There is no shortage of extremists ready to capitalise on the events in Syria to serve their own divisive agendas
In an article entitled, ‘Sectarian Hatred at the Heart of British Muslim community,’ The Times recently highlighted issues of sectarianism that have been bubbling in the UK for some time. These issues have been crystallised after the Syrian conflict which brought matters to a head.
The Times article highlighted a graffiti incident against a Bradford-based Shia institution that had the words ‘Shia Kaffirs’ sprayed across its entrance. TELL MAMA, the national anti-Muslim hate incident reporting project that I manage and founded, picked up this case within hours when a leading member of the British Muslim Shia community reported it into us.
The incident highlighted what many of us knew, that the Syrian conflict, combined with preachers in Muslim communities promoting anti-Shia rhetoric and a mixture of hatred towards Assad and his Shia backers (Hizbollah and Iran), were threatening to upset the fragile cohesion between both faith communities in the UK.
Whatever the driver for the Bradford incident, it was becoming patently obvious to us at TELL MAMA that there were some individuals in Yorkshire and the Midlands who were actively promoting anti-Shia rhetoric. In some instances these individuals have been quietly re-enforcing anti-Shia discussions fuelled by hatred towards Assad and the largely Shia-based military support network that is keeping his administration alive.
The first time I came across the Shia and Sunni fault-lines was in May 2013 whilst I was sitting in Edgware Road in central London. Prior to 2013, I had not seen much of a fissure between the communities, and there seemed to be an acceptance that they found common ground on issues such as Halal food preparation, countering anti-Muslim hatred, protecting places of worship etc.
However 2013 seemed to be a turning point for Sunni-Shia relations in the UK, as the Syrian war dragged on and Assad’s brutal repression of the mainly Sunni population started to appear on YouTube videos. Such readily available content no doubt fuelled public discussions in areas like Edgware Road.
I remember endless conversations taking place in the busy restaurants on this famous road which pitted family against family and business against business in endless arguments about the future of Syria, and about the future of Shia communities in Syria, Iraq and the Gulf.
Most conversations ended in a bout of shisha smoking, raised eyebrows and pats on the back, though it was clear that, however tentatively, positions were being taken and support bases tested. The conflict was beginning to have an impact here in the UK.
Sadly, there were people waiting to take advantage of these emerging religious and political divides. Keen to use any situation as an opportunity to promote extremism, Anjem Choudary and his motley crew descended on Edgware Road in July 2013.
Loudspeaker in hand, surrounded by young hotheads chanting anti-Assad and anti-Shia slogans, a few individuals decided that a group of men walking down Edgware Road were Shia. The resulting brutal assault on one of these men lead to over 10 separate cuts and bruises as he was mauled to the ground and hit with placards which Choudary’s group has previously used to demonstrate against the Egyptian Embassy in Mayfair.
A few days later, I met with the victim and he started to tell me his story. He was a Shia and he was married to a Sunni woman. His children would be influenced by both Islamic traditions and he lived his life on the basis that sectarianism was a cancer that had continued to damage Islam and Muslim communities.
He made clear to me that the attack on him was not something that he held against the Sunni community, and he saw the attack for what it was. He believed that extremist groups were using the war in Syria as a means of opening up Shia and Sunni fractures and this was one way in which Choudary and his group were trying to attract new followers.
The war in Syria has therefore acted as a catalyst for those seeking to create and build divisions within Muslim communities. These divisions have also been manipulated and used by extremist groups who believe that Shia communities are heretics who should be eradicated through force of arms.
Yet we must also acknowledge that there has always been a small section within Sunni communities who have always taken a theological position that Shia communities are non-believers. A handful of them have been active promoting this rhetoric in the UK since before the Syrian war.
Finally, some of the people that I meet in Muslim communities believe that there is no problem and that ‘outside forces’ are at work trying to divide Muslim communities in the UK. The only forces that I see are extremists from within who seek to divide and who relish violence and confrontation.
Sadly, as long as the war in Syria continues, the risk to the UK will remain. The least that we can do is to counter and confront those who seek to sow the seeds of hatred within, to create the conflicts of tomorrow.
Fiyaz Mughal is the director of Faith Matters and the founder of Tell Mama, a project which records and measures anti-Muslim incidents
46 Responses to “Shia hatred is a real and dangerous issue in the UK”
pyewacket
As I’ve already said, very few Christians nowadays read the Bible literally which is why they don’t cry out, ‘God is great’, or ‘Jesus Christ is great’ before carrying out some atrocity in the name of their god. Should anyone do such a thing in the name of the Christian god, no doubt that person would be regarded as crazy.
It’s important to emphasise that Christians regard the ‘sword’ described by Jesus as symbolic of a spiritual struggle of the soul (just as certain forms of jihad can be interpreted as a spiritual struggle).
Above all, there is not a single verse in the New Testament that calls Christians to commit violence to spread the gospel. On the contrary, the Koran has many verses instructing its followers to persecute and murder Jews, Christians, adulterers, and so forth. The sword referred to by Jesus is a spiritual sword, the sword of will. He warned his disciples that following him may result in the severing of family ties, so his disciples must be ready for that.
Aside from anything else, we all know that Jesus advised his followers to love their enemies, to turn the other cheek. Then there is the famous, ‘He who is without sin, cast the first stone’, and a woman who was about to be stoned for adultery was saved.
And yet women in Iran continue to be stoned to death for adultery; Saudi Arabia also carries out horrendous punishments for various crimes, the punishments guided by the Koran, which is the literal word of Allah, according to all Muslims I’ve spoken to, and thus there’s little leeway for reinterpretation of the violent parts.
Obviously, not all Muslims are murdererous religious fanatics, despite the harshness of their religion. Most allow their essential humanity to override its worst tenets. However, no one can deny that we are witnessing a deeply disturbing movement among mainly young Muslims who fantasise about the so-called virtues of the IS caliphate. And thus, the apparent ease in which IS continues to recruit jihadists from all over the world. This is what shocks most people and why many are losing patience and becoming intolerant of the Islamic belief system as whole.
The relatively few Muslims who commit atrocities in the name of their god is nevertheless causing massive disruption globally. Their crimes are affecting the way we all live, with ever increasing need for security. Surely you can’t deny this? No other religion is causing such widespread mayhem in the world today.
MahmudH
Any genuinely held belief has consequences. Christianity lost its power over politics in Europe in the 18th century, and in the last 100 years it has lost all but a handful of its adherents in Europe. Thus the comparison with Islam and Christianity in Europe today is like comparing a barking dog with a sleeping dog.
If you look at Africa, where Christianity still sometimes has sway over politics, you often see witchcraft on the statue books, and punishments for homosexuality.
Christianity, for the whole 1300 years when it held political power, did believe in forced conversion, holy war, violent punishments for non violent offences and use of torture to extract confessions. Looking back from the present and claiming jesus’s teachings make Christianity more peaceful and gentle than Islam is a very ignorant form of revisionism.
In terms of the Koran, claims that it advocates aggression or forced conversion are a misreading of the text. There are one or two confusing passages in chapter 9, but in context all calls to arms in the Quran are in line with the principles of just war theory, and forbid unjustified aggression.
Likewise there is no mention of stoning whatsoever in the Quran, unlike the bible. That doesn’t mean it isn’t practised – it is on the hadiths , just like calls for forced conversion and murdering non believers. That’s why it is important to distinguish between different beliefs, which your blanket attacks on Islam don’t do.
pyewacket
As I said, I’m talking about the present day. I’m not a Christian, nor indeed a devotee of any organised religion, my conclusions derive from what I see happening in the world today. The actions of religious devotees speak louder and more clearly than their religious texts.
Islam is antithetical to democracy, and thus gives the impression of backwardness. I can’t think of a single Islamic country which affords equal status to women, for example, despite different beliefs among different Muslims (which I do indeed recognise). Sufism, for instance, stands out as being different from other forms of Islamic belief, although I don’t know enough about Sufism to be certain that it’s a superior form.
As for ‘justified’ and ‘unjustified’ violence, well the particular Muslims who join Islamic state join for the sake of violence itself. There is no justification whatsoever, despite their political grievances, to carry out such unspeakable atrocities against humanity. It doesn’t take much to offend certain types of Muslim, since even a cartoon of their prophet will incite violence.
Point me to any Christian sect, or indeed any other religious belief system, which in our current time (most important to distinguish between the past and present) is spawning such an intense level of victimhood and associated sense of justification in wreaking terrible revenge?
You might say it’s not in Koran, but IS do indeed carry out everything which is described in the Koran, to the letter. They are literalists. Thankfully, not all Muslims support such vile practises, but most fantasise about creating a world Caliphate which is a totalitarian concept.
MahmudH
Try the Lords Resistance Army of Uganda. They are Christian fundamentalists and their brutality was widely publicised a few years ago with the Kony you tube video. The only difference between them and ISIS is that ISIS have received money, weapons and training from Saudi Arabia and possibly the CIA.
You think ISIS are koranic? You obviously know nothing about the Koran. Where do you think it says to murder prisoners in the Koran? Nowhere. Where does it say to burn people in cages in the Koran? Nowhere. The Koran never even says women should wear headscarves, let alone burkas. People claim the Koran advocates slavery, but that is also rubbish, based on systematic mistranslation. Nowhere in the Koran does it allow you to buy another human being, never does it say you can force anyone to work for you.
Do you know what is really incompatible with democracy? Neoliberal capitalism. There’s no democracy in countries where billionaires own the media and the candidates. It’s all a show.
anonymouse
ehem…since you started the religious mudslinging. Maybe you should mention 900 years of wave of Crusades of murdering Christians killing in Jesus name. Okay. What about the KKK terrorising black people in Jesus name. Christian Identity abortion clinic bombing in Jesus name. I can bring loads of examples to sling to discredit Christianity all based in Scripture by people who believe in the religion. Maybe you dont know wtf you are talking about.