In early March the Muslim Public Affairs Council hosted a meeting of Southern California Muslim leaders to address the growing rift between Sunnis and Shi’as. The participants included Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui, chairman of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California; Dr. Maher Hathout, senior advisor of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Mr. Salam al-Marayati, executive director of MPAC; Sayed Moustafa al-Qazwini, imam at the Islamic Educational Center, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR); and Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California.
With the civil war in Iraq continuing to spiral out of control, many American Muslim leaders are concerned that peaceful co-existence between the large Sunni and Shi’a communities in the States might be threatened.
"I was one of the original people involved in the first sessions where we discussed the tensions," explained Sayed Moustafa al-Qazwini, imam at the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County in Costa Mesa, Calif. "In Dearborn, Michigan some of the Shi’a centers were attacked, and it was believed, but not confirmed, that it was done by radicals from other Muslim groups. So we gathered together with our brothers, the Sunni leaders, and we decided to do a series of preventive measures to heal this rift between the two branches of Islam."
The signing ceremony was hosted by al-Qazwini’s center and attended by leaders of both communities on March 31, 2007. "The purpose of the code is to foster better understanding between Shi’a and Sunni communities, to not call each other ‘kafir,’" said Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, co-author of the code, referring to the Arabic word that means non-believer. "Yes, our differences are there but it doesn’t mean that we should be violent. We should have dialogue and discussion, and the purpose of discussion should not be to increase animosity."
The Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, or ISCSC,, was formed as a non-profit organization in November 1995. According to Dr. Siddiqi, "[Its] role is to bring all of the Islamic centers and Islamic organizations in Southern California together, coordinate the activities and have consultation on issues of common concern. That’s what ‘shura’ means—consultation. Shura does not interfere in the individual centers’ activities or programs, but at the same time it wants to add harmony to our activities."
ISCSC is composed of two bodies, the first being a general assembly that presently consists of 45 non-voting representatives from different Islamic centers and Islamic organizations from Conejo Valley to Mission Viejo, West L.A. to Temecula. The second body is a nine member board, known as the "Majlis," which wields full voting rights and is elected for three year terms by the general assembly.
The code may soon be a model for Muslim communities in other states across the nation.
While similar active and semi-active councils exist in Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, and New York, Syed pointed out that the ISCSC is unique because from its inception, it deliberately included all schools of thoughts. "We are the only council in the country that has both Sunni and Shia representation," he said.
An important accomplishment of the council has been its role in bringing about understanding between mosques and law enforcement officials. Most recently, it educated airport authorities on pilgrims returning from the Hajj. Siddiqui said that many Muslims expressed appreciation. "When they came back from Hajj they were actually welcomed instead of experiencing unnecessary delays and searches," he said.
Syed feels that part of the reason for the success of such initiatives is because of the region itself. "I think that southern California is unique because this is not an alien concept to Muslims who live here, by and large. A few months ago the New York Times published a piece about an African-American inner city imam who was invited to a suburbia Islamic Center on Long Island and it was the first time that this inner city imam had, quote, ‘the opportunity to go to the suburbia mosque.’ When we read that we were shocked."
Future projects for the Shura Council include youth training programs, dispute arbitration services and regular meetings for the Imams of all Islamic Centers for communication and training. Looking to expand, Syed said, "We hope that in the next few months to a year these communities will organize themselves and we’ll establish a California Statewide Shura Council, the first of its kind in the entire country, organizing the entire one million Muslims in the state."
As for Qazwini and his Islamic Educational Center, they fully back the council. "I believe that this is not a luxury, but a necessity that we gather and form a united front against the challenges that we face," he said. "I think that the open-mindedness of our leaders will help and be very effective in bringing the communities together and create a new climate in which we can like each other, maybe not necessarily believe in each other’s theology because there are differences, but still live together and respect each other."
On the web: www.shuracouncil.org
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In short, the code calls for:
• The prohibition of takfir against anyone who believes in the Oneness of Allah, in Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the seal of the prophets and the last receiver of a divine scripture, and in the viability and authenticity of the Holy Qur’an.
• Respect and tolerance for the personalities, events and acts of worship of other groups.
• Specialized and objective academic halaqas (study groups) to be formed by qualified scholars to study in depth issues of Muslim history, creed and jurisprudence for the sake of knowledge, academic research and reconciliation, and not as tools of propaganda and division. If problems arise then a joint body of prominent Muslim scholars, representing both schools of Islam (Shi’a and Sunni) would be consulted to evaluate the issue and render a balanced and constructive solution.
Signatories: Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui, chairman of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California; Dr. Maher Hathout, senior advisor of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC); Dr. Ridha Hajjar, religious director of the Ahlul-Bayt Mosque; Salam al-Marayati, executive director of MPAC; Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR); and Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California.
