Unity, vital need of today's Islamic World

As you know we are marking the Islamic Unity Week which was the initiative of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), to bridge the two dates of the month of Rabi al-Awwal, that is, 12 and 17, respectively believed by the Sunni and Shi’a Muslims to be the birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

Today, we present you the 4^th episode of the series titled: “Unity, vital need of today's Islamic World.”

Even a cursory look at the state of affairs of Muslims in different parts of the world, shows that no issue is as important as Islamic unity for countering seditions and conspiracies hatched by the domineering powers and implemented through their local agents. Every ill that has afflicted Muslims over the past decades, was because of disunity among them. The British policy of "divide and rule" has been the main strategy of the enemies against Muslims. A look at the views and hard and fast measures of the enemies reveals that no issue has been assaulted by the US-Zionist-dominated media and possessors of power and money as much as unity and solidarity among Muslims.

These days, plots to trap the Muslim world in sectarian issues and proxy wars have intensified in order to distract their attention and plunder their resources. For this reason, the sinister plots of Islamophobia, Shi’aphobia and Iranophobia have topped the agenda of Global Arrogance and Zionism. Currently, Muslims in different regions of the world are grappling with the worst challenges and suffering pains in Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Nigeria, Myanmar, and so on. Had there been unity and solidarity among Muslims, we wouldn't have witnessed the pitiful conditions in Islamic countries. Muslims urgently need paying attention to the holy Qur'an and the practice and behaviour of the Prophet to gain unity.

The shaping of Takfiri thoughts and spread of terrorist outfits like Daesh in the Muslim world were part of the latest mega-plot of the enemies of Islam to sow the seeds of discord and disunity in a bid to tarnish the image of Islam. Had Muslims been unified and developed brotherly relations, there would have definitely been no room for spread of Takfiri ideas.

God says in ayah 103 of surah Al-e Imran, "Hold fast all to Allah's cord and do not be divided."

The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), has explained the issue of leadership in one of his sermons in the book Nahj al-Balagha, "The position of the leader in the government is like that of a cord which brings the bids together; if the cord is split, the bids will disperse and each one will go somewhere."

Thus, in view of these facts, unity among Muslims will increase their power hundreds and thousands of time more, like huge dams built in various regions of the world. These dams are the reservoirs of huge quantities of water accumulated through drops. Likewise, unity and solidarity in the Islamic world will turn the drops of Muslims into a gigantic power which no superpower in the world can dominate and defeat.

Without the least doubt, Imam Khomeini was the greatest advocate of Islamic unity in the contemporary era. He considered unity as the factor of power and prestige, while discord results to weakness among Muslims. He practically showed the ways of unity among different schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

Just a day after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in February 1979, he had said, "We are one with the Sunni Muslims. We are a single being as we are Muslim and brother. If a person says something that causes discord among us Muslims, know that he is either ignorant or of those people who want the forge difference among Muslims. There is no such an issue like Shia and Sunni; we are all brothers."

 A few months after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he issued a message to the Sunni brothers of Kurdistan in western Iran, "The mercenaries of foreigners, who see their and their masters' interests at risk, have raised the issue of Shia and Sunni to provoke Sunni brothers and foment fratricide; and they want to devilishly forge difference among brothers. In the Islamic Republic, all Sunni and Shia brothers are beside each other; they are brothers with each other and equal in rights. Anyone who propagates other than this, is the enemy of Islam and Iran and the Kurdish brothers should nip in the bud this non-Islamic propaganda."

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, as the worthy successor of the Late Imam Khomeini, is also a firm advocate of unity of the Islamic Ummah. Once he said, "There are over a billion Muslims in the world who maintain the same belief on God, the Prophet, prayer, Hajj, the Qur'an, and many religious injunctions; and hav difference in a few issues, too. If they intend to stick to those differences and fight one another, the one who is basically the opponent of God, the Prophet, the religion and everything will do his job."

In the view of Ayatollah Khamenei, solidarity of the Islamic Ummah means understanding the common pains, the common enemies and the shared capacities to achieve unity in a coherent way. He attaches such a high importance to unity that he calls it a strategic issue and not a tactical one.

He has always urged ulema, thinkers, notables, political dignitaries and every person of the Islamic Ummah to observe unity according to the instructions of the holy Qur'an, the Sunnah of the Prophet and path shown by the blessed Ahl al-Bayt.

He stresses, "It is important that the followers of these two denominations are brothers and feel brotherhood. Not that Shi’a becomes Sunni and Sunni becomes Shi’a. No, this is not the meaning of unity. Rather it means felling of brotherhood."

Today, the Islamic world is suffering from the discords fomented by the Global Arrogance and Zionism. What is painful is that some of the regional regimes have been working in tandem with the dictates of these enemies of Islam. May God release us from the minion of the US and Israel among the Islamic nations. Amen.

FK/AS/ME