Michigan Muslim leaders sign pact
http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=8545
2007-05-12
By Tarek M. Baydoun / The Arab American News
DEARBORN - Over two dozen local Muslim leaders met in Dearborn Heights this week to sign the "Muslim Code of Honor," widely touted as an unprecedented proactive statement of unity between American Shi’a and Sunni Muslims. The signing and press conference were organized by the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan (CIOM) and hosted at the Islamic House of Wisdom by . A similar event was recently held by California’s American Muslim population and similar signings are planned across the country.
The signing built upon recent efforts in the community after tragic events in the Middle East were perceived to have strained relationships between local American Muslims. After the bombing of the Askari mosque in Samaraa last February, several local Sunni and Shi’a imams issued a unified condemnation of the sectarian violence and a press conference was held at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. After the execution of Saddam Hussein in January of this year, several acts of vandalism occurred to Shi’a owned centers and businesses on Warren Avenue in Dearborn.
It was widely reported that this was likely a reaction by some Sunnis to the festivities in the local Shi’a community celebrated the execution. According to Dawud Walid of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Michigan (CAIR-MI) law enforcement agencies have not identified the perpetrators and there is no proof that the vandals had a sectarian motive.
A link to the text of the code of honor is available at the website of the Muslim Public Affairs Council at http://www.mpac.org.
According to the preamble of the Code, the effort is aimed at “preventing… sectarianism from spilling over to our Muslim communities in the United States.” The six-point code condemns the practice of “takfir,” or the labeling of fellow Muslims as infidels, calls for respect and dignity between communities and schools of thought, opposes the distribution of inflammatory literature which it states emanates primarily from overseas, and announces the intention to host intellectual discussions to promote dialogue between Sunni and Shi’a scholars to promote understanding. Its primary agenda item is agreement that the members will stress the commonalities between them, which they stated at the press conference far outnumber and outweigh the differences.(MORE)
2007-05-12
By Tarek M. Baydoun / The Arab American News
DEARBORN - Over two dozen local Muslim leaders met in Dearborn Heights this week to sign the "Muslim Code of Honor," widely touted as an unprecedented proactive statement of unity between American Shi’a and Sunni Muslims. The signing and press conference were organized by the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan (CIOM) and hosted at the Islamic House of Wisdom by . A similar event was recently held by California’s American Muslim population and similar signings are planned across the country.
The signing built upon recent efforts in the community after tragic events in the Middle East were perceived to have strained relationships between local American Muslims. After the bombing of the Askari mosque in Samaraa last February, several local Sunni and Shi’a imams issued a unified condemnation of the sectarian violence and a press conference was held at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. After the execution of Saddam Hussein in January of this year, several acts of vandalism occurred to Shi’a owned centers and businesses on Warren Avenue in Dearborn.
It was widely reported that this was likely a reaction by some Sunnis to the festivities in the local Shi’a community celebrated the execution. According to Dawud Walid of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Michigan (CAIR-MI) law enforcement agencies have not identified the perpetrators and there is no proof that the vandals had a sectarian motive.
A link to the text of the code of honor is available at the website of the Muslim Public Affairs Council at http://www.mpac.org.
According to the preamble of the Code, the effort is aimed at “preventing… sectarianism from spilling over to our Muslim communities in the United States.” The six-point code condemns the practice of “takfir,” or the labeling of fellow Muslims as infidels, calls for respect and dignity between communities and schools of thought, opposes the distribution of inflammatory literature which it states emanates primarily from overseas, and announces the intention to host intellectual discussions to promote dialogue between Sunni and Shi’a scholars to promote understanding. Its primary agenda item is agreement that the members will stress the commonalities between them, which they stated at the press conference far outnumber and outweigh the differences.(MORE)
posted by Dawud Walid - Contact at imam@dawudwalid.com at 12:54 PM
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