Monday 16 January 2012

The struggle to unified Omah


The struggle to unified Omah

         1.         Introduction (Description of current condition of disunity)
         2.         Unity of Muslim Omah, is it a dream?, would it ever happen?
3.         What does it mean to be united
One)         Definition of unity
Two)        Difference between plurality and disunity
a)                  Many nations but one Omah
b)                  Many groups but one Omah (Differences between Muslim Groups and Muslim sects)
c)                  Many organizations but one Omah
d)                  Many ways but one objective
e)                  Many avenues but one destination
Three)    The need for Islamic Khilafa to achieve unity
4.         Necessity of unity
One)         From Quran
Two)        From Sunah
Three)    From reality
5.         Basic Islamic Theory of Unity
6.         Reasons of divisions
One)         Lack of leadership
Two)        Division of Muslims to various school of thoughts
a)                  Nature of Islamic divine law (Sharia)
b)                  Various levels of piety
c)                  Lack of defining the bases for unity
Three)    Politics
Four)       Lack of professionalism in the Islamic work and Dawah work
Five)         Not being able to present Islam in an attractive way (مشكلة التنفير) (bad salesmen, bad lawyers)
Six)     Lack of understanding of how to enjoin good and forbid bad (الخلل في فهم فقه الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر)
Seven)   Education in clonialized countries
Eight)       Extremism and exaggeration (sitting on ground)
Nine)       Harshness, when to be harsh and when to be soft
Ten)          Using Islam instead of serving Islam
a)                  To slander political opponents
b)                  To destroy the unity of Muslims
c)                  To gain power (to run and control)
d)                  To protect governments (Political Islam)
e)                  To make profit (Exploiting Islam)
Eleven)  Problem of ethnicity
a)                  Division of Muslims to Arabs and  non-Arabs
b)                  Division of Muslims to various nationalities
Twelve)Human weaknesses
a)                  Admiring one’s opinion (الإعجاب بالرأي)
b)                  Human complexes
c)                  Sinning and Following the whim
d)                  Back biting
e)                  Being judgmental
f)                    Lack of tolerance
g)                  Lack of sincerity
h)                  Lack of Knowledge
i)                    Problem of arrogance because of (knowledge, activism, and being strict and pious)
7.         Obstacles before our unity
One)         Quality versus unity
Two)        Failure in hardships, Story of Taloot from Surat Albakara
Three)    Sacrifice
Four)       Sincerity
Five)         Knowledge
Six)            Plans of enemies and intelligence agencies
Seven)   Lack of building the Islamic personality
Eight)       Lack of understanding of reality and current challenges (Living in dreams)
Nine)       Lack of financial resources
Ten)          Lack of enough active Islamic workers
Eleven)  Fear of enemies and governments
Twelve)Lack of understanding of the divine laws of natural changes
Thirteen)Lack of determining the theory of change
Fourteen)Lack of studying and learning from history
Fifteen) Lack of evaluation of contemporary Islamic movements
8.         What can I do to be part of the solution

Introduction:

The problem of disunity is the main obstacle before the domination of Islam. If we solve this problem, then Islam will immediately dominate the world, because imagine that we have 1.3 billion Muslims around the world. If they are united under one umbrella, the umbrella of Islam, then Islam will definitely dominate the world.

The problem of disunity really hearts sincere Muslim hearts. If somebody does not feel for this problem, it means that he does not have a sincere heart to feel for the problems of the Muslim Omah. If he say, who cares, then the Hadeeth of Prophet Mohammed S may apply to him (من لم يهتم بأمر المسلمين فليس منهم) whoever does not care about the affairs and problems of the Muslim Omah, he does not belong to it.

The problem of disunity is one of the main obstacles before the domination of Islam. It is one of the most difficult challenges that face those activist brothers. Once you decide to be active in the Islamic work and Dawah, this problem is the first test and challenge you face. Whom should I join, which group should I work with.

If you have been brought to activism or brought to Islam by a certain group, you naturally become one of them. But if you wake up to Islam or activism on your own, you will have a tough decision to make. This is a tough challenge because at this stage, you do not have enough knowledge to pick and choose, so it is really a tough decision. What I have seen so far, I have seen brothers who start by joining one group and then they change later on, and I have seen many examples of that. I have seen also brothers from various groups fighting on a new activist brother who just wake up to activism. When the brother saw them fighting on him, he changed his mind saying well, I was fine before and no body cared about me, I am leaving.

We also have the problem of disunity among common Muslims who are not activists. They are divided because of ethnicity, politics and many other personal problems among themselves. We see the problem in our Islamic centers and schools, in Islamic activities and in Dawah work. We even see the reflection of the problem in Afaganistan. Those brothers who succeeded to defeat communism, failed to achieve unity among themselves.

The main outcome of this problem is the failure of various Islamic movements to dominate and make a significant change in the current miserable condition of Muslim Omah. So many Islamic movements in various Islamic countries were established during this century, and non of them succeeded to dominate because of the problem of disunity. And this failure is a logical outcome of disunity as Allah clearly stated in the Quran (ولا تنازعوا فتفشلوا وتذهب ريحكم) do not fall into disputes, otherwise you will immediately fail. (Fa Elsababia).

The second main outcome of the problem of disunity is the big fitnah or tribulation created by the disunity of Muslims and the unity of their enemies. Allah S warned us from this fitnah that we witness today in the Quran when he said:
والذين كفروا بعضهم أولياء بعض إلا تفعلوه تكن فتنة في الأرض وفساد كبير
The Unbelievers are united and protectors of one another, unless you do this, which is unite and protect each other, there would be a big tribulation (Fitnah) on earth and great corruption.

Yes, disunity of Muslims will create a big (Fitnah) Tribulation on earth because if non Muslims are united and cooperating with each other while Muslims are not united and slandering each other, then there is a Fitnah because people will be attracted to non Muslims. What is more corruption than the situation when the people of truth are divided while the people of falsehood are united. What is more corruption than the situation when the non believers (Kufar) are helpfull to each other and the believers are negative, passive and divided.

The third outcome of disunity of Muslim Omah from political point of view is that we find that the Muslim nations are being controlled from outside, because of their disunity. Although they are many, but unity makes the few strong and disunity makes the many weak.

Unity of Muslim Omah, is it a dream?, would it ever happen?

To answer this question, no, I do not think it is a dream and I do think it is doable. Let us examine the history to see that it is doable.

Before the mission of Prophet Mohammed S, Arabs were divided into tribes and factions killing each other and fighting among themselves. Prophet Mohammed S unified them under the umbrella of Islam and made a super power of them that conquered the Roman and Persian super empires at that time and conquered 80% of the world at that time. Indeed that was a gift from Allah to his prophet as he mentioned in the Quran:
فإن حسبك الله هو الذي أيدك بنصره وبالمؤمنين. وألف بين قلوبهم لو أنفقت ما في الأرض جميعا ما ألفت بين قلوبهم ولكن الله ألف بينهم إنه عزيز حكيم
Verily ALLAH suffice you, He it is the one that has strengthened you with (1)His aid (2)and with the support of the Believers. (3)And moreover he has united their hearts, not if you have spent all the wealth in the earth to unite their heart, you would not be able to do it, but ALLAH has done it, for he is the one exalted in might and wisdom.

So that was a big support from Allah to his messenger. Allah clearly indicated in this verse the source power that unified the hearts of the believers, which is the power of faith. Not the power of money. If you spend the entire wealth in the earth, you will not be able to achieve unity. So unity is doable with the power of faith.

Another look into the history of Omah, before the time of Salah Eldeen, the Muslim hero leader who conquered crusaders and kicked them out of Palestine after they have been there for almost a century, the Omah was fragmented before his appearance. He managed to temporarily unify the Omah with the combined power of faith and sword. Yes, he had to use the sword at that time to clean up the satanic effects from the minds of divided Muslims. And I think we need another Salah Eldeen now.

Yes we the sword of Salah Eldeen now because Muslims now are in a terrible condition of corruption. We need the sword of Salah Eldeen to stop Muslims from slandering each other, and to force them to respect each other and to cooperate with each other. And by the way, right after the death of Salah Eldeen, the Omah became divided again. His sons and followers fought against each other for leadership and the Omah became divided again after the disappearance of his sword.

Preaching is not going to work, yes it is an intermediate step to increase the awareness of the importance of the unity of Muslims, but unless it is carried out and implemented in reality, it is not going to work. It does not matter how many lectures you are going to give, it needs a sword. Look at this lecture and look to us here in this room. After we will hear this lecture, some of you will probably disagree about what was said,  others will leave the room as though we have not heard any thing, and every one will continue living in his own island without the sense of community. If preaching is an effective way, then we the people of this room should struggle to make a community right after the lecture.

We need the sword of Salah Eldeen because it is a sword of justice, not a sword of oppression. It is a sword to clean up the satanic ideas from the minds of satanic people. Not a sword to impose the dictatorship of one man over the Omah. The lack of this sword is one of the main obstacles in front of the unity of Muslims in this country, because this sword is illegal here in US and the law protects corrupted people who divide the lines of Muslims.

What does it mean to be united

Definition of unity

What is the exact definition of unity?. When can we call our Omah to be united Omah. Does it mean that we all has to wear the same clothes or speak the same language. Does it mean that we all have to live in the same place or breath the same air. No, unity means that
·    We all work towards one objective and exert efforts in the same directions.
·    We all stand up to defend each other, respect each other and feel for each other’s problems.
·    We all advise each other, tolerate each other’s mistakes, and cooperate to meet common objectives.

The ideal form of unity can be drawn from the Ahadeeth of Prophet Mohammed S when he said:
مثل المؤمنين في توادهم وتراحمهم كمثل الجسد الواحد، إذا إشتكي منه عضو تداعي له سائر الجسد بالسهو والحمي
The loving and merciful relationship between believers are like the relationship between different parts of the same body. If one part aches in pain, the rest of the body will react, complain, get a fever and never sleep.

Unity between Muslims result from brotherhood in Islam. Brotherhood in Islam is defined by Prophet Mohammed S in the following Hadeeth Narrated in the correct book of Muslim by Aboohoryra R:
لاتحاسدوا ولاتناجشوا ولاتباغضوا ولاتدابروا ولايبيع أحدكم علي بيع بعض وكونوا عباد الله إخوانا، المسلم أخو المسلم لايظلمه ولايحقره ولايخذله، التقوي ههنا (ويشير إلي صدره ثلاث مرات) بحسب إبن آدم من الشر أن يحقر أخاه المسلم كل المسلم علي المسلم حرام دمه وماله وعرضه.
Do not envy one another, do not conspire against one another, do not hate each other, do not turn away from each other (do not avoid each other do not boycott each other do not cut of the relation of each other) do not compete in commercial transactions against one another, and be you servants of Allah brothers. The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. The Muslim should not transgress against another Muslim brother, he should not look down to him or say things about him that make people look down to him, and he should not let him down in a crisis. Piety is hear (and he pointed to his chest). It is enough sin to a man to look down to his Muslim brother or say things that will make people look down to him. All the rights of a Muslim, including his properties, blood and honor are totally unlawful (Haram) to be transgressed against by another Muslim.

This kind of brotherhood described by prophet Mohammed S produces the best ideal unity in the Muslim Omah. The least level of unity that we should meet is that we do not exert contradicting efforts. If we exert contradicting efforts, then it means that we are not united. For example, if one group distributes a publication to show that another group of Muslims are wrong, the other group will reply with another publication to defend itself. This means a waste of effort one group exerts an effort to destroy another group is wrong, the effort should be exerted to correct not to destroy, and the following rules of Sharia should be observed:
·    We should not destroy Islamic institutions or effort for mistakes, as long as the overall evaluation of the effort or the organization is Islamic
·    We should reflect the real magnitude of mistakes and fault without exaggerations
·    If the objective is to advise each other, we can do that simply by giving beautiful advises in secret and forgive each other’s mistakes. If the matter is not black and white and there is a room for the other opinion, we should tolerate and allow room for the other opinion. If we do not, then it becomes a dictatorship, even if it is under the name of Islam, certainly there are dictatorships exercised using the name of Islam

Another thing is that we should not exaggerate when we talk about unity. We should not dream that we will be able to unit every body. If you get 80% of the Omah working to meet common objective, support each other, and stand up to help each other. Then this is a good achievement. There has to be always a % of people that are trouble makers, you can not get rid of them completely. All what we hope for is to minimize them.

Difference between plurality and disunity

It is very important that we should not mix between plurality and disunity. There can be many forms of plurality within the Muslim Omah such as:

Many nations but one Omah:

The Muslim Omah can be divided to many nations, but one Omah as Allah S said
يا أيها الناس إنا خلقناكم من ذكر وأنثى وجعلناكم شعوبا وقبائل لتعارفوا إن أكرمكم عند الله أتقاكم إن الله عليم خبير
O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may get to know each other (not that you may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of ALLAH is the most righteous of you. And ALLAH has full knowledge and is well acquainted with all things.

Plurality of nations is not against unity unless it leads to discrimination based on ethnicity and national origin, which is a problem that will be discussed later.

Many groups but one Omah, Many organizations but one Omah, Many ways but one objective, Many avenues, but one distention:

If we look into today’s situation of Muslim Omah in general and active Muslims in particular. We find that active Muslim brothers are divided into many groups, such as Muslim Brotherhood group (الإخوان المسلمين), Party of Liberation (حزب التحرير), The group of Tableegh and Dawah (جماعة التبليغ والدعوة), Groups of Islamic militants (جماعات الجهاد), Group of Salafee (جماعة السلف), Sofee groups (الجماعات الصوفية) and many others. They are all active in the Islamic work. They all work to meet a common objectives, which is to please Allah S and to establish the Islamic Khilapha. But they approach these objectives through different avenues.

The Muslim Brotherhood group is specialized in making Dawah to attract Muslims to Islam and teach them Islam through political work, such as participation in elections  and parliaments, and through public services, such as establishing and running Islamic humanitarian organizations to help poor and needy, building Islamic centers, schools and Masjids and have qualified Muslim brothers teaching Islam there to the public, run unions and professional societies and make Dawah by providing services to the professionals and their families. They also have special small families made of 4-5 brothers to teach them Islam and to build the Islamic personality in them.

The group of Tableegh and Dawah, they are specialized in making Dawah by visiting Muslims in their homes and places of work and preach Islam to them.

The groups of Islamic militants are specialized in fighting using weapons to defend Islam against its enemies and against secular corrupted governments.

The groups of Salafee brothers are specialized in protecting the original Sunnah of Prophet Mohammed S and correcting the main faith ý(عقيدة) of Muslims.

The Soffe groups are specialized in purification of the soul and spiritualities through  rituals and (ذكر) mentioning and praising Allah S.

As overall evaluations, all these groups are all working In shaa Allah in the right direction with few minor mistakes here and there. Some of these mistakes may be tolerated, other mistakes worth consideration and advising but again, advising without imposing, give the advise in the most beautiful way, avoid using harsh irritating words, avoid exaggerations and give the mistake the amount of attention that it deserves.

For example, if you see a brother praising Allah and keeping track of the count by Sibha, which is a counter made of stones arranged in a string. The sunnah is to count on hands, but it is not a big deal if he counts on sibha. What you may do is go and introduce yourself to him and get to know him and after the ice between you is broken, talk to him in a nice way and do not mention more the Hadeeth of Prophet Mohammed S that he said to recommend using fingers to count. Do not condemn him and make big accusations, like brother you have a problem with your Aqeedah for example. Do not give more attention than it worth. Prophet Mohammed S said:
إن الله يحب من الأمور معاليها ويكره سفاسفها
Allah likes the believers to get busy with big matters and dislikes wasting time with small matters.

Also, exaggeration harm more than it benefit. One brother caught another brother setting the alarm to 7:30 am, which means that he has no plans to weak up and perform Fajer prayer on time. He told him “ I heard sheikh so saying that whoever does that, he is committing Kufr”. The other brother said, what Kufr and a war started.

We have the best example in the story of Alhassan and Alhussain, the two grand children of Prophet Mohammed S. They saw an old man that making Wudo (ablution) in the wrong way and they thought about the best way to advise him and they came up with a brilliant idea. They approached him and said, Our uncle we are competing among ourselves to see who is the one that can make the best Wudo, can you please be the judge, he said okay, they presented to him how to make Wudo and he learned from them. After they are done, he said, oh my sons, you both made the best Wudo I have ever seen, I am the one who does not know how to make Wudo. Look at the way they did it. They did not tell him, because your Wodu is wrong, then your prayer will not be accepted, and therefore you are Kafir. No they used their talent to come up with the best way to give the advise. And that is what we need to learn.

There is a big difference between Muslim Groups and Muslim sects and we have to be clear about it. Muslim sects, without mentioning names, have major problems concerning the major pillars of faith, which can not be tolerated. Some of them are completely outside the umbrella of Islam. It is sometimes better to ignore them to avoid side battles that may distract us from our main battle, but this should be only a temporary attitude. These sects should be confronted when appropriate and their shame should be exposed to the people if this is not going to create a (فتنة) tribulation and side wars.

Also we should not exaggerate in evaluating other groups. Some brothers exaggerate and magnify mistakes, and call every new thing an innovation (بدعة) without any distinction between what to be called innovation (بدعة شرعية) and what not to be called innovation. Also, some brothers exaggerate in looking at mistakes and they relate little minor mistakes to big issues such as Tawheed and faith (عقيدة).

تعدد الجماعات الإسلامية يجب أن يكون تعدد تنوع وتخصص لا تعدد تضاد وتناحر
Plurality of groups is something good as long as this plurality is to have various specialization to cover various aspects and methods of Dawah, as long as these groups have no violation of the main pillars of faith and main objective of the Islamic sharia, as long as these groups cooperate to achieve the common objectives and keep open channels of communications, and as long as these groups compete in good cause to please Allah S.

Allah S ordered believers in the Quran to compete in doing good deeds, Allah S said (وفي ذلك فليتنافس المتنافسون) for this objective, competers should compete. So, yes to competition, but no to disputes, envy, jealousy and fighting.

Prophet Mohammed S said:
كلكم علي ثغرة من ثغور الإسلام، فليحذر أحدكم أن يؤتي الإسلام من قبله
Every one of you is guarding a door of the Islamic castle, make sure that Islam will not be invaded from your door. Prophet Mohammed S is picturing Islam as a big castle that has many entrances, each entrance is guarded by a group of Muslim and he is advising each group to do their best to defend this particular door of Islam so that Islam is not invaded or occupied through their door, which is very beautiful expression to express the need for Plurality of groups.

Allah S classified Muslims into the Quran to three groups
ثم أورثنا الكتاب الذين اصطفينا من عبادنا فمنهم ظالم لنفسه ومنهم مقتصد ومنهم سابق بالخيرات بإذن الله ذلك هو الفضل الكبير
Then We have given the Book (which is the Quran) for inheritance to such of Our servants as We have chosen (which are the Muslims): but there are among them some who are wrong doers; some who follow a middle course (neutral not bad and not good); and some who are the best in good deeds. In every Islamic group and every Islamic organization you find the three categories. It is incorrect to claim that every body in my group or organization belongs to the group which are best in good deeds and the rest of active brother in other organizations are between wrong doers and neutral at most. This is not a healthy Islamic way of thinking.

We sometimes hear brothers who condemn plurality and say it is wrong and we all have to be in the same group. This is wrong, wise people say, do not put all your eggs in one basket, do you think that Allah S will put all his eggs in one basket. The eggs of Allah are the active Muslim brothers who work to promote Islam. Do you think Allah will put them all in one basket so that if this basket is destroyed or went astray, the whole Islam is destroyed. I do not think so.

The need for Islamic Khilafa to achieve unity:

The Islamic Khilafa is the boss organization to all Muslim nations, groups and individual. It acts like the brain who coordinates and controls various parts of the same body. What happens if you have two brains in one body. Is it going to work. At the same time is it possible to have a living body without a brain.

If we have Khalifa today, would not he call for Jihad to protect Bosnia and Palestine. Would the Hindus dare to attack the Muslim Cashmere if they know that 1.2 billion Muslims will react in anger. Would the Serbs dare to attack the Muslim Kosopho in Albania if they know that they will have to deal with such a tremendous force.

We all remember the famous story in the Islamic history of the Muslim women that was assaulted in one of the cities of the Roman Empire at the time of the Khalifa (المعتصم بالله) and she cried (وامعتصماه) which means Oh Motasem (معتصم) help me, and one Muslim brother conveyed the message to the Khalifa. He sent a letter to the leader of that empire saying:
من المعتصم أمير المؤمنين إلي هرقل كلب الروم، أما بعد فإني سآتيك بجيش  أوله عندك وآخره عندي
From the Motasem the Khalifa of the Muslim Omah to the Heroclesis the dog of the roman empire, I will send you my army and the beginning of the army will start at your land and the end of the army will be in my land. And Heroclesis was scared to death. Now how many Muslim women in Bosnia and Cashmere cried Wa Motasemah. Did they get any response, no. Why, because we are busy fighting among ourselves and we have no leadership or Khilafa.

If we have Khalifa today, would not he be able to solve the problem of the Muslim brother fighting against his own Muslim brother in Afaganistan.

If we have Khalifa today, would not he be able to unite us to start Ramadan together and celebrate Eid together. This particular problem will never be solved without a Khalifa. You know why, because there are two strong opinions about it (explain).

The first opinion says that at the time of prophet Mohammed S, Ramadan will start if a witness comes to testify that he saw the crescent. Prophet Mohammed S never rejected the testimony of any Muslim and he will start the month accordingly.

Therefore, we should follow the sunnah of prophet Mohammed S and do the same. If any Muslim testifies that he has seen the crescent, we all should start fasting accordingly.

In other words, the month of Ramadan starts by the testimony of a Muslim that he has seen the crescent regardless of whether the crescent was really seen by him or it was a mistake.

which means that it is not necessary for the legal reality of Ramadan to coincide with the astronomical reality of the new moon.  This is supported by the hadith about being clouded over.  Likewise, if a Muslim qualified witness testifies to seeing the hilal, it is Ramadan (or 'Eid) in the Shari'a whether or not that actually coincides with the astronomical reality in the sky.

This particular opinion was further divided into many sub-opinions about the definitions of the qualified witness. One sub-opinion says that the qualified witness has to be from Makkah, another opinion says no, any Muslim is qualified to be a witness and we should fast with the first country that announces Ramadan, it does not have to be Makkah.

The second strong opinion says that well Allah S said in the Quran
يسألونك عن الأهلة قل هي مواقيت للناس والحج
They ask you concerning the new Moons. say: they are signs to mark beginning and ends of calendar months, and  pilgrimage. Which means that the crescent has to be actually seen in order to start and end Ramadan.

At the time of Prophet Mohammed S, he had no way to confirm the sighting of the new moon, specially if it is cloudy. Nowadays we have satellites, astronomy and telecommunications that may be used to verify the testimony of any witness. In addition to calculations, we have at least 10 hours of warning time. If the new moon is sighted in the middle east, because of difference of timing, we can call and get early warning so that we go out and look for the new moon that has been seen in the middle east, it should be larger and more clear because it is 10 hours older.

If we can not see it, then we check calculations. If calculations says that it is impossible to sight the moon, then we certainly may reject the testimony of the witness because he is a human and he can make mistakes. Prophet Mohammed S had no way to verify the testimony but we have many ways to verify. Isna follows this opinion and I personally follow Isna.

Now you have two strong contradicting opinions, what are you going to do. The more you argue about it, the worse it gets, the more you ask scholars, the more you get confused because scholars themselves are following different opinions, so what do you think about ordinary Muslims. There is no way to unit all the Muslims under one opinion without the Islamic Khilafa.

We run into this problem every year to remind us with the miserable situation of disunity that we live in. In some families, the husband is fasting and the wife is not. We can not even agree on the start date of one of the main pillars of Islam because of the lack of leadership.

Now if we have a leader, then he will announce the beginning and end of the month and all of us must follow. Because for those who do not follow, there will be a sever punishment from Allah S and from the Khalifa himself.
إن الله ليزع بالسلطان مالا يزع بالقرآن
Allah S will defend with the power of Islamic law enforced by the Khalifa whatever that can not be defended by the power of Quran, which is the power of faith.

The Khalifa also will solve differences in our Omah in other controversial issues. And he is going to give a final decision that must be respected and followed by the entire Omah, as Allah S said in the Quran:
يا أيها الذين آمنوا أطيعوا الله وأطيعوا الرسول وأولي الأمر منكم فإن تنازعتم في شيء فردوه إلى الله والرسول إن كنتم تؤمنون بالله واليوم الآخر ذلك خير وأحسن تأويلا
O you who believe obey ALLAH, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. if you differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to ALLAH and his messenger if you are believers in ALLAH and the last day, this is best, and most suitable for final determination.

Look at the order of obedience to resolve differences, first we seek the opinion of Allah S in the Quran, if we can not find any, then we seek the opinion of Prophet Mohammed S in the Sunnah, if we can not find any, then our Khalifa is to resolve the problem by favoring one opinion over the other and we all have to follow.

Necessity of unity 

(وحدة المسلمين: فريضة شرعية وضرورة واقعية) Unity of Muslim Omah is an obligation mandated by Islam and is a necessity mandated by reality. There are many articles in the Quran and Sunnah that mandates the unity. There is no other religion so strict about forbidding disunity and so strict in emphasizing the importance of unity like the religion of Islam.

In addition, there are many evidences from reality making the unity of Omaha a necessity in order for the Omah to survive.

From Quran:

واعتصموا بحبل الله جميعا ولا تفرقوا واذكروا نعمة الله عليكم إذ كنتم أعداء فألف بين قلوبكم فأصبحتم بنعمته إخوانا وكنتم على شفا حفرة من النار فأنقذكم منها كذلك يبين الله لكم آياته لعلكم تهتدون
And hold fast, all together, by the Rope which ALLAH stretches out for you, and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah’s favor on you; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, you became brothers; and you were on the edge of the pit of fire, and He saved you from it. Thus ALLAH make His Signs clear to you: that you may be guided.

ولا تكونوا كالذين تفرقوا واختلفوا من بعد ما جاءهم البينات وأولئك لهم عذاب عظيم
Do not be like those who are divided among themselves and fall into disputations after receiving Clear Signs from Allah, for them is a dreadful Penalty

وأن هذا صراطي مستقيما فاتبعوه ولا تتبعوا السبل فتفرق بكم عن سبيله ذلكم وصاكم به لعلكم تتقون
Verily, this is My Way, leading straight, follow it and do not follow other avenues that will scatter you away from my avenue


From Sunah

Prophet Mohammed S said, making fighting between Muslims is equivalent to Kufr:
لاترجعوا بعدي كفارا يضرب بعضكم رقاب بعض
Do go back to be Kufar after me, each group is fighting against the other.

He S also said:
سباب المسلم فسوق وقتاله كفر
Cursing or calling a Muslim bad names is transgressing and fighting with him is Kufr

and said:
لاتختلفوا فإن من كان قبلكم إختلفوا فهلكوا
Do not fall into disputes, nations before you felt into disputes and they were destroyed because of that.
and said
الجماعة رحمة والفرقة عذاب Unity is mercy and disunity is a punishment
يد الله مع الجماعة ومن شذ شذ في النار
The hand of Allah is helping the united Omah and whoever breaks away will be breaking away in the hell fire
and said:
إنما يأكل الذئب من الغنم القاصية
The wolf will eat the sheep which is walking away by herself separate from the group
and said:
المؤمن للمؤمن كالبنيان، يشد بعضه بعضا وشبك بين أصابعه
A believer should support another believer like the elements of a structure supporting each other and he joined his fingers together

Prophet Mohammed S also said:
توشك أن تداعي عليكم الأمم كما تتداعي الأكلة إلي قصعتها، قالوا أمن قلة نحن يارسول اللة، قل كلا، أنتم يومئذ كثير ولكنكم غثاء كغثاء السيل. ولينزعن الله المهابة من قلب عدوكم، وليلقين في قلوبكم الوهن، قالوا ومالوهن يارسول الله، قال حب الدنيا وكراهية الموت.
It will come a time where other nations will attack the Muslim Omah and cut pieces of  its body. The companions wondered and said, is it because we are few at that time prophet of Allah, he said no, you will be so many, but you will be like the trash sweeped by the flood, there is a lot of trash flushed by the flood, but it has no value. And Allah will take away the fear to you from the hearts of your enemies, and Allah will put the diseases of weakness in you heart called (Wahan). The companions asked him what is this decease of weakness prophet of Allah, he said the love of this life (Donia) and the hatred of death.

Prophet Mohammed S was very accurate in choosing his words, when he chose the word (غثاء السيل) indicating the trash flushed by floods, he really meant it. If we compare the characteristics of the trash sweeped by floods to situations of Muslims today, we will find the following:
·    The trash sweeped by flood is a lot and has no value and no effect, exactly like today’s Muslim Omah
·    Pieces of trash sweeped by flood is not homogenous. It is a random collection of all kinds of insignificant items
·    The trash sweeped by flood may have few precious and expensive items, but these items are very few item hidden, mixed and confused with trash
·    Pieces of trash sweeped by the flood are moving in random scattered directions. Each piece is moving in its own direction randomly without any planning or connection with each other, and without any target or objective

PBUH, was he looking to our condition now through the power of Allah to describe it in such an accurate way. His description is such an exact description to the condition of Omah today.

From reality (United States)

The more we look into the current situation of today’s Muslim Omah, the more we see the urgent need for unity. Now all nations are getting united. Was it for nothing that the leading nation in the world now is called United States of America. Is it for nothing that European nations that have long history of fighting are getting united. On the other hand, our Muslim nations are getting far away from each other, sometimes fighting among themselves.

For 1400 years, this Omah was strong when it was united. Before Islam, Arabian tribes were fighting each other and had no power because of that. Then Prophet Mohammed S came to unite them on Islam, on one god, on one book, on the same values and target. They followed him and they became something after they were nothing. Then they started spreading Islam and established the Islamic Khilafa based on justice and Islamic moral values.

So the history is telling us that when the Omah was united, they conquered the world and they established a strong Islamic civilization. And when the Omah got divided and broken, Andalos was lost and Palestine was occupied during crusade wars, and more recently, the Islamic Khilafa was destroyed in 1924.

Any minority living in a society must be united to protect itself. All minorities in the world are united except the Islam minorities, specially here in US. As a minority living in US, we should be united to preserve and protect our religion and Islamic civilization.

Basic Islamic Theory of Unity

The Islamic theory of unity is very simple and explained in the Quran. The huge Muslim organization is called Omah. Membership qualification in order to be a member of the Omah is to be a Muslim. Allah S said in the Quran:
إن هذه أمتكم أمة واحدة وأنا ربكم فاعبدون
Verily, this religion of yours leads to a single Omah, and I am your lord, so worship me.

Therefore the membership for the Omah is open to any human to declares Islam as his religion and worships Allah alone, no other qualification is required.

The main source of the constitution or (by laws) of the Omah is the book of Allah and the Sunnah of his prophet Mohammed S. The Quran and Sunah provide broad outlines of the direction of the Omah, but they do not have detailed laws for every thing. We drive our detailed laws based on the guidance of Quran and Sunah, and then based on the wisdom and expertise of people.

In order to clarify that, I will give this example. One man came to one of the Scholars and asked him, did not Allah said in the Quran:
ونزلنا عليك الكتاب تبيانا لكل شيء وهدى ورحمة وبشرى للمسلمين
We have sent down the book of Quran to you explaining all things, as a guide, as a mercy, and as glad tidings to Muslims.
Thus, the Quran should explain every thing according to this verse. The scholar answered yes. The man asked “How come I do not see the recipe of baking bread in the Quran”. The Scholar replied, go and read the verse in the Quran that says:
فاسألوا أهل الذكر إن كنتم لا تعلمون
Ask the professional people of expertise if you do not know. Based on that you should go and ask a bakery man.

So the man was so closed minded to think that Allah will detail every thing in the Quran up to the extent of providing recipes of how to cook. Unfortunately, some of our brothers think that every detailed aspect of life can be found of the Quran and Sunnah, and this not true. We need human wisdom and expertise of professional people to legislate laws for traffic for example, and legislate other laws that organize the life of people. We can even borrow some from the west, no harm with that as Prophet Mohammed S said:
الحكمة ضالة المؤمن، انا وجدها فهو أولي بها
The wisdom to a believer is like a lost key, wherever he finds it, he should pick it up because he is the most deserving to it.

The Quran and Sunnah provide to us with broad outlines. As long as we detail our matters of life within these broad outlines, meeting the objectives of the Islamic divine law (Sharia), we are fine. The main objective of the Islamic divine law is the Protection and preservation of the following:

·    Protection and preservation of Life: A subdivision of ‘Life’ includes; the sanctity of human life, the prohibition of killing, when to kill and when not to kill. It also includes; elimination of poverty from society by Zakah and charities, providing public health care, prevention of disease, providing good nutrition, maintaining one’s physical fitness and cleanliness, maintaining the environment, provide cultivation and planting to keep the environment fertile
·    Protection and preservation of The Mind: Without mind humans can not comprehend and therefore can not be responsible of their actions and deeds. A subdivision of ‘Mind’ includes protecting the mind from anxiety, and repression, insuring the freedom of thinking, insuring the freedom of the pursuit of knowledge and making it a religious dictate. It also includes protecting the mind from anything that numbs or kills it, such as drugs or alcohol
·    Protection and preservation of Religion: A subdivision of Religion includes the protection from attack by the enemies of the religion, or when the lands of Muslims are assaulted, and ensuring that everyone can freely worship Allah without oppression or tribulations (Fitnah), and this includes the building of Mosques, the observance of Ramadhan and so on. It also includes the prevention of any Islamically unlawful things to be available to the public and the enforcement of the divine laws of Sharia.
·    Protection and preservation of Ownership: You have the right to own but the ultimate Owner is the Creator, Allah, Praised and Exalted be He, but we have the right to own, as trustees upon what we own. The subdivision of the category of Ownership includes how to make money  in a clean way, and what are the prohibited ways of making money, which includes cheating, fraud, and theft. The sharia protects your possessions within the limits So if you are protecting your possessions against someone who attacks you and you die, you are a martyr. Capital in Islam has a function, whatever we have ultimately belongs to Allah, and we are His agents or trustees and we must manage and use our possessions according to His Will and His Plan, including the prohibition of Riba (dealing unlawful interest). It also includes rules and regulations for transactions and inheritance.
·    Protection and preservation of Offspring: The subdivision of ‘Offspring’ includes the concept of honor, adultery, marriage, whom to marry, whom not to marry, the right to have two parents and to know them, the clarity and purity of the genealogy, all this is the protection of Offspring.

However, that was regarding matters of life, but matters of rituals (الشعائر التعبدية) should be driven strictly from the Quran and Sunnah. So how to perform Wodo, how to perform prayers, how to perform Haj, how much is your Zakah, ...etc, all these rituals have to come from Quran and Sunnah, and enough details for these issues are provided in Quran and Sunnah with minor differences between scholars, like the differences between the four Mathehab.

There are also lots of Islamic Itekait (آداب إسلامية) provided in Quran and Sunnah, such as how to use the bathroom, enter with your left leg and then say oh Allah, I seek refuge by you from bad things (اللهم إني أعوذ بك من الخبث والخبائث), eat with right hand, thank Allah when you sneeze, ...etc. All these things are Sunnah and part of the Islamic Itekait. (The story of the movie terrorist).

There are the so called golden rule of unity established by Imam Rasheed Rida  and adapted by Imam Hassan ElBana that says:
نتعاون فيما إتفقنا عليه ويعذر بعضنا بعضا فيما إختلفنا فيه
We cooperate in things we have in common and we tolerate each other of things we differ on. And we have lots of things in common, we have the pillars of faith, the pillars of Islam, the main pillars of Islamic divine law, and many other things. Isn’t it enough that we have the same book Quran and the same Prophet Mohammed S. Why do we make big deal of minor issues and fight on it.

كن ماتكن ولكن لنتحد مع إعذار المخالفين ونصح العصاة بالحكمة والموعظة الحسنة
Be whatever you want to be, but let us put our hands together and get united. We tolerate minor differences among us and advise each other in a beautiful way to refrain from sins and disobedience of Allah S.

Knowing and agreeing about all these things will provide us with a simple but effective theory of unity.

What can I do to be part of the solution:

Some brothers say, well our leaders has to get together and get united in order to solve the problem. You know what, do not wait for our leaders (فرق تسد)

Teach your kids the priority of Unity

Be an activist

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