Dearborn Heights, USA - Taking a cue from Muslims across the country, local leaders Thursday signed a "code of honor," pledging that the two branches of Islam -- Sunni and Shi'a -- will work cooperatively.
"This has been done elsewhere, in Los Angeles and Chicago, and I think it is a good, constructive document," said Victor Ghalib Begg, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan.
Among other pledges, the code forbids hateful speech about beliefs or revered figures of either branch of Islam. It also bans judging other Muslims as "nonbelievers," based on the differences.
Some Muslims said that with little or no divisiveness among American Muslims, the document is unnecessary and will give enemies of Islam fodder for false claims that it is a religion of extremists. But others said they view the document, signed by more than two-dozen local Muslim leaders at the Islamic House of Wisdom, as an effort to protect the unity of American Muslims.
Those leaders say that while there is little evidence of a sectarian split in Metro Detroit, the document signals to Muslims the intention of leaders to prevent the sharp divisions between Sunni and Shi'a in places like Iraq -- discord that has exploded since the American-led invasion and occupation of the country -- from migrating to the United States.
"I think it is necessary for the Muslim public to see the cooperativeness of the religious leaders gathering together," said Eide Alawan, a spokesman for the largest mosque in the country, the Islamic Center of America, in Dearborn.
"We wouldn't have imams in the Middle East doing this," Alawan said. "But the American-born Muslim community understands that our need is to come together and preserve the faith."
Locally, some Iraqi Shi'a believe they were targeted for vandalism after they celebrated Saddam Hussein's execution. Police are investigating the incidents, which occurred along Warren Avenue in Detroit and Dearborn, but have established no motive.