Unity of Muslim 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

1. Necessity of unity

One)From Quran

Two)From Sunah

Three)From reality

1. Basic Islamic Theory of Unity
2. 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)

1. 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

1. 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

1. We all work towards one objective and exert efforts in the same directions.
2. We all stand up to defend each other, respect each other and feel for each other’s problems.
3. 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:

1. We should not destroy Islamic institutions or effort for mistakes, as long as the overall evaluation of the effort or the organization is Islamic
2. We should reflect the real magnitude of mistakes and fault without exaggerations
3. 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.