Sunni and Shiite Reconciliation Conference Seeks to Build Trust between All Muslims
Fatimah al-Isawi

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Sunni and Shiite reconciliation conference scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia on 27 and 28 Ramadan with the aim of reaching an agreement to stop the escalating violence is also set to include a plea to Saudi clerics to address an appeal forbidding Muslims from declaring each other infidels and also the shedding of Muslims’ blood under any circumstances, A leading Iraqi cleric told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The proposal, which a group of Shiite and Sunni clerics drafted at preparatory meetings in Saudi Arabia, aims principally at removing the atmospheres of tension and lack of trust between Iraq’s Sunnis and Shiites.

“The document is not for establishing reconciliation between the Sunni and Shiite clerics but to let the people, especially those involved in the killing operations, feel that there is no distinction between the Sunnis and Shiites and that any differences are minor and do not spoil the relationship between the two sides.” Saleh al-Haydari, head of the Shiite Waqf Department in Iraq, told “Asharq al-Awsat”

He added that the broad lines of this document is to “highlight the organic relationship between the Shiites and Sunnis, remove the illusion among some who believe that the Shiites are infidels, and underline the very close relationship between them in addition to calling on neighboring countries to help Iraq stop the export of terrorism.”

Regarding the plea to Saudi clerics to address an appeal forbidding Muslims from declaring each other infidels the Shiite cleric believes that the issuance of such an appeal by the Saudi clerics would have a big impact on establishing peace in Iraq as it “will help deter those coming to Iraq to carry out operations believing that this will open the doors of paradise to them.

According to this Asharq Alawsat article, a group seeking to stop the sectarian violence in Iraq is seeking Saudi Arabia’s help in cooling the animosity between the two religious sects. Historically, Saudi Arabia has been intemperate in its defamation and restriction on Saudi Shi’i. It hasn’t gone as far as several of the Deobandi-inspired groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan in blowing up Shi’a mosques, but it has made life and religious practice difficult for the Shi’i.

Starting in the 1990s, the Saudi government has modified its critique of the Shi’i. King Abdullah, in particular, is seen to be trying to find ways to include the Shi’i in social and political discourse, but undoing hundreds of years of prejudice is going to take some time.

The proposal to have Saudi clerics condemn the discrimination and the “takfir tendency” is a good one, though. Particularly when it comes to fundamentalist interpretations of Sunni Islam, people do listen to them.