Shiites and Sunnis in the West have better more cohesive relationship: Mobaleghi

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Saturday, 05 March 2022

The representative of Lorestan in the Assembly of Leadership Experts emphasized, “Shiites and Sunnis in the West have a better and more cohesive relationship. Morally, the Shiites in the West better express the logic of the AhlulBayt (a.s.), and with better social communication and ethics, they have more responsibly placed this ethics at the heart of their social responsibility.”

On Saturday, March 5, 2022, on the first anniversary of Hojat al-Islam Sayed Moghtada Hosseini Abhari, the specialized conference “The situation of Shia in the West” was held.

In this conference, the representative of Lorestan in the Assembly of Experts said, “The late Hojat al-Islam Moghtada Hosseini Abhari, the founder of the Imam Ali (a.s.) Center in Switzerland, was scholar, servicing, knowledgeable and hardworking person.”

“I am talking about the interaction between Shiites and Sunnis in the West and abroad. Shiite interaction with Sunnis in Europe is better, more Islamic, more unifying, and more cohesive. Of course, there are rare cases. But the main approach of Shiites abroad with Sunnis - who are both immigrants - is constructive. There, Shiites interact better with Sunnis, they go to each other’s mosques, pray together, and have joint and reciprocal invitations and meetings,” Ayatollah Ahmad Mobaleghi explained.

“In interaction, the Shiites have shown better and clearer performance. If the statistics and field analysis are done, it will be clear that there is no problem between Shiites and Sunnis in the West, as it exists in Islamic countries. In Islamic countries, this difference and prejudice is observed, but in the West, Muslims are united. The Islamic Revolution of Iran introduced unity. This is macro-politics, and many countries emphasize this to some degree. But some are looking for prejudice and spread it. We are facing this problem in the Islamic world. Divisiveness is harmful for Islam, the Prophet (p.b.u.h), the Islamic Ummah, the Shiites and the Sunnis. Everyone suffers from division,” he continued.

“Shiites and Sunnis in the West have a better and more cohesive relationship. Morally, the Shiites in the West better express the logic of the AhlulBayt (a.s.), and with better social communication and ethics, they have more responsibly placed this ethics at the heart of their social responsibility,” emphasized the representative of Lorestan in the Assembly of Leadership Experts.

“The pursuit of Islamic unity, cohesion and ethics lies in Shiite thought and logic. In other words, this behavior is part of the values institutionalized in Shiite thought. The Sunnis also take this logic from Islam in their unifying interaction. Shiites in the West show the logic and precise view of unity and morality that originates from the sayings of the AhlulBayt (a.s.). This is not a fabrication, and the Shiites do not borrow it from anyone, but they pursue it from the culture of the AhlulBayt and Islam (a.s.),” he said about the roots of Shiite moral behavior in the West.

“There are several theories here. The theory of “consciousness” is the basis of individual and social movement. If the society acts according to the consciousness and awareness, the interactions in the Islamic society will be synergistic and convergent, and people will not seek to deny and deprive each other of the life facilities, and will not think of weakening each other,” Mr. Mobaleghi said about the reason for the moral interaction between Shiites and Sunnis in the West.

“If the Shiites and the Sunnis are not aware of each other’s facts, suspicions and illusions will be created and the facts of the other side will be ignored and will cause prejudice and separation. If there is awareness, there will be an opportunity for unity,” he added.

“Awareness means first-hand familiarity. Consciousness is not just awareness; it is beyond that. Consciousness is an extremely high awareness that is intertwined with the human soul, and this is formed in communication. If we want to activate the “theory of consciousness” in the Islamic world, we must increase communication, and, according to the narrations, we should establish connections between human beings. If there is more communication, awareness will increase, and high awareness will lead to unity,” said the professor of the seminary and the university about the difference between awareness and consciousness.

“The ‘conformity theory’ states that there are raw values, and if there is no room for adaptation of them, all of them will remain in the heaven of the values and will not descend to earth. Due to some reasons, we are in a position of conformity in the relations between Shiites and Sunnis. Because Muslims in the West live with non-Muslims. Therefore, in living with others, we think about adapting values related to others. Conformity theory states that as long as there is no room for adaptation, raw values remain at rest,” he said, stating another theory that causes the moral interaction of Shiites and Sunnis in the West.

“In ‘expectation theory’, expectation is essentially a social thought. The actor acts when he has space in society and things are expected of him. Expectation gives man space, and he acts accordingly. In the West, there is an expectation from Muslims. Because Muslims are watched there. Shiites and Sunnis expect each other to be related. The level of expectation makes Muslims to pursue Shia-Sunni unity and be value oriented. Therefore, if we want Muslims to be active in the Islamic world, we must activate the theory of expectation because we are part of society,” said the representative of Lorestan in the Assembly of Experts, expressing ‘expectation theory’.

“The origin, the presupposition, and the necessity of enjoining what is good and forbidding the evil, is the expectant view. Expectations should turn to social form, not individual. When the Shiite and Sunni minorities interact with each other in the West, the level of expectation raises, and the theory of expectation activates. This is where the groundwork is laid for unity and morality,” he added.

In the end, on the activities of Professor Sayed Moghtada Hosseini Abhari, the Professor of Qom Seminary stated, “In this meeting, we commemorate a servicing man who was able to leave good, effective, continuous and lasting works in the West. The center created by the deceased will be permanent and will continue to its services well. May God have mercy on this scholar.”

It should be mentioned that the commemoration of late Hojat al-Islam Haj Sayed Moghtada Hosseini Abhari, and the specialized conference “The situation of Shia in the West” was held virtually by the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly, the Imam Ali (a.s.) Center of Lugano, and the Office for the Defense of the Rights of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) followers in Switzerland.

University of Religions and Islamic Denominations, Swiss International Association for the Religions Studies, AhlulBayt (a.s.) News Agency - ABNA, Foundation for Iran-Netherlands Friendship and Developing Relations, Islamic and Cultural Foundation of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) Geneva, Europersia University of International Interaction, Secretariat of Iranian Theologians, Coordination of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland (KIOS), Islamic Confederation of Shiites in Italy, Al-Bayan Institution for Connection and Establishing, The World Center for Shiite Studies, AhlulBayt (a.s.) Islamic Cultural Center of Zurich, Imam Ali Cultural Center of Milan, and Scientific Association of Shiite sects, participated in the conference.

Tags

• AhlulBayt (a_s_) World Assembly
• Shiites
• Sunnis
• West