Moderate Muslim Americans Celebrate Eid by urging unity and sticking their heads in the sand.

Here's what we're up against, team.

EID AL-ADHA: The Festival of Sacrifice. Unity is dominant theme of Muslims' celebration

"The sectarian violence in Iraq was not far from the thoughts of Muslims who gathered in an Oakland mosque Saturday to observe the beginning of Eid al-Adha and heard a clergyman call for unity and inclusiveness of all people and faiths..."

"A racially and ethnically mixed congregation of about 100 Muslims gathered at Masjid Al Iman in North Oakland, one of about 30 Islamic houses of worship in the Bay Area, to celebrate the occasion. They sat on the carpeted floor of the Sufi mosque as Sheikh Ali Jensen, a visiting Sufi clergyman from Aptos (Santa Cruz County), delivered a message clearly aimed at the worsening Sunni-Shiite violence in Iraq but did not mention that country by name. " (Ed. Note: He didn't mention the fact that the men and women were separated ala mosque, either.)

"There is, unfortunately, a disease that is creeping among Muslims now -- 'Either you are like me or you are not good,' " Jensen told the congregation. "At its extreme, (it says) 'Either you are like me or I will kill you.' "All of these differences we hear about, it's crap. Don't accept it," he told the congregation. "Those people who are following different ways from us, we must not only tolerate them, we must respect them." Muslims and non-Muslims alike, he said, are all "children of Adam." Afterward, Jensen said his sermon was part of an effort by Muslim clerics to defuse strife within Islam and between religions by emphasizing ecumenical themes..." (Ed. note: and to conduct the time honored Muslim practice of Taquiyah?)

Here's where the head in the sand part comes in:

"The cleric's message of inclusiveness was "the essence of Islam," said Dawad Sharifi, 30, a native of Afghanistan. "The rest is just politics."

"The tradition of Islam is not to be divisive. The more modern, politicized Islam causes these divisions," said Sayf Alusi, 30, an Iraq-born electrical engineer who earned a doctorate from UC Berkeley. The message of inclusiveness hit home, he said, when he and his family joined some 2 million Muslims of all backgrounds in the hajj two years ago.

Majeedah Shabazz, a 55-year-old paralegal student and nursing assistant from San Leandro, made the pilgrimage to Mecca in 2004. Her face glowed as she recalled "the best trip I ever had," surrounded by millions of believers who held the same goals.

She said she tries not to read about the religious violence in the Middle East."

This is the part of the article that Dinah REALLY liked:

"Women, their heads covered by scarves or hats, sat during the service, as is common in Islamic practice, in the rear of the hall."