FACT: Unity and oneness is central to Islam:' One true' God -Allah- has revealed one' guidance for this one humanity to follow in order to come back to Him. This one guidance has been sent through one single brotherhood' of Prophets. (PBUT) and is wholly revealed in one inviolable_ Book: AI-Quran The message of this guidance is also one; there is only one true God deserving of worship, Allah; submit fully to his will. The path of submission is also one- the Sirat-al-Mustaqim:
'Verily this is my way leading straight: follow it follow not (other) paths: they will scatter you about from His path. This does He command you that you may be righteous' (Q6: 153)
FACT: there is only one way to meet Allah. All others ways do not lead to Him:
"If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission of Allah) never shall if be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost.' (Q3:85).
there is only one party of Allah, all others are parties of Shaytan (Q4:76). For human life, there is only one true system, and that is Islam; all other systems are ignorance (Jahiliyyah) (Q:5:50). There is only one law which ought to be followed and that is Allah's Shariah, what is other than this is men's caprice:
"We put you on the (right) way of Religion; so follow that and follow not the desires of those who know not" (Q45:I5).
Finally, the truth is one and indivisible; anything different from it is error;
"Such is Allah, your true Lord: apart from the truth, what (remains) but error? How then are you turned away?" (QI0:32)
FACT: Fulfilling the obligation of worship of Allah in full submission -Islam- is a daily practical demonstration of this oneness and the unity of the message. Now, five times a day, billions of worshippers in apparent unison do qiyam (standing), ru 'kuh (bowing), sujud (prostration) and tas/eem (salutation) at the same period, in the same manner, facing the same qiblah (direction) for the same purpose. Soon, these billions of worshippers will fast daily from dawn to dusk for a whole month in the same period (Ramadan) throughout the world. They will also pay Zakat (alms-rate) using the same rate and then millions of them go to perform the same rites of hajj over the same ten-day period in the month of Dhul-Hijjah.
FACT: Clearly, the one true God - Allah - that those millions of people all believe in commands this unison and sameness of purpose;
"Verily", He the Most Supreme commands in the Qur'an; ''this ummah of yours is a single ummah and I am your Lord and Cherisher; therefore serve Me (and no other)" (Q21:22).
He also ordered as wajib (compulsory duty) the unity of the ummah;
"And hold fast all together, by the Rope which Allah (stretches outf or you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah's favour on you" (Q3:102-103).
This is the command of Allah, it must be obeyed. Each time that the body of believers (Muslims) have obeyed this command and have fulfilled Allah's other expectation
{"Thus have We made of you an ummah justly balanced that you might be witnesses over the nations and the Messenger a witness over yourselves. " (Q2:143)];
truly have they been successful and predominant in the affairs of this world!
FACT: The manifestation of faith is also uniform:
"(Our religion) takes its hue from Allah and who can give a better hue than Allah? It is He whom we worship." (Q2:35).
The source of that colour of faith is one and the same: the Glorious Qur'an (and the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH) which flow from it). Each time the Muslim ummah quenched its thirst from that clear spring. Islam and the believers have attained pre-eminence and have seen the fulfilment of Allah's promise:
"It is We who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to make it prevail over all religion; and enough is Allah for a witness" (QI8:25).
Hence. if today. the followers of it is fastest growing religion find themselves backward. divided. disunited and dictated to. we must look beyond the constant parameters of Islam and look into the changing ways of our being faithful to the covenant of Islam.
QUESTIONS: How is it that Islam and the people who profess it (Muslims) have not prevailed in the twilight of the 20th Century? Is this not the faith that galvanized 313 Muslims at the Battle of Badr to overcome the Makkan army of thrice its size? Is this not the faith that turned the minority group that was seriously persecuted in Makkah for thirteen years to the rulers of the whole Arabia only ten years later? Is this not the faith that propelled Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) to conquer the major world power centres (persia, Byzantine etc.) in only twelve years? Is this not the faith that saved the world from the Dark Age by providing civilization after the collapse of Europe and its Church?
MORE QUESTIONS: Is this not the faith that laid the foundation of scientific method of learning, perfected mathematics and changed the thinking of man? Is this not the faith that turned Umar ibn Abdul- Azeez - a thirty - six year old ruler of the state of Islam in 95A.H. (717CE) - to the ruler of the entire modern world in only three years? Is this not the faith that strengthened two young itinerant scholars - Uthman Dan Fodio and Abdullahi Bello - to uproot pagan practices and enthrone the true worship of Allah in vast territories of Northern Nigeria? And is this not the faith that only yesterday empowered Imam Khomcini and the oppressed people of Iran to face down the guns of Shah Pahlavi only with the mere power of recorded sermons (khutbah)?
ANSWER: Yes, it is this faith of Islam; but not these set of Muslims. The Muslims of each of those epoch were one, strong, united ummah, worshipping only Allah, following only His Prophet (PBUH) and holding steadfastly to the Quran and the sunnah. Also, because they truly practised Islam. they and their faith prevailed over the party of Shaytan for:
"Shaytan strategy is weak" (Q-I:76).
Hence. their number or their manifest strength was not important. Allah assured them:
"And obey Allah and His Messenger and fall into no disputes, lest YOU lose heart and your power depart ..... " (Q8:.i6):
and because they were united. they were strengthened in their cause:
"...If there are twenty amongst you, patient and perservering, they will vanquish two hundred: if a hundred they will vanquish a thousand of the unbelievers: for these are a people without understanding." (Q8:65)
Then, the Muslims were just that: Muslims! They bunched together for the cause of Allah as a broom - impossible to break but effective in sweeping away the forces of Jahiliyyah . Now, Muslims stand out as separate broom sticks. hence each is easily broken to further pieces: or even like the powerless sticks of reed by the riverside - easily knocked against one another by the gentlest of breeze. Now Muslims are either Sunnis, or Shi'ite; when they are Sunnis, they are either Sufi or Wahhabi and when they are Shi'ite, they are twelve-Imam or seven-Imam (lsmaili). Or even by sects (Qadriyyah, Tijaniyyah or Shanziliyyah) or by outright misguidance (Ahmadtyyah etc.). And even nearer home. by tribe and class system.
Indeed, we have disregarded the warning of the Prophet:
"Beware of Shay tan for the safety of your faith. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in all the big (major) things, so beware of following him in the small things.(Bukhari)
And we have allowed the fulfilment of his warning:
"…This ummah will divide itself into seventy-three religious sects. All (will be) in Hell, except one, and that one (path) is: the one on which I and my companions are today (that is following the Qur'an and sunnah) (Tirmidhi)
CAUSE: Whatever evil has befallen this generation of Muslims - disunity, division or dissension- we are the ones who have wronged our souls and led ourselves to destruction. Evidently, this as-sabiyya is the direct result of our level of iman and the ill effects of our sins. How? Because this ummah, even with its defects, is the best and most noble of the nations of Allah, (Q3: 110). He would not punish the Muslim nation for its disobedience and sins in the way that He punished the previous nations. He will not cause its destruction with the violent wind of seven nights and eight days like the nation of 'Ad wiping them off without trace (Q69:6- 7); He will not destroy it with the earthquake that laid prostrate the people of Thamud in their own homes (Q69:5). No! Allah will not destroy this nation for its sins with the violent wind and stones that pelted the people of Lut (PBUH). (Q7:80- 84)
PUNISHMENT: Allah, from His Wisdom and Mercy, punishes this Muslim nation for its sins and disobedience by as-sabiyya: setting some part of it upon the others so that they destroy, divide and disunite one another. Allah warned us before hand:
"Say: 'He has power to send torment on you from above or from under your feet or to cover you with confusion in party strife and make you to taste the violence of one another'" (Q6:65).
Jaabir ibn Abdullah (RA) reported that when the above aayah was revealed, the Prophet (PBUH) sought refuge from Allah against "torment" but said of
"confusion in party strife ... " "This is lighter or easier. " (Bukhari).
He (PBUH) also said:
"1 asked my Lord for three things; He granted me two and refused me one. 1 asked my Lord that He should not destroy us with that which He destroyed the nations before us - He granted it to me; 1asked my Lord, that He should not overwhelm us with an enemy from other than us - so He granted it to me; and 1asked my Lord, that He should not cause us to divide into separate groups, each attacking the others, but He refused me that". (An-Nasa'] & Tirmidhi).
SOLUTION: As-sabiyya is the easier punishment that Allah has inflicted on the Muslim ummah as a result of our sins. So, the cause is known and the punishment is manifest; also clear is the solution, We all must turn back to Allah so that we could save ourselves from the cases of overwhelming destruction that as-sabiyya would eventually cause. It is in the Book of Allah (Al-Qur'an) and the sunnah of the Messenger (PBUH) that success lies; it is in clinging to them and attesting to the truth of what they inform and following their commands that victory is certain; only failure and division are present in schools of thoughts, sects, orders and cult followership. It is on the purified practices of the salaaf (pious predecessors) that the nation oftheDeen (way of life) of Allah is built; only dissension, trials, and loss can be built on races, tribe and proximity. It is from the example of the Prophet (PBUH) and the rightly-guided caliphs (RA) that leaders of the Muslim ummah should draw strength to achieve unity and prosperity; all other examples are imperfect and inadequate. 0 Allah, grant that the Muslim ummah and its leaders truly turn back to You in open and in secret, in their sayings and their actions so that the ummah is rectified and that ALL SHALL BECOME ONE!(Amin).
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited