Tolerance Stressed on Shiite Holy Day

[Grant]

"Imam Tahir Anwar leads the South Bay Islamic Association, probably the largest Sunni mosque in the Bay Area. Speaking to the crowd, he said that Muslims too frequently think narrowly about the ummah, a term used to describe Muslims around the world. He said the ummah needs to be thought of as all people -- including non-Muslims -- and that integration with broader American society should be embraced."

Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, Chronicle Religion Writer
Sunday, January 28, 2007


Hundreds of Shiite Muslims mournfully marched through downtown San Jose on Saturday to commemorate an ancient patriarch's martyrdom -- a symbol of nonviolent resistance that they see as still vital in today's world.

Chanting prayers, wailing songs and beating their chests, the roughly 300 men and women wearing black remembered Imam Husayn ibn Ali, who was killed in A.D. 680 because he would not submit to the rule of Yazid, a Muslim political leader viewed by many as oppressive. The march culminated in a talk in front of San Jose City Hall, where Sunnis, Catholics and other non-Shiites spoke of the need for interreligious harmony.

The event was believed to be the first-ever public demonstration of the Shiite faith in the South Bay.

The day, known as Ashura, is one of the holiest of the year for Shiites, also called Shia, who are roughly 15 percent of the global Muslim population. It has gained greater symbolic significance over the past year as tensions between Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites have escalated.

The martyrdom of Husayn came roughly 48 years after the death of the prophet Muhammad, who Muslims believe received the divine word of God. Husayn's death marked one of the defining sources of division between the two Muslim sects. Yazid was a Sunni, and his killing of Husayn is often remembered by Shiites as a symbol of their perceived mistreatment by Sunnis.

Many point to the bombings in 2006 near or at mosques dedicated to Shiite imams, including Husayn, as fueling the sectarian conflict that has engulfed Iraq over the past year.

Those gathered in San Jose deplored the violence in Iraq as anti-Muslim, saying that the message of Husayn was one of peaceful resistance to injustice. Husayn, the grandson of Muhammad, would have wanted people to understand those of other faiths, they said.

"When you don't know 'the other,' you think he's your enemy," said Imam Seyed Hejazi, one of the day's speakers and spiritual leader of the Islamic Institute of New York, a mosque and cultural center in Queens. "But if you know him, you'll tolerate him.

"What's going on in Iraq is ignorance," Hejazi said. "Out of this ignorance, terrorism will rise and enmity will rise."

Shiite marchers held signs promoting interfaith understanding, including a banner with Christian, Muslim and Jewish symbols. Another banner quoted the late Hindu leader Mohandas Gandhi, who said that "the progress of Islam does not depend on the use of the sword by its believers, but the result of the supreme sacrifice of Husayn, the great saint."

Jawad al-Mamori, 40, returned to his Sunnyvale home from Iraq on Jan. 22. Thoughts of his family still there -- including a mother and a sister -- weighed heavily on his mind. Husayn's life ought to be a model for the Muslim world, he said.

Yazid, as caliph, was a political leader among Muslims of that time, but his views and policies were seen as unjust. Husayn spoke out. However, rather than fight, he moved himself and his followers to Karbala. Yazid's forces pursued and killed him.

Today, too many Muslim countries are ruled by oppressive dictators, said al-Mamori, a board member of the Shia Muslim Association of Bay Area, a San Jose mosque. He said faith, not politicians, should guide Muslims and non-Muslims in their actions.

"War is not the solution to control life," he said. "It has to be peace. That's why Imam Husayn was killed -- because he refused to give his allegiance to a dictator's regime."

Seyed, the New York City imam, believes that many of the thousands of Sunnis and Shiites being killed today in Iraq are dying because they are refusing to cooperate with terrorists. He believes they are dying like Husayn.

Imam Tahir Anwar leads the South Bay Islamic Association, probably the largest Sunni mosque in the Bay Area. Speaking to the crowd, he said that Muslims too frequently think narrowly about the ummah, a term used to describe Muslims around the world. He said the ummah needs to be thought of as all people -- including non-Muslims -- and that integration with broader American society should be embraced.

"Many times we live in denial that we are here," said Anwar, who grew up in San Jose.

While staying true to Islamic principles, he said, Muslims "will only be successful if we learn to integrate into the community we live in."

E-mail Matthai Chakko Kuruvila at mkuruvila@sfchronicle.com.

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©2007 San Francisco Chronicle

[Seoma [Crawler2]]

Ashura wrongly attached with martyr of Imam Hussain (ra). Nobody hates history or is afraid for people to find out what happened to Hussain ibn Ali. The concern is that he's become so connected with Ashura that people think that's what the day is supposed to be about; when Ashura doesn't have anything to do with Hussain ibn Ali, it's a day to celebrate the Moses (as) and the Children of Israel's exodus from Egypt, but this is being completely lost in some Muslim's remembrance of Hussein's death. Hussain may have been killed on that day, but that shouldn't make it *his* day, or shia day because it isn't.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Mowlid
That wasn't the point of the article however.

[fagash_killer]

Shiite marchers held signs promoting interfaith understanding, including a banner with Christian, Muslim and Jewish symbols. Another banner quoted the late Hindu leader Mohandas Gandhi, who said that "the progress of Islam does not depend on the use of the sword by its believers, but the result of the supreme sacrifice of Husayn, the great saint."

[Seoma [Crawler2]]

[quote="MAD MAC"]Mowlid
That wasn't the point of the article however.[/quote]

i know but muslim mixing things together. they both have that day as a special but for different reasons.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Yes, Sunnis for one reason, Shi'ites for another. But we could try to stick with the intent of the thread, don't you think? Funny how these guys can march safely in America (supposedly the enemy of Islam) but in Iraq they risk getting blown up.

[Seoma [Crawler2]]

"But we could try to stick with the intent of the thread, don't you think?"

No i don't think so.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Kid, you're incorrigeable.

[Seoma [Crawler2]]

do you know my father by any chance? that what he says about me. im not kid though.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Everything is relative. And I might know your father.