In this picture, Muslim devotees exercise social distancing, as a preventive measure to combat the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, on the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan at the Putra Mosque in Putrajaya on April 16, 2021. [...] This punitive trend against the Shi’a community arose in the 1990s, especially following the 1996 fatwa (legal opinion) issued by the Fatwa Committee of the National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs which outlawed all doctrines that contradict the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al- Jama’ah, or Sunni Islam.10 Tolerance of the Shi’as among Malaysian religious leaders had earlier been due to variou. [...] Overall, the hate speech directed against Shi’as, and the labelling of the community as deviant and dangerous stands in stark contrast to the reality of the community. [...] This is evident from the publication of a booklet by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) in 2015 which refers to Shi’ism as a “virus” that needs to be contained in order to prevent “chaos and bloodshed which stems from the conduct and actions of Shi’as.”24 Since 2010, extreme views against the Shi’a community among religious authorities have gone beyond the verbalising of such sentiments. [...] 37 Hence, the seemingly non- violent practices against the Shi’a community are potentially not “non-violent.” The absence of physical harm done towards the community does not negate the fact that Shi’as are the subject of discrimination and persecution which have harmed their psychological well-being.
- Pages
- 10
- Published in
- Singapore
