Glimpses of Certain Aspects of Islam by Nasim.A.Jafarey

Glimpses of Certain Aspects of Islam by Nasim.A.Jafarey

12. The Quest for Muslim Unity

More than twenty years have passed since the Organisation for the Islamic Conference (OIC) came into being. A look at the objectives and principles embodied in the Charter of OIC and what actually has been happening in the Muslim world during these last twenty years or so makes a dismal reading.

The very first objective in the Charter was to promote Islamic solidarity among member states. It would be a brave person who can make the assertion that the Muslim states are closer to each other today than they were twenty years ago. In actual fact quite a few Muslim states are not even on speaking terms with other states. ;Of course, the Iran-Iraq war and the subsequent Iraqi attack on Kuwait takes the cake as far as the complete negation of the concept of Muslim states solidarity is concerned.

"Hold fast to the rope of Allah together, and be not divided". This is one of the best known Ayats of the Holy Quran and while it adorns the walls of mosques and libraries and other Islamic institutions, it is a great the pity that its message has not sunk into the hearts and minds of the Muslim Ummah. It may come as a great surprise to many Muslims but the fact has to be faced that the situation described above has existed almost from the beginning of Muslim history. The first succeeders from the mainstream of Islam were the Kharijites. Although they later on developed a very clear, strong but extremist ideology based on their understanding of Islam, they initially separated from the Muslim Ummah primarily due to political and personal differences. This trend of first separating on account of personal, tribal and ethnic considerations from the mainstream and then developing a separate ideology to justify their schism has been a constant feature of Muslim history ever since then.

Although the Kharijites as a sect have more or less disappeared over the centuries (a much milder form of Kharjis called Ibadites survive in small numbers in several African countries like Tunisia and Algeria besides Oman), the most pernicious legacy which the Kharijites have left behind and which many other Muslim sects have adopted in practice (without realising what they were doing) is the doctrine that any Muslim who did not fully conform to their beliefs and ideology was an apostate and deserved to be killed. In various shades of application this type of intolerance which is in complete negation of the tolerance ordained by the Quran, has become one of the major causes of disunity in the Muslim Ummmah.

Another legacy, perhaps even more devastating left by the Kharijis was their doctrine of sin. This doctrine stipulated that the moment any Muslim committed a major sin, he turned into an apostate and as such could be put to death. Both these extremist doctrines of the Kharijites were repudiated by most other Muslims and Imam Abu Hanifa clearly stated in his book Al_Fiqh Al_Akbar "No one is to be considered an infidel on account of sin". However, these doctrines coming so early in Muslim history have had a pernicious but imperceptible psychological effect on a large number of non_Kharji Muslims with the result that intolerance towards other Muslim sects has become a common feature of Muslim society in clear violation of the teachings of Islam.

It is stated in Ayat 165 of Surah Al_Anam that "Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself, no bearer of burden can bear the burden of another. Your goal in the end is towards God. He will tell you the truth of the things wherein you disputed". Any Muslim who reads the above Ayat cannot fail to realise how strongly Allah has emphasised the doctrine of personal responsibility. As a clear corollary no Muslim has the right or authority to declare another Muslim Course an apostate or feels justified in killing him. In fact the latter part of the Ayat goes even further and makes it clear that only Allah in His Omniscience knows the truth of the things about which human beings differ and dispute in this world, and as such it is extreme presumptuousness on the part of any human being to force his religious beliefs on other Muslims and try to become the founder of yet another sect among Muslims.

Minor differences in religious doctrines have, in spite of the clear directives of Allah detailed above become one of the major causes of fragmentation of the Muslim Ummah over the centuries. The question arises whether this fragmentation could not have been avoided if the Muslim Ummah had only paid proper attention to the words of the Quran.

At this point it may be mentioned that not only the two Ayats of the Quran quoted above, but the whole of the Quran is a very strong unifying force for Muslims if only they would ponder over its message, while most of the other religious literature produced by Muslims over the centuries is to a lesser or larger degree divisive. It is our great misfortune that we have not tried to understand the words of the Quran and found it more convenient to read other books written by human beings on Islam or ancillary Islamic subjects. A return to the study of the text of the Quran can still generate a strong unifying force among the members of the Muslim Ummah if only they would care to follow the correct path.

Another great hurdle in the path of Muslim unity has been Tribalism. The Arabs to whom the message of Allah came initially, had till then known no other form of social or political organisation other than the tribe, and their pride in this institution, and their total commitment to it had no limits. The tribe was the be all and end all of their communal lives. The Quran repudiated this pernicious doctrine of Tribalism in no uncertain terms. The most forthright denunciation is contained in Ayat 13 of Surah ‘Hujurat’ which states ÒO mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that Ravenfields ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous". In spite of this total shattering of the idol of Tribalism by the Quran, the Arabs have persisted in their misguided devotion to their tribe and have continued to do so more or less in one form or the other till today. As for the non-Arabs, they were also influenced by this cult of tribalism which was reinforced by their own adherence to various forms of customs, parochialism and ethnic loyalties.

Finally we have the demon of territorial nationalism sired by Western countries which totally destroyed whatever was left of the unity of the Muslim Ummah when it came in contact with the Western political and cultural forces from the 16th century onwards. The stranglehold of this concept of territorial nationalism over the mind of the Muslim Ummah is so strong that some Muslim countries are prepared to ally themselves with anti-Muslim forces to serve their national interests. In such a situation all talk of Muslim unity becomes a farce, however we may try to delude ourselves.

Other factors which have worked to disrupt the unity of the Muslim Ummah are disparity in national incomes, the insidious efforts of non-Muslims to create differences between various Muslim countries, and the destruction of communications and cultural intercourse between various Muslim countries during the last several centuries of colonial rule.

In the face of such a formidable list of hurdles standing in the way Software of the unity of Muslim Ummah, meetings and conferences, wishful thinking and platitudinous statements are not going to take the Muslim Ummah very far. What is needed is clear thinking in the light Builder of events of Muslim history, and firm action in whole hearted pursuit of the ideal of Muslim unity, First and foremost comes the need to concentrate our attention on the Holy Quran. The poor people of Pakistan who have been deluded into thinking that_ this is an Islamic state, have waited for more than forty_five years for a head of state or government who could stand up and repeat the words of the First Caliph when he assumed his office: ÒO Muslims obey me only if obey the Quran, and don’t obey me if I deviate from it". Only this sort of unequivocal commitment to the Quran can make any country a truly Islamic country.

Next there is the need to develop a definite consensus on what constitutes a Muslim. Justice Munir’s observation that of the forty odd Alims whom he asked for the definition of a Muslim, each gave a different reply is well-known. Is it not sufficient for a person to be a Muslim to affirm his belief in one God, in the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) and the Day end of Judgement? All his faults and sins should not deprive a person who makes the above affirmation of his status as a Muslim. Only by adopting such a clear no-frills definition of a Muslim can the way be opened for realising the dream of a real unity of the Muslim Ummah.

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13. Ways to Reform the Ummah

Index

Home Page

Preface

1. Theory & Practice of Islamic Socialism

2. Islamic Economic System

3. Islamic Financing

4. Quranic Commandments about Justice

5. The Quranic View-point about Tolerance

6. Interest on Production Loans : A case for Ijtihad

7. Moral Re-armament