Iraq war tests unity among U.S. Muslims

By Tim Gaynor

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Leaders of the U.S. Islamic community are fearful that sectarian slaughter tearing Shi'ite and Sunni communities apart in Iraq is testing unity among Muslim immigrants in the United States.

Imams, analysts and community leaders say the daily round of truck bombings, kidnappings and slaughter pitching former Sunni and Shi'ite neighbors into civil war in Baghdad has raised tension among Muslim immigrants nationwide.

There are an estimated 6 to 7 million Muslims in the United States, of whom some 2.5 million are immigrants. The majority of them are Sunnis, who have lived peaceably alongside Shi'ite neighbors in cities from California to New York for decades.

However, sectarian tensions appeared to flare in Detroit in January, when vandals attacked two Shi'ite mosques and several businesses, following the execution of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, at the hands of Shi'ite hangmen. No arrests were made.

Analysts say there are also signs of growing sectarianism among Muslim students on U.S. campuses, where in recent months some Sunnis and Shi'ites have formed, or are considering forming, separate student associations.

Meanwhile, commentators say there have also been reports of heightened tensions between Shi'ite and Sunni inmates serving time in some U.S. jails.

"It is a cause for concern as the problems and strains between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the Old World appear to be following them to the United States," said Mohamed Nimer, a researcher with the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"If those tensions remain buried, they could explode in some communities." he added.

GROWING DIVIDE

Sunnis and Shi'ites share most tenets of Islamic faith, although they differ over lines of succession to the Prophet Mohammad and other legal and theological issues.

Relations between the two groups have traditionally been strong in the United States, where for decades they worshiped and lived together in urban enclaves from Los Angeles to Detroit and New York.

"Many cities had just one mosque -- if at all -- that was used by Muslims from both groups," said Liyakat Takim, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Denver.

Takim said differences began to emerge with increased immigration to the United States from across the Muslim world in the 1980s, which was accompanied by rising sectarian tensions in the Middle East in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

"Now with what is happening in Iraq ... and with globalization ... all those differences are being exported into America," Takim said.

U.S. Sunni and Shi'ite leaders stress that relations continue to be good between the two communities, who now worship at more than 1,200 mosques nationwide, although many are sufficiently concerned at the prospect of sectarian strife to have stepped up intrafaith meetings nationally.