大象传媒

Good morning.

Just when we thought the situation in Syria could not be more awful, it seems to have become still worse. The current headlines offer apparently credible reports of chemical weapons being used against rebels in a Damascus suburb. As usual the details are murky and need verification, but the video clips seem to show civilians, including children, suffering fearful convulsions and other symptoms of attack by gas.

But there is another image of the current conflict which is hardly less toxic in its effects. This is the idea that deep-seated religious differences are driving the violence.

The reality is, thankfully, not so dire. While it is true that some fundamentalists will refer to creeds, the facts suggest that political interests and rivalries, and a fear of loss of power, are uppermost in most minds. I remember that when the troubles in Northern Ireland were at their peak, and I was living in Egypt, I would have to explain that the violence was not rooted in the specific theologies of the two groups. Just as sectarian violence in Northern Ireland was condemned by the majority of religious leaders, so too one finds the mainstream leaders in the Islamic world consistently advocating unity and reconciliation.

In this country, the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, MINAB, has been at the forefront of efforts to promote this awareness. By its constitution, a fifth of its board members must be from Shi'i communities - rather a generous estimate of their actual demographic strength. It is good to see the two communities worshipping together in my local mosque in Cambridge. Watching the differences in their form of prayer, one is reminded of how slight the differences are...

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