Aga Khan compares Sunni-Shia conflict to Ireland

Published February 28, 2014
The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, addresses a joint session of Parliament as House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer listens in Ottawa February 27, 2014. – Reuters Photo
The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, addresses a joint session of Parliament as House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer listens in Ottawa February 27, 2014. – Reuters Photo

OTTAWA: The spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Ismaili Muslims Thursday compared a conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims to Ireland, urging the West to engage both branches of Islam.

Speaking to both houses of Canada's parliament, the Aga Khan said tensions between the two denominations “have increased massively in scope and intensity recently and have been further exacerbated by external interventions.”

“In Pakistan, Malaysia, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan it is becoming a disaster,” he warned.

To help bring an end to the strife in these countries, the Aga Khan said “it is important for (the West) to communicate with both Sunni and Shia voices.”

“To be oblivious to this reality would be like ignoring over many centuries that there were differences between Catholics and Protestants. Or trying to resolve the civil war in Ireland without engaging both Christian communities.”

Highlighting the span of the crisis, he said: “What would have been the consequences if the Protestant-Catholic struggling in Ireland had spread across the Christian world as is happening today between Shia and Sunni Muslims in more than nine countries.”

Canada is home to approximately 100,000 Ismaili Muslims, who found refuge in this country after being expelled by Ugandan President Idi Amin in 1972.

The Aga Khan himself was made an honorary Canadian citizen in 2010.

Opinion

Editorial

Free and fair?
Updated 26 Sep, 2023

Free and fair?

It is disingenuous to suggest the fairness of any polling exercise should be considered without regard to all that has preceded it.
Unto darkness
26 Sep, 2023

Unto darkness

YET another case of medical malpractice has come to light in Punjab. The eyesight of several diabetic patients has...
Unions on campus
26 Sep, 2023

Unions on campus

DEPOLITICISED youth unfamiliar with democratic norms cannot be good for the future of representative rule in...
On the brink
Updated 25 Sep, 2023

On the brink

Everyone and every sector has to rise together, in sync, if this country is to put itself on a progressive trajectory.
Sanaullah’s remarks
25 Sep, 2023

Sanaullah’s remarks

THE hypocrisy of our democratic leadership is a gift that keeps giving. Last week, the president of the PML-N in...
Print in digital age
25 Sep, 2023

Print in digital age

THERE is a shocking amount of disinformation out there in the Information Age. While electronic and social media ...