Incidents of Anti-Shiism in August, 2016 – Shia Rights Watch

Shia Rights Watch Updates

See SRW updates to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor International Religious Freedom 2015 Report, which the Bureau released on 10.8.16

‘Sunni-Shi’i Rapprochement:
Internal Contradictions’

Hamid Mavani

Abstract
Ecumenical initiatives to promote Sunni-Shi’i reconciliation and
mutual respect have failed to take root because they do not tackle
the incendiary issues that prompt each branch to view the other with
disdain, if not as outright apostates or unbelievers. I argue that this
will not change until the main fault lines in their worldviews, communal
self-understanding, sacred narratives, history, theology, and
philosophy are confronted head-on.

If this cannot be done, then all proclamations of Muslim unity and
brotherhood/sisterhood under one ummah will remain hollow and
lack substance, because each side’s internal discourse would remain
unchanged. Any type of mutual tolerance and coexistence prompted
by expediency and power dynamics cannot be expected to be deeprooted
and long-lasting. The United States, along with such other
local and foreign players as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, and
Syria, have instrumentalized Sunni-Shi’i sectarianism to promote
their own myopic vested interests. The result is clear for all to see:
an exponential increase in Sunni-Shi’i antagonism.

The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 33:1 (2016), 133-47

Incidents of Anti-Shiism in April, 2016

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The Centre for Academic Shi’a Studies (CASS) invites you to an evening with the Malaysian academic writer and human rights activist Mr Mohammed Musa (also known as Faisal Tehrani).

Mr Musa specialises in comparative literature and human rights and has published over 20 books, some being banned in Malaysia. Mr Musa will be speaking about the human rights situation in Malaysia, specifically the situation of the Shia community, including other religious minorities in the country.

Date: 13th April 2016.
Time: 6:30 PM (doors open at 6:00 PM with refreshments).
Location: The Al-Khoei Foundation, Chevening Road, London, NW6 6TN.

Please confirm your attendance by RSVPing at events@shiaresearch.com

Kind regards,
Siddika Gulamhusein.

Shi’ism in South East Asia