Sectarianism and Its Impact on the Muslim Community in Cleveland, Ohio

Abstract

In as much as Allah commands the Muslims to be moderate in every parameter of their life and to promote unity and constituents of unity are extremely prominent in all the Islamic injunctions and worships, the American Muslims (like other Muslims in other parts of the world) have become divided into different sects because of political alignments and religious dogmas. The study therefore investigate sectarianism and its impact on the Muslim Community in Cleveland, Ohio with the specific objectives of describing the demographic characteristics of the respondents in the study area, identifying the types of sectarianisms among the Muslims, examining the factors responsible for sectarianism among the Muslims in the study area, as well as the impact of sectarianism among the Muslims in the study area and suggestions of possible solutions to sectarianism in the study area. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 402 respondents. Primary data collected through the use of structured questionnaires were analysed using descriptive and Logistic Regression Analysis as the inferential statistics. The results revealed that 54.0 percent of the respondents fall between the age of 18-50 years and about 15 percent of them are between 12- 18 years of age while 21.1 percent are 50 years and above. Majority (20.9%) of them are students, 15.9 percent are artisants, 14.2 percent are business owners, 10.9 percent are laborers and 10.2 percent are medical professionals (Medical Doctors, Nurses etc). About 27.9 percent of the respondents are retirees, lecturers, cashier assistants, housewives, marketers etc. Furthermore, majority (74.4%) of them were Sunni, 7.7% were Ahmadists, 5.0% Quranist, 5.6% altogether belong to the Black Muslims, Liberalists, Modernists and Nation of Islam while 7.0% belong to no Islamic group/sect. About 0.2 percent each belong to the Kharijites, Salafis, Deobandis and Moorish Science. It was observed that age of the respondents (p=0.022), provision of mental health services by the mosque (p=0.015), Islamic programs offered (p=0.063) and opportunity to study abroad (p=0.012) among others significantly determined acts of sectarianism in the area of study. The study therefore recommends providing awareness about sectarianism, eradication of unpraiseworthy taqleed (blind following), encouraging unison among the Muslims and the implementation of a “three phase” initiative curriculum.