Shiites Banned in ‘Tolerant’ Malaysia

Jakarta Globe, Eileen Ng | January 14, 2011

Shiite Muslims praying at a mosque in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. A Malaysian police crackdown on one such gathering in December, in which 100 followers were arrested, sparked outrage among the Shiite community and raised fears of an increasingly prejudiced state. (AP Photo)

Kuala Lumpur. In this Muslim-majority country, it is acceptable to be Christian, Buddhist or Hindu. But not Shiite.

Malaysian religious police raided a three-story shophouse last month and detained more than 100 Shiite Muslims who had gathered to mark the death of one of their most beloved saints, Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, who was killed in the year 680.

It was one of the largest such sweeps in years, sparking outrage and fear in the country’s small but growing Shiite community.

Some religious scholars see it as a worrying sign that Islamic authorities are becoming more hard-line. “Malaysia is trying to become a country a la Taliban that only allows one school of thought,” said Asri Zainul Abidin, a prominent scholar.

Despite its reputation for religious tolerance, Malaysia has been quietly discriminating against its own for years.

The state recognizes only the Sunnis and prohibits all other Muslim sects, including Shiites, the world’s second-largest Islamic group.

Shiites face discrimination elsewhere, but Malaysia appears to be the only country that actually outlaws them.

“We are the oppressed people,” said Kamil Zuhairi Abdul Aziz, the Iranian-trained religious leader for the Lovers of the Prophet’s Household, the Shiite group raided by the religious police on Dec. 15.

The event they were commemorating helped seal the split between the majority Sunni Muslims and the Shiites, whose strongest base today is in Iran.

Kamil estimates there are at least 40,000 Shiites among Malaysia’s 16 million Muslims, though the number could be higher as many conceal their faith to avoid trouble.

A few Shiite Muslims have been detained in the past, and some sent to faith rehabilitation centers, but there is no official data on the number of arrests.

Malaysia’s ban was issued in 1996 by the National Fatwa Council of top Islamic clerics and seen as unusual in the Muslim world.

The council is under the government’s Islamic Advancement Department, so its decrees are de facto law.

In Bahrain, the government cracks down on Shiite Muslim activists, fearing they could be a back door for Iranian influence.

Sunni extremists have bombed Shiite gatherings in Pakistan, and much of the violence in Iraq has been between Sunni and Shiite militias as the two sides vie for power.

It is not clear what prompted the recent raid in Malaysia, but Islamic officials defend the ban as crucial to prevent unrest among Muslims.

“Shia is an Iranian sect,” said Harussani Zakaria, a cleric from the National Fatwa Council.

“It has expanded secretly and now has many supporters who are starting to practice their faith in public,” he added. “We do not want any religious differences. They are a threat to Muslim unity in Malaysia.”

In defense of the raid, several Islamic officials said Shiism could give rise to fanatics as it permits the killing of Muslims from other sects, a claim denied by the Iranian Embassy and Shiites here.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Shiites did not pose a threat to national security.

Some Malaysian Shiite families have practiced for generations, while others were exposed and subsequently converted to Shiism after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Many members meet in one of 40 hauzars, or houses of knowledge, in the country.

The one that Kamil leads, the most prominent and largest with 500 members, is on the top floor of a shop in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur.

Some 100 followers filed in for prayers on the first Tuesday of the New Year. A wall mural depicting Noah’s Ark greeted them as they entered a long, carpeted hall draped with banners in Arabic and separated into sections for men and women.

During the one-hour worship session, Kamil led prayers over a loudspeaker. Afterward, poems were read to continue the mourning for the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

“Here in Malaysia, they cannot accept the differences,” Rashid Ahmad, a 46-year-old follower, said before the service. “There has been a campaign of demonizing us by the religious authorities. They are jealous of our influence. In the whole world, Shia is awakening.”

He requested not to be photographed to protect his identity since his child was receiving a government scholarship. He feared it could be withdrawn.

Associated Press