Unanimous faith of every Muslim on One Allah, His Messenger (Muhammad PBUH) as last prophet, Holy Quran and Sunnah/Hadith of Prophet became a binding force bringing together people of different region as one Ummah. However, anti-Islamic force couldn’t swallow this growing religion and unity among them considering it as major threat towards their ideologies and religions. Muslim history is replete with glory and down fall, having difference as a healthy and creative activity, however there was no question on differences on religious matters as are prevailing today. “Muhammad (PBUH)” as Binding force for unity of Ummah.
His teachings clearly elaborate affection and love for prophet and if we critically analyze, it is evident that anti-Islamic forces have been trying to diminish love of Muhammad (PBUH) in the heart of Muslims, by creating clear division among them. He has quoted so many versus of Holy Quran, “Obey Allah, his prophet and the one Who is designated to command amongst you (Verse 59 Al Nissa-Chapter 5), O Believer don’t shout in front of Prophet and avoid talking with him as you normally talk with each other, otherwise your worships will go wasted and you will not be aware of it (Verse 2, AlHoojrat, Chapter 26), The one who obey Prophet, without any doubt he obeys Allah(Verse 80, Al Nissa, Chapter 5). Therefore to take out love of Muhammad (PBUH) from the heart and lives of Muslims, enemies of Islam fuelled controversy among Muslims about Great Personality of our Prophet, thereby creating disunity.
Unity between Tongue and Heart (Iqrarum Bill-i-san wa Tasdeequm Bil Qalb) Present day world is full of hypocrisy (munafqat). This is major disease and impediment for unity of Ummah. If our heart and tongue have unity then we can create unity in a society, in a country and resultantly in the whole Ummah. He has elaborated in detail the procedures which can help in attaining unity between Tongue and Heart.
Muslims are supposed to work together towards a common goal set by Quran and shown by prophet PBUH through Sunnah. Dr Allama Iqbal Says: Khirad ney keh bhee deya La-Illa to keya hasil, Dil-o-Nigah Musalman Naheen to Kuch bhee nahin( If our tongue narrates 1st Kalama then nothing is achieved, because until and unless our heart and soul is not converted into Islam, we have attained nothing).
Probably there are no people in the world today who have been as divided as Muslims. They are divided along religious, political, ethnic, cultural,racial,linguistic,and sectarian lines. These Divisions extend further into subdivisions status,wealth,fame,fortune have also created social differences among Muslims. These Differences and divisions do create physical, emotional and physiological barriers amongst us.Iqbal says these differences create prejudice in human beings
Hadrat Sultan Bahoo Says: Zabani Kalma har koee parhda, dil da parh da koee Hoo, (Every Muslim read kalama with tongue but rare people read kalama with their hearts. We are all Muslims, we believe in one God i.e. Almighty Allah, we believe in one Prophet i.e. Muhammad (Sallallaho Alaihe wa Aal-e-hee Wasallam) and we all have the book of Allah i.e. Qur’an. With due respect to my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters, this sentence is nothing more than a lip service.
All Muslims know the value and importance of uniting the Muslims around the world. We have read and heard many times the famous verse from Surah Al-i-Imran, ” 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 favour on you; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love so that by His grace you became brethren; and you were on the brink of the pit of fire and He saved you from it. Thus doth Allah make his signs clear to you: that you may be guided”. (Verse 013, Al-i-Imran)
Delivering long and long speeches about the Unity of Muslim Ummah does not tire our leaders, Imams and scholars. Every Muslim talks about the unity. However, as days are passing by Muslims are getting more and more divided.
The division is multidimensional. Muslims are divided based upon languages, ethnicity, regional preferences, nationalism and above all sectarian beliefs in the name of Islam. The reasons of these divisions could be many. But in this paper I would like to focus on two reasons.
After almost 13 centuries of Muslim rule, the focus of Muslim Ummah changed. What Qur’an describes the attributes of Muslims as, “They (Muslims) are very kind among themselves but very hard on Kuffaar”. Muslims slowly adopted the opposite attributes. They became very kind to KUFFAAR and very hard and cruel to Muslims. Our religious leadership started focusing on minor issues. Instead of healthy intellectual discussions, our religious leadership started emphasizing on resolving the differences through force. Some Muslim scholars intentionally used Qur’anic verses and misinterpreted their meanings. Those verses which Allah had revealed in Qur’an to inspire Muslims to fight against Kuffaar, these scholars used those verses to create animosity among Muslim brothers. They made a Muslim an enemy of another Muslim by using Qur’an and Hadith.
The struggle between HAQ (right) and BAATIL (wrong) has always been part of human history. Started from Hadhrat Adam (May Allah’s peace be upon him) this struggle is still going on. The forces of evil have never accepted the truth of Islam and they have always used their wicked ways to destroy this TRUTH (HAQ). The only way these forces could undermine this Truth (Islam) was to disunite its followers. The disunity among Muslims could only be achieved if some of the Muslims disconnect themselves from the following and obeying of Hadhrat Muhammad (Peace be upon him).
How the Unity of Muslim Ummah can be achieved? There is only ONE way to achieve the unity of Muslim Ummah and that way is the way of Muhammad (Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam). This way was used by the Companions of Allah’s Messenger (May Allah be pleased with them) and the Muslim scholars during the 13 centuries of Muslim rule of this world. One may say that everyone follows Qur’an but we are still disunited. That’s true.
The dispute is not in the Qur’an. The dispute lies with those scholars and their followers who interpret Qur’an based upon their own sectarian beliefs and ignore consensus of Islamic scholars (IJMA’). Muslims must return to the consensus of Islamic scholars which did exist from the period of SAHABAH (Companions of Allah’s Messenger) till the fall of Khilafat-e-Islamiyah just one century ago. Muslims must think as one nation and must overcome the linguistic, geographical, regional and ethnic differences. The agents of colonial empires have seeded the linguistic and regional nationalism among Muslims. Muslims must leave linguistic and regional nationalism behind and become one body.
The Noble Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) foretold about the coming of such people in the Hadith narrated by “Abu-Yaa’li” on the authority of “Huzaifah” who said: The Noble Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) said: “What I fear most for you, is a man who reads the Qur’an until such time when the blessing of Qur’an is reflected on him and he takes Islam as his Cloak … he then turns around and strips himself off from Islam and then tosses it away behind his back, then he heads quickly towards his neighbour with his sword unsheathed and he calls him a ‘MUSHRIK'” I said: “O, Prophet of Allah! Who is more worthy of being called a MUSHRIK the one being attacked or the attacker”. He replied, “It is indeed the attacker.” May Allah keep us on the right path, the path of SALEHEEN and keep us with the SALEHEEN.
