US Muslims’ Unity Calls Welcome Ramadan
“The main thing is religious acceptance. And it is challenging, for sure,” Basheer Ahmed, president of the Institute of Qur’anic Knowledge & Intrafaith Religious Acceptance, was quoted by Dallas News on Saturday, June 28.
“There is destruction, people killing each other, and some say it is for religion — which is contradictory to our religious beliefs.”
Ahmed was addressing North Texas Sunnis and Shiites at Saturday's news conference held in Southern Methodist University.
During Ramadan conference, Muslim leaders have called for encouraging religious harmony, tolerance, and respecting human rights.
Stressing unity among Muslims, leaders of Islam’s major sects, Sunnis and Shiites, said that they “preferred simply to be referred to as Muslims, bound by the same faith”.
“For centuries, Sunnis and Shiites have coexisted together and lived together in complete peace and harmony,” said Azhar Aziz.
“If you are curious how they can, look at how we are gathered today.
“Muslims are about peace and unity. And we need to protect our communities from getting infected by this poison of hatred and senseless violence.”
Using the spiritual gatherings of the holy month to encourage religious dialogue between Islam sects, Muslim leaders called for creating a unified “moral ground”.
“We need to go to a higher ground, a moral ground,” said Moazam Syed, a member of the board of the Institute of Qur’anic Knowledge.
Sayed's daughter, who is a Sunni Muslim, said that she had her own preconceptions about Shiites “until I found a Shiite and realized we were not so different.”
Naureen Syed said that she saw Muslim students of the two sects used to shun each other at the University of Texas at Arlington.
“Shiites were not joining our organization because it was mainly Sunni,” she said.
“We reached out to them and invited them to meetings, to the point we had both communities praying next to one another.
“I know they can work together. I saw it on a college campus.”
Sunnis and the Shiites are the two major groups among Muslims. But most Sunni and Shiite believers recognize each other as genuine Muslims.
Both the Sunni and Shiite followers believe in Allah Almighty, in Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) and in the Day of Judgment.
Islam calls for unity and solidarity. Both Sunnis and Shiites are required to work together and try to overcome their points of difference or forget about them.
They should abide by the Qur’an and Sunnah, which are the assured means of salvation.
Source: On Islam
