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Survey: American Shiite Muslims Unlikely to Report Discrimination
Link: http://ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=6583
Andrea Useem
11-18-05

(RNS) A new survey shows American Shiites are unlikely to report anti-Muslim hate crimes or other forms of discrimination and many say they face religious hostility when attending Sunni-dominated mosques in the United States.
Nearly 80 percent of American Shiites who were victims of "post 9-11 discrimination" reported the incidents either to family members or no one, according to the nationwide survey, the first of its kind to document the political and religious experiences of American Shiites.

The American Shi'a Muslim Survey was sponsored by the Qunoot Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit that released its findings Saturday at a conference.

The survey found that few American Shiite victims reported such incidents to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national advocacy group that seeks to represent all American Muslims.

Last year, CAIR processed nearly 1,700 reported cases of anti-Muslim discrimination or hate crimes, according to its 2005 annual report. The council does not keep track of whether victims are Sunni or Shiite, said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the organization.

While there are an estimated 6 million Muslims in the United States, nobody knows what percent of that total is Shiite. Worldwide, Shiites comprise between 10 percent and 15 percent of the total Muslim population with some tension arising over the fact that Saudi Arabia regards Shiite theology and practice as heresy.

The survey also showed that 47 percent of American Shiites experienced either overt or subtle forms of discrimination when attending Sunni mosques.

Conference participants--mostly American Shiites in their 20s and 30s--debated vigorously about whether to form their own national advocacy organizations or to seek to make existing, Sunni-dominated ones, such as CAIR, more responsive to American Shiite needs.

One reason the issue has come to the forefront is the sectarian nature of the Iraq war, said Najam Haider, a Princeton doctoral student who spoke at the conference.
"We are perceived as the ‘good Muslims' now, and many say we should use that to our advantage," said Haider, referring to the cooperation between Iraqi Shiites and the Bush administration.