Harmful Effects of Anti-Shia Discrimination - Assignment Example

Harmful Effects of Anti-Shi’a Discrimination Anti-Shi’ism can be described as hatred or prejudice against Muslims of the Shi’a sect based on the heritage of their religion (Walker 16). The most agreed upon cause for the prejudice can be traced to the dispute that arose after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to a split among the Muslim community into two fundamental sects: the Shi’a and the Sunnis. The Sunnis, also referred to as the followers of the way, decided on following the caliphate maintaining that any Muslim, who is devout in the eyes of his peers, has the potential of being a successor of the Prophet. However, the Shi’a believe that only a person who is elected by Allah can succeed the Prophet after the Prophet has declared him his successor, deciding on Imam Ali as their religious authority. Following this split, the Sunni Muslims have over the centuries perceived their rival sect as a threat to their religious authority, and politically as well. Sunni leaders, especially under the Umayyad, began a systematic marginalization of the Shi’a, who formed a minority of the Muslim community, while the Abbasids also turned on the Shi’a, killing, persecuting, and imprisoning them (Walker 18). The Shi’a community to this day remains a marginalized and persecuted sect in the majority of Muslim states. This discrimination has harmed the Shi’a by ensuring that they are less educated than Sunnis, cannot practice their religion, and cannot get work in their countries. Discrimination against the Shi’a has led to their inability to practice their religion, which has caused resentment towards their Sunni counterparts, as they are denied their right of worship. For example, Chehab in Sunni vs. Shia: All You Need to Know claims that “Jordanian tribes have banned Shi’as from paying homage at the historical grave site of a prominent Shi’a imam” (13). This is in addition to the banning by most Sunni-led governments of any Shi’a festivities, going as far as refusing to exempt Shi’a students and teachers from attending school to join the festivities. In fact, the Saudi Arabia government arrested various Shi’a community and religious leaders after they took part in Ashura commemorations. This led to protests in which over fifty Shi’a members either were killed or went missing. The Shi’a Muslims are also disallowed to access religious centers such as mosques, forcing them to perform their prayers on Friday in their houses (Chehab 13). This means that Shi’a Muslims, despite being part of the broader Islam family, are second-class religious citizens in most Muslim dominated countries. They are treated no differently than Christians, who are discriminated against in the same way and might as well be without religion. This has all the hallmarks of an irreversible religious war if unchecked. In addition, all able bodied Muslims are required to visit Mecca at least once in their lifetime, which is one of Islam’s five pillars, to perform the Hajj. Although this event is supposed to count as one of the most intense religious times in the Muslim calendar, a group of Shi’as who were on a pilgrimage were arrested in 2009 by the Saudi religious police. This was part of Sunni Muslims,’ particularly the Wahhabi sect’s, aim to “purify Islam of any innovations or practices that deviate from the seventh-century teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions” (Giritlioglu 1). The incident resulted in one of the pilgrims, a fifteen-year-old boy, being shot in the head and chest, while a Shi’a sheikh was knifed by an unknown person in the back for being what he termed as a rejectionist. Allowed to continue, such actions can only lead to reprisal attacks in Shi’a majority countries, resulting in a never-ending cycle of violence. Another shocking form of religious discrimination involves Shi’a Muslims not being allowed to sell any religious paraphernalia or organize Quranic classes, and where they are caught, most are detained and punished (Giritlioglu 1). This has led to the Shi’a sect being denied their right of religious worship in Sunni majority countries. Discrimination against Shi’a Muslims has triggered low literacy rates for members of the sect, especially in countries that have Sunni majorities. In most Muslim countries, especially in the Middle East, education uses religious material for most of its lessons. In Sunni dominated countries, education has been used “in the realm of religious conversion from one denomination to another within Islam” (Pinault 50). From the time students are young, most of these schools teach that the Shi’a Muslims do not form part of Islam and that they are a Jewish conspiracy. In this light, they are considered to be worthy of death. Furthermore, most Sunni scholars have contended that no chance of harmony exists between the Shi’a and the Sunnis since the Shi’a are deviants and have been known to spread heresy. In addition, some Sunni scholars have called for Sunnis to take up Jihad against Shi’a Muslims to prevent them from practicing their religion in their schools or spreading their “heresy” to the Sunni children. Since this belief is engrained in Sunnis from their childhood in the schools, it follows them even when they grow up (Pinault 51). This only acts to perpetuate the dangerous levels of conflict by indoctrinating children who have no way to research on what they are being taught, leading to escalating hate speech and follow-through attacks. Not only is this prejudice present in school textbooks, in Sunni-majority countries, it is also spread by the teachers during classes (Pinault 52). These teachers and the textbooks ensure that this is disseminated from one generation to the next with those teachers who profess the atheistic nature of Shi’a Islam needed be killed without punishment. This ignorance spreads even to the universities where there is pervasive hatred for Shi’a Muslims. In fact, most educational websites that seek to spread Shi’a Islam in Sunni majority countries are regularly closed down (Pinault 53). This has led to many Shi’a Muslims keeping their children away from school due to threats and discrimination, which has caused Shi’as to have the highest illiteracy rates in most Muslim majority countries. Low literacy rates, in turn, only cause the Shi’a youth to be more prone to radicalization and eventual escalation of the sectarian conflict. Finally, discrimination against Shi’a Muslims has led to high rates of unemployment against followers of the sect, particularly in Sunni majority countries. Discrimination against Shi’a Muslims in the workforce has seen most of them prohibited from being religious subject teachers, which constitutes approximately 50% of all secondary and university courses in Muslim secondary schools (Fuller 35). In addition, Shi’a Muslims cannot join some schools due to their faith, while it is impossible for them to become school principals. Harassment of Shi’a scholars in universities is rampant from fellow faculty members and students. They are not allowed to be witnesses in cases that are before Sharia courts either. This also extends to them not being able to serve in the courts as judges, as well as being banned from holding security posts or top government jobs, ensuring that they cannot become officers in the army or pilots in the air force, or even be admitted to academies for the military. These factors combine to force Shi’a Muslims away from employment and leave the majority of them jobless and resentful of the Sunni authorities and citizens (Fuller 36). Shi’a Muslims face marginalization and discrimination everywhere in Sunni majority countries, which leads to their high rates of illiteracy, high unemployment, and minimal religious freedoms. While there have been attempts by various authorities in the Muslim world to bring the two sects together and advance tolerance of each other, most countries have not moved forward, and this has caused the large-scale marginalization of the Shi’a community. Works Cited Chehab, Zaki. "Sunni Vs. Shia: All You Need to Know." New Statesman 136.1 (2007): 12–15. Print. Fuller, Graham. "The Shia Vs. Sunni Split." New Perspectives Quarterly 23.4 (2006): 34–36. Print. Giritlioglu, Ikim. "Friends or Foes?: Sunnis and Shiis in the Middle East." Conference Papers. International Studies Association, 2008. 1. Print. Pinault, David. "Sunni-Shia Sectarianism and Competition for the Leadership of Global Islam." Tikkun 25.1 (2010): 45–75. Print. Walker, Martin. "The Revenge of the Shia." Wilson Quarterly 30.4 (2006): 16–20. Print. Read More