Shi’ite, devout, American

DEARBORN, Mich. — Sayyid Haider Bahar al-Uloom paces before his students seated in two neat rows — men in one, women in the other. They meet each week in a small but growing office in an old storefront downtown, its shelves lined with Arabic texts on Islamic jurisprudence.

Tonight’s lesson is on justice, but Sayyid Bahar al-Uloom’s lecture ranges wide of Muslim teaching. He cites the Federalist Papers, slavery in U.S. history and spirituality in “The Audacity of Hope.” A 37-year-old Iraqi Shi’ite, he consumes books on American culture and religion, analyzing the works of celebrity pastors Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and others to learn their appeal.

“We should not fear introducing people to other ideas,” said Sayyid Bahar al-Uloom, whose title sayyid is for those who trace their lineage to the Prophet Muhammad.

On this night in Michigan, he ends his lecture with the same message he brings to Shi’ite groups across the country: Your ideals, rooted in Islam, are not alien here.

“We call them Islamic values, but they are universal values,” he says in near accentless English. “If it’s a principle or act that would help all Americans, all I need to do is speak it in a language that is universal.”

Shi’ites comprise less than 15 percent of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world and an even smaller percentage of the Muslims in the U.S. Within the wider Muslim world, they are often persecuted for their beliefs and ways of worship.

Islamic law governs even the smallest issues for devout Shi’ites. Can they wear cologne? Listen to popular music? Sit at a table where alcohol is served? New interpretations are needed for life in non-Muslim countries.

Pious Shi’ites have seen threats to their faith from the permissive American way of life and what for many is their first experience of a non-Muslim government. Worried that voting or other civic involvement would violate Islamic law, many have opted instead to turn inward, focusing on preserving their traditions.

But the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror strikes, the war in Iraq and other world events have prompted some significant changes in the U.S. Shi’ite community in recent years. Shi’ite clerics and activists are pushing community members beyond the protective walls they built, encouraging them to fully embrace their American citizenship.

At the forefront of the effort is the nonprofit that Sayyid Bahar al-Uloom helps represent. Called I.M.A.M., the nonprofit tells Shi’ites that they can vote, participate in the 2010 U.S. census and hold public office without abandoning their faith.

“In the United States, the law here is not against Islam,” said Sheik Mohammed el-Ali al-Halabi, a Syrian who came to the United States a decade ago, sitting in his bare-bones office at I.M.A.M. “I can be a good Muslim and a good American.”

Half a world away from Dearborn lies the inspiration for this drive, an unexpected source for dramatic change: an elderly holy man who rarely leaves his home in the old quarter of the Iraqi holy city of Najaf and who probably will never visit the United States.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani isn’t widely known in the United States outside public-policy circles, but he should be. He is one of the most revered thinkers in global Shi’ism, a moderate in outlook and a powerful force in Iraq. His behind-the-scenes interventions were key to guiding the country’s fledgling democracy.

The grand ayatollah and his advisers lead lives dedicated to religious tradition, but they are also pioneers in using the Web to reach the globally dispersed faithful. They teach that good Muslims must be active citizens of whatever country they call home.

As Shi’ites emigrate around the world, the grand ayatollah sends along his representatives to guide them on how to remain devout in a foreign culture.

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