|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 30 May 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Qatar's Shaikh Yusuf pleads for dialogue between Sunnis & Shias by S. H. A. Careem The Shia-Sunni problem still prevails in various parts of the world where Muslim concentration is high. In South Asia, specially during the month of Muharram - first month of the Islamic Calendar - Shia-Sunni clashes occur specially in Pakistan and India. Recently several Muslims were killed or attacked and mosques were damaged by both groups in Pakistan and India.Relations between Shias and Sunnis have been strained for much of Muslim history. Many Shias and Sunnis see each other as apostates or even as 'enemies' of Islam. In Sri Lanka there are about five thousand Shias and majority of the Muslims are Sunnis. Borahs too are Shias. In his recent Fatwa, the Qatar-based Shaikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi points out there is much that Sunnis and most Shias share, and this must form the basis for developing a genuine Islamic ecumenism. Shaikh Yusuf-al-Qaradawi is considered to be one of the world's leading Islamic scholars. Author of numerous books, he is known for his open minded attitude. One issue on which the Shaikh has written extensively relates to relations between different Islamic groups, sects and movements. He decries extremist interpretations of the faith that readily brand all other Muslims as infidels and outside the pale of Islam. Instead he pleads for moderation and dialogue among Muslims seeing this as mandated by the Quran and the prophetic example. Shaikh Yusuf al Qaradawi argues that both Shias and Sunnis share many fundamental beliefs, such as faith in one God, in Prophet Mohammed (Pbuh) as the 'Seal of the Prophets', in all the heavenly scriptures and prophets and in the Quran as God's word. Shias as well as Sunnis agree in the matter of the five pillars of Islam - the testimony to the oneness of God and to Prophet Mohammed as being God's messenger, the specified prayers, zakat, haj and fasting in the month of Ramazan. He goes so far as to argue that the differences between Shias and Sunnis in the ways in which the 'five pillars' are understood are like the scholarly difference in opinion among the Sunni schools themselves such as the Hanbali, Hanafi and Maliki schools. In his effort to bring Shias and Sunnis closer, the Shaikh approvingly refers to the well-known Sunni scholar Imam Ash-Shawakani, who, he writes 'referred to eminent scholars of jurisprudence among the Sunnis and Shias on equal footing.' The Shaikh maintains that in matters of jurisprudence, on issues concerning both 'worship' and 'transactions', there is probably no 'crucial difference' between Shias and Sunnis. The Shaikh is not unmindful of the differences, on certain issues, between the Sunnis and most Shias, although he considers them relatively insignificant, at least compared to what they share in common. In highlighting the commonalities between the two, he also argues against a widely held view in some Sunni circles, of all Shias as believing in certain doctrines that are not accepted by the Sunnis. As the Shaikh sees it, intra-Muslim rivalry, particularly between Shias and Sunnis, only plays into the hands of forces that are interested in creating divisions among the Muslims. Unlike in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh the Sri Lankan Muslims are not involved in creating problems on the Shia-Sunni issue. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
