro Atlanta, there are an estimated 75,000 Muslims.
Seyed Safavynia, imam of the predominantly Shia Muslim community that worships at the Sahebozzaman Islamic Center of Atlanta in Roswell, said the sectarian violence in the Middle East is not primarily a religious conflict but a display of the politics of anger.
"These people [committing violent acts] are not acting because of their faith," Safavynia said. "They are angry, they are frustrated, and they are hurting."
Nevertheless, the reputation for violence tends to get attached to all Muslims, even the ones who live quiet lives in the metro Atlanta suburbs, some Muslim leaders say.
"My biggest problem is that the actions of my Muslim brothers and sisters [in the Middle East] make me have to defend my faith," said Imam Suleyman Eris, education director of the Istanbul Center for Culture and Dialogue in Norcross. His community is made up mostly of Sunni Muslims who have emigrated from Turkey. "The people who do these things may identify themselves as Muslims, but they really don't know what Islam is."
To spread the Quran's message of a merciful and compassionate Islam, his center holds an annual dinner for metro Atlanta clergy of different faiths. Also, he said, the center sponsors annual tours of Turkey for invited clergy and academics, in order to introduce them to Muslim people and culture.
At the epicenter of the violence, sectarian affiliation is literally a matter of life and death, said Dr. Alan Godlas, an associate professor of religion at the University of Georgia and director of UGA's Virtual Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the Islamic World.
"Often being a member of an Islamic sect is less a matter of religious belief than of becoming aligned with the group in power, Godlas said. "Being on the losing side has major consequences," he said.
In contrast, such alignments are nowhere near as important in America, where religious tolerance is a fundamental principle, he said. Besides, many of the Muslim immigrants came to America in part to get away from sectarian violence, he said.
Corey Saylor, the government affairs director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said sectarian differences are "not a big deal" for Muslims in America.
At mosques he attends, "Sunnis and Shias pray side by side," Saylor said. Sometimes, a Sunni imam will preach at a mosque attended mostly by Shias, and vice versa, he said.
Amjad said there are major differences for Muslim immigrants here, as opposed to some nations in Europe. Terrorist acts have been committed — in England and the Netherlands for instance — by Muslims who were born in those countries. In some places in the Old World, Muslims are kept in the lowest ranks of the host nation's class structure, and rates of joblessness, and anger, are high.
By contrast, Amjad said, Muslims here in Gwinnett feel free to enter whatever business or professions they choose. "We are in much better shape in America," Amjad said. "Thank God we are in a place where we can practice our faith in security. America is a very, very beautiful country."
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/0417gwxiraq.html
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