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Our response to the New York Times Article
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
Assalamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh
On Sunday, February 4th, the New York Times published an Article on its front page where the author, NEIL MacFARQUHAR, wrote “Last year, a Sunni student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor sent a screed against Ashura to the Muslim Student Association’s e-mail message list. The document had been taken off SunniPath.com, one of many Web sites of Islamic teachings that Shiite students said regularly spread hate disguised as religious scholarship.”
We sent a letter to the New York Times in response. Below is an expanded version of the letter:
Dear Editor
I was shocked and disappointed to see your recent article, “Iraq’s Shadow Widens Sunni-Shiite Split in U.S” by Neil MacFarquhar, describe SunniPath as an organization that “regularly spreads hate disguised as religious scholarship.” He cites a document that was allegedly taken from our website and forwarded to a student e-mail message list. Nowhere is this article quoted or described in any detail yet it is his sole source in depicting SunniPath as an extremist website.
A quick search of our website will show a multitude of documents and articles encouraging the unity of all Muslims, including the 2004 Amman Declaration (www.ammanmessage.com) statement of mutual recognition and tolerance signed by major scholars of the Sunni and Shiite traditions, to which a number of SunniPath staff members are signatories.
SunniPath is a non-political educational project that takes great pains to distance itself from the religious and sectarian bigotry that has engulfed our world today. We strive to keep our online religious answers service positive and uplifting. It is our goal to promote a spirit of tolerance and cooperation between people of all faiths and sects.
Our organization strives to teach legal, spiritual, and theological thought within mainstream Sunni orthodoxy. We are thereby trying to wrest the title of Sunni from extremists who promote intolerance under its banner, and bring Sunni Muslims back to their tolerant roots. We believe that any Sunni or Shiite who is true to their tradition must eschew the bigotry that Mr. MacFarquhar describes in his article. Let us make clear that all major Sunni scholars today condemn sectarian intolerance and call for dialogue, understanding, and cooperation between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Your readers can themselves evaluate our position by reading what we have to say about our Shiite brethren on our homepage at www.SunniPath.com
By maligning our name, Mr. MacFarquhar is denigrating an institution that calls for compassion and understanding amongst all Muslims regardless of their ethnicity and interpretation of Islam. He thus leaves the door open for intolerance to take its place.
Sincerely,
Imran Chowdhury
Managing Director, SunniPath.com
[…] SunniPath Blog - » Our response to the New York Times Article On Sunday, February 4th, the New York Times published an Article on its front page where the author, NEIL MacFARQUHAR, wrote “Last year, a Sunni student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor sent a screed against Ashura to the Muslim Student Association’s e-mail message list. The document had been taken off SunniPath.com, one of many Web sites of Islamic teachings that Shiite students said regularly spread hate disguised as religious scholarship.” […]