Close up: Contentious clerics By Salama A Salama Just as far-right groups in Europe call for an anti- Islamicisation conference with obvious racist overtones, a battle has erupted in our midst, led by Sunni clerics reacting to a perceived Shia threat. The German city of Cologne has turned into a battleground pitting Europe's liberals and leftists against right-wing extremists and xenophobes. The far right is led by "Pro Cologne", a citizen action group that is engaged in a campaign to stop the building of a mosque in the city of Cologne -- not far from one of the best-known Gothic cathedrals in the world. For sometime now, Europe's far right groups have been clamouring to curb Muslim presence in France, Germany, Belgium, and elsewhere. Their efforts have not been without success. According to a poll published recently in The Herald Tribune, resentment of Muslims and Jews has risen significantly in Poland, Spain, Russia, Germany and France. A similar trend is underway in Asia, especially in Japan, South Korea, India and China. At the heart of the Cologne debate is a plan for a mosque with two 55-metre minarets. Although the minarets are but one-third the height of the spires of the famous nearby cathedral, opponents argue the mosque would distort the character of the city. Neo-Nazis are gearing up for action. Far-right leaders from more than one European country have been invited to speak in the groundbreaking gathering in Cologne. The police are on standby for what could turn into a bloody showdown. Several clashes have already taken place between opponents and proponents of the mosque. Our Sunni clerics, oblivious to the momentous confrontation in Europe, are fighting an antiquated battle, denouncing Shia influence with messianic zeal. Doctrinal differences that should have been discussed in the quiet rooms of seminaries are being brought out into the open, just as weightier matters loom unaddressed on the horizon. No matter that Muslims are trailing behind the rest of the world in science and knowledge, or that Arabs -- for all the wealth they amassed -- are no match for countries that are far less endowed with resources, our clerics are marching on, trumpeting fears of a long gone past. Adding insult to the injury, Ramadan has spawned an idiotic crop of televised edicts. Men thought to be top Muslim scholars have taken time to advise the killing of journalists, broadcasters, and anyone screening material that is not to their liking. With a shallowness that we have unfortunately grown used to, Muslim clerics opine on irrelevant matters just as a storm gathers all around us. While the West grapples with its anti-Muslim activists, we're being educated by clerics with a fondness for trivia. And it's not only the preachers that are to blame. Our politicians are playing the same game. They like the one- upmanship of a Sunni-Shia divide. They thrive on the polemics of sectarianism. Muslim nations are suffering not because of the Shias, but because of the frightening reality that is engulfing us all. Muslim nations are suffering because human rights are being trampled upon, and because Muslims are faced by hate in their expatriate abodes. Muslim nations are suffering because we are not doing much about the massacres in Darfur and Somalia, or turbulence in Iraq and Yemen. We mustn't go on encouraging doctrinal debates that can only worsen sectarian tensions, as is already happening in several parts of the Arab world, Bahrain and Lebanon included. We cannot go on encouraging theological trivia for we would soon lose track of what's relevant and what is not. Clerics, both Muslim and Christians, must start speaking of things that really matter. And there is no shortage there.
