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On April 29, Imam Qazwini participated in The Doha Debates in Doha, Qatar. He
was invited by Qatar Foundation, which hosts the debate, to be amongst the four
debaters in the show. The Doha Debates provides a
platform for serious discussion of the hottest issues in the Arab and Islamic
worlds.
The topic debated in this debate was:
This House believes the Sunni-Shia conflict is damaging Islam's reputation as a
religion of peace.
Juan Cole and
Ali Shukri supported the motion while Imam Qazwini and Hesham Hellyer opposed
the motion.
Juan Cole, Professor
of History at the University of Michigan, said recent polls showed that
Americans believed Islam contained more violent extremists than other religions
and sectarian fighting must have contributed to that impression.
General Ali Shukri,
an adviser to the late King Hussein of Jordan, insisted clerics were not doing
enough to counter extremist Muslim beliefs.
Imam Sayid Hassan Al
Qazwini, said there was "no conflict between Sunnis and Shias." He added that
any dispute was between minorities on each side and "the majority get along and
are peaceful."
Dr Hisham Hellyer,
Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, rejected the notion that
conflicts between Sunnis and Shias had done any damage to the reputation of
Islam. "The West has been critical of Islam for a thousand years and portrayed
it as violent - and that has nothing to do with the Sunni-Shia divide."
After the debate,
the audience votes in respect with the motion. The result was that the motion
was defeated, 61% to 39%.
The debate is
broadcast on BBC World. |
