A Sunni Islam group in the UK has been accused of trying to whip up sectarian animosity against Shia Muslims in the wake of tensions over the execution of the respected Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
The organisation, Documenting Oppression Against Muslims (Doam), has posted a series of messages that have been condemned as inflammatory and “unacceptable”. Although the organisation was founded to tackle anti-Muslim prejudice, it has been accused of intra-Muslim bigotryfollowing the execution of the cleric by Saudi Arabia last month. The continuing Syrian conflict has further inflamed sectarian sentiment so that the Alawites, an offshoot of Shia Islam, are now identified en masse with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and Sunnis with the opposition and rebel groups.
The Home Office’s Extremism Analysis Unit,which was set up last year to examine extremism in Britain, is understood to have received complaints concerning the UK group. One Facebook posting last month from Doam’s account, which has 40,000 “likes”, accuses Shias of delighting at the plight of Muslims in the besieged Syrian city of Madaya and uses rawafidah, or “rejectors”, a derogatory term used by Sunnis against Shias. The posting states: “Shia rawafidah mocking #Muslims starving in #Madaya #Syria.” Another posting says: “Of course we are anti-Shia. How one [sic] earth can Sunnis unite people who curse the Sahabah [companions of the prophet Muhammad]?”
Other tweets repeat the same derogatory term.
Replying to one claim from Shias that they would boycott the hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, following the death of al-Nimr, another post offers: “Rafidah go ahead we don’t want you there anyway!” Another, again from the official DOAM Twitter account, makes a derogatory reference to al-Nimr stating: "#NimrAlNimr – Abuser of the Sahabah!”
Shia groups criticised the comments. Kumail Versi, spokesman for the Shia Ithna’ashari community of Middlesex, said: “In today’s world of growing Islamophobia, it is always worrying when a small number of people cause disunity by resorting to sectarian hatred.
“In Harrow, as in most parts of the UK, Shia and Sunni Muslims have excellent relations. We are fortunate to have a united Muslim community working together, with the local Sunni mosque using our centre for Friday prayers for 14 years.”
The Muslim Council of Britain, a coalition of Muslim organisations across the theological spectrum, has in the past issued intra-faith unity statements, signed by leaders from both the Sunni and Shia traditions, calling for no hostility between sects.
The tweets coincide with an escalation of anti-Shia rhetoric by Islamic State (Isis). An edition last month of its online English-language magazineDabiq devoted much of its 56 pages to justifying the killing of Shia Muslims, who it claims are apostates to the Sunni majority.
The 13th issue of Dabiq uses the term radifah on its cover and inside, within numerous articles that attempt to give a theological basis for killing members of the minority Muslim sect, which has been at odds with Sunni Muslims for more than a millennium.
Shias are concentrated in Iran and Iraq and make up around 15% of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, a proportion generally believed to be reflected in British demographics. Doam did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The Home Office said it would not comment on which organisations had been reported to the extremism unit.