SA Sunni-Shia peace agreement ‘disastrous’, says Muslim organisation

The recent Cape Accord, an attempt to foster unity among Sunni and Shia Muslims in South Africa and denounce extremist behaviour, has been slammed by UK-based advocacy group Cage.

Islamic leaders from across South Africa gathered at the Masjidul Quds in Gatesville in early June to witness the signing of the Cape Accord.

The accord was adopted by about 25 organisations around the country, including the International Peace College of SA, Muslim Youth Movement and the SA Muslims Network.

Imam Hussain Mosque in Durban was the target of a knife attack carried out by three men in May, which left one person dead. Three days later, a device thought to be a bomb was also discovered at the mosque, although Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangweni Mulaudzi later said it was not a bomb, but an “incendiary device” designed to start fires.

The scene after an attack on a mosque in Verulam, KZN, 10 May 2018. Pictures – Reaction unit via Twitter

Incidents such as these and the knife attack that occurred in Malmesbury, in the Western Cape, on June 14 are thought to have helped lead to the drafting and signing of the Cape Accord. While some have surmised that the attacks were carried out due to tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims in South Africa, this has not been confirmed.

The Imam Hussain Mosque in Verulam, KZN, is the only Shia mosque in the province. The mosque in Malmesbury that was the subject of the second attack is Sunni. The attacker, Somalian Noor Abdulle Araal, was found to be mentally ill, with some organisations and individuals cautioning that links between the attack and Sunni-Shia tensions had not been proven.

READ MORE: Verulam mosque attack ‘one of a kind’, say Hawks

Now Cage, an advocacy organisation with a focus on Muslim detainees, has come forward and declared the accord “disastrous”, and “a sweet-natured front to promote disastrous counter-extremism” measures.

The organisation has slammed the labelling of those who refused to sign the accord as “extremists”.

READ MORE: Malmesbury mosque killer ‘severely mentally ill’, not a terrorist

According to a statement released by the UK-based group, counter-extremism programmes that have taken place in Great Britain are “sold in different ways depending on the complexities of Muslim communities within each country, but they trade on the fear of violence, and have had counterproductive effects, including causing marginalisation, alienation and anger”.

“We are alarmed that a similar programme appears to be gathering momentum in South Africa under the guise of facilitating harmony, when in fact the result so far has quite clearly been the exact opposite and has resulted in division within the Sunni Muslim community,” the statement continued.

The organisation’s South African spokesperson, Feroze Boda, said a refusal to sign the accord should not be equated with extremist views.

The SAPS Explosives Unit investigates the scene where the suspected mosque attacker was killed by police in an open field near the mosque in Malmesbury. Picture: Henk Kruger/ANA

“While dialogue between different beliefs is essential, employing the language of foreign counter-extremism initiatives by labelling those who refuse to sign the Accord as ‘extremist’, is a mistake. Individuals and organisations have a right to identify beliefs that run contrary to their own deeply held views, and to choose to avoid associating with them. This is called freedom of choice.”

Several Sunni Muslim organisations withdrew from the Cape Accord before its signing.

The belief that those who pulled out did so because of the accord’s call for Shia-Sunni unity has led to some dismissing those who have pulled out as “extremists”.

One Islamic scholar, Mufti Abdul Kader (AK) Hoosen, made hateful remarks about Shia Muslims on a radio show, where he railed against his problems with the Cape Accord. He said he was exercising his constitutional right to freedom of expression and religion by speaking out against the Shia community.

Hoosen is being sued for R2 million for defamation and crimen injuria by a prominent Durban businessman and owner of the Ideals Group, Ebrahim Jadwat.

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