Sunnis and Shias in the U.S. (hell, famous, human)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

In much of the Middle East, Sunnis and Shias seem to be at war with each other. How do they get along in the United States?

[Woodrow LI]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

In much of the Middle East, Sunnis and Shias seem to be at war with each other. How do they get along in the United States?

I am only aware of 2 Shi'ite communities in the USA.
Dearborn Michigan where the Muslim Population is almost 100% Shi'ite

Dearborn is also the home of the largest Mosque in North America.

The only other area I am aware that has a sizable Shi'ite population is Austin. Most of them attend the Sunni Mosques.

I am aware of one Shi'ite Mosque in Austin and found that it was often mixed as Sunni living within walking distance went there also.
As the US Shi'ite population is very small I am assuming many Shi'ites outside of Dearborn attend Sunni Mosques.
while there are over 2100 Mosques in the USA it looks like there are only 50-100 Shi'ite Mosques.

[NoCapo]

Originally Posted by Woodrow LI

I am only aware of 2 Shi'ite communities in the USA.
Dearborn Michigan where the Muslim Population is almost 100% Shi'ite

That is interesting, Woodrow! I didn't know that. It makes some sense. Most of my wife's Saudi students are Shi'a, from Al Hasa. It kind of makes sense that they would gravitate to an area with a lot of other likeminded folks.

In our area, the IAGD (Islamic Association of Greater Detroit) and several other groups have done a lot to try to create unity between the Sunni and Shi'a in our area. Here the religious divide does not seem to be a big issue, although most of the student I know are very cautious about it. It is a much bigger issue back home for them, so they tread carefully...

-NoCapo

[Woodrow LI]

I did find a listing of Shi'a Mosques and organizations. It looks pretty complete.
List of Shia Organizations

I have not heard of any animosity between Shi'ite and Sunni in the USA. Certainly no violence.
The Violence we see in the Mideast and Pakistan I attribute to the long history of hostility between Persiana (Iranians) and Arabs. Not religion.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

With the Iranian hostage crisis and the attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon, I thought the Shia were the "hardshell" Muslims. But for the last twenty years or so, it has been Sunnis who have been labeled "fundamentalists".

[Woodrow LI]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

With the Iranian hostage crisis and the attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon, I thought the Shia were the "hardshell" Muslims. But for the last twenty years or so, it has been Sunnis who have been labeled "fundamentalists".

That is an accurate observation.
That time frame also coincides with the rise of Wahabbi'ism

Virtually every known Terrorist has been Wahabbi. While all Wahabbi claim to be Sunni, wahabbi was denounced as heresy and is not a recognized Sunni Madhab.
ISIS has carried wahabbi'ism to a level that is even considered radical by al-Qaeda and the Taliban. While they do claim to be Sunni. They are not following one of the 4 Sunni Madhabs.

[modernist1]

...

[PDXNative2Houston]

To the OP, the two communities in the US overlap but for the most part they almost act like two distinct religions. It is very similar to Protestant-Catholic relations in the US, whereby they have separate Churches, separate leadership and separate schools. The two communities do come together occasionally on political issues such as fighting anti-Shari'a law bills, hijab bans and foreign policy (namely in support of Palestinian rights).

To Woodrow's point, I don't think it's fair to label these groups as "Wahhabi". Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhab's books and teaching mainly focused on having the correct relationship with Allah (swt), being that he has no partners, no progeny and there should not be intermediaries between humans and Allah (swt). He rejected madhab's as innovations not because people were following the rulings of a specific Imam but because of how extreme and literal people took these rulings to be, namely with some Shayookh in the region banning inter-madhab marriages, the support/aggression for or against leadership based on madhab, etc... He simply called out what a madhab in fact was...which is a set of rulings as given by a respected Imam which should not be taken so literally as to have prejudice against other Madhabs and/or to not open one's mind to new rulings that fit the modern context or are better informed due to imam's having better access to resources of knowledge.

Now takfiri ideology *did* spread immensely and was most famously brought forth via Syed Qutb (whom most "Wahabbi's" consider a heretic due to his conception of what/who Allah (swt) is)...this movement later rejected the teachings of Qutb's aqeedah and fiqh and adopted some salafi aspects but the origins of the movement are not "Wahabbi". Also, these takfiri groups have been around since the early days of the original caliphate and consistently have "popped up" throughout history well before Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab.

[GoCardinals]

This is actually an interesting question.

Shias and sunnis live in peace and harmony outside the Muslim countries.

We have a small Shia community in St. Louis. Many of them pray and get along with Sunnis without having an iota of sign of any difference of ideology. There is a Shia center as well. It's a little far from community so Shias attend Sunni masjid.
Everyone gets along with everyone. No one even bothers to know whether someone is shia or sunni. Families get together in masjid functions, kids play together, adults mix as friends. NEVER heard or saw even the tiniest bit of an issue between Shia and Sunni.

This sorta tells me that Shia Sunni being put against each other within the Muslim countries is 100% political. It has nothing to do with religious difference leading to violence; but politicians have used these two groups to their own political gains. That's my opinion.