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
Mud slinging? If only the Islamists confined themselves to such a relatively innocuous pass time.
I’m merely stating the obvious. In the present time, the greatest threat to Western civilization and democracy is the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The crusades are history. Christians are not crusading nowadays, mostly they’ve grown out of such behaviour. As for the KKK, this is hardly gaining support worldwide in the same way that Islamic State is successfully recruiting followers. The KKK is a tiny strange and nasty group confined to parts of the USA. Likewise, the small breakaway lunatic Christians who attack abortion clinics.
I should also remind you that I don’t support any religion, it’s all mind stuff, invented to control behaviour of the masses. What I am saying is that Islam is CURRENTLY the most problematic religious belief system in the world today. It has many millions of followers and is gaining strength in a negative way. Aside from the daily reports of suicide bombings and other related attacks, I’m particularly concerned about its attempt at imposing upon non-Islamic countries, such as the UK, an Islamic blasphemy code. It does this by threatening those who criticise the Islamic belief system and especially if they make cartoons of the warmongering prophet of Islam.
pyewacket
I’m not a Christian, so I’m not defending the faith – except to say that Christ was not a warlord like Mohammed. He killed no one. He preached pacifism, even though not all Christians follow his example. Indeed, the difference between the Koran’s Mohammed and the Biblical Jesus is that Mo spread the religion by the sword, literally. He killed many people in the process.
Regarding Isis, they are following the violent path advocated in the Koran because they regard themselves as participating in a just war against infidels. Their aim is to Islamise the entire world. You know as well as I do that the Koran is awash with violent passages and commands to attack non believers. At risk of boring anyone else who may be reading these posts, which are getting too lengthy, I’ll post a few violent Koranic commands in a separate post shortly.
pyewacket
Incidentally, I forgot to mention earlier that I’m fully aware of the fact that the Koran does not demand that women wear the burka. This is the reason why I’ve argued with Muslim women in the UK who choose to wear it for ‘religious’ purposes and for ‘modesty’. A mad choice indeed – and totally inconsiderate to those women in certain Islamic countries who are forced to cover up and would give anything to be free of the inhumane shroud.
Any way, here’s just a handful of the many Koranic calls to violence. Such verses are being used by IS as an excuse to kill, maim, terrorise and enslave.
“Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them.”
2:191-193
“Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves.”
4:24
“And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you.”
5:33
“The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”
9:5
“So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.”
9:29
“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that
forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah (a penalty tax ) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
9:111
anonymouse
Christians are crusading nowdays just not on a national standpoint. I named just 2 such groups that terrorise people.
The extremist threat today from muslims still pales in comparison to 900 years of murdering crusaders killing on the justification of their religion.
pyewacket
How strange that you seem to be justifying present day Islamic atrocities all because of the historic Crusades! The Crusades were a response to Islamic violence, albeit the Crusaders were as vicious as the Islamists. I don’t condone religious warfare. Certainly religion has sparked a great deal of warfare throughout history due to its slavish adherence to irrational ancient texts.
Let’s focus on the here and now, which is what really matters. How many airports worldwide are on red security alert due to the threat of Christian terrorism and the Klu Klux Klan? Only yesterday a crazed Islamist tried to murder innocent people on a train from Paris. Day after day we hear of Islamic atrocities being carried out in the name of that particular religion. Why pretend that it’s not happening?
It amazes me just how many people remain in deep denial over the prescriptive calls to violence found in the Koran. Not all Muslims regard such versus as symbolic of spiritual or inner struggle. They feel they must emulate their prophet in the literal physical sense. This is why revisionists like Maajid Nawaz are trying to encourage Muslims to separate political Islam from religious Islam, and thus he uses the term ‘Islamists’ when referring to those whose aim is to impose a totalitarian political-religious system (incorporating Sharia law) within their host countries.