HOW CAN MUSLIMS UNITE ?

• Q3;103

وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّـهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا

translation “And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided”

Sheikh “Muhammad Abduh” (1849-1905) the Head of the Islamic Verdict body (mufti) in Egypt & most Islamic countries in his time wrote on that matter saying that this verse is a metaphoric resembling of the religion as a strong rope to be held so as to avoid the believer from falling , but how can muslims unite whilst differences & dividing is a natural characteristic of human nature. Well, there are two types of differences & division , the first one is natural & inevitable which is rational civilized way of views & opinions with tolerance from each side to others differences , while the second is the personal harmful biased dividing which pursues personal gains & power under the pretext of religion & this is the dividing the religion aims to restrict because it shatters & breaks the muslim community & misleads the person & blocks his vision from seeing the right side & avoiding the harm

The first inevitable natural differences & dividing is non harmful & natural & this is the difference in opinion or understanding & inevitable in human nature as ALLAH stated Q11;119

وَلَا يَزَالُونَ مُخْتَلِفِينَ ﴿١١٨﴾ إِلَّا مَن رَّحِمَ رَبُّكَ ۚ وَلِذَٰلِكَ خَلَقَهُمْ

translation “ & they will not cease to differ Except whom your Lord has given mercy, and for that He created them”————. The equality & similarity between all people in understanding & views is impossible, even the brothers in one home have different opinions & tendencies & flairs , but having differences should not necessarily lead to enmity or conflict . For example , I can have differences with my friends on some issues & these issues can even be debatable religious issues & each one of us has his own reasoning but each of us is seeking the righteous & good path without personal interest or bias where I believe in a certain thing that it is halal & the others believe that it is haram , but I excuse & tolerate them in their opinion & they excuse & tolerate me in mine , thus we can live & interact & remain friends despite our differences & this was the case between the prime Imams as Malik & Abu hanifa , whereby they had differences but each one of them excused the other for his opinion , Unfortunately the followers of the Imams did not pursue the same & the personal interests & bias & gains has become the controlling factor in religion & the muslims divided in bigotry conflicting hostile sects with lot of enmities between them & this is the harmful disastrous difference which languished & humiliated the Islamic nation after its propsperity & power

• Thus it is very important to know that the rational conversation & reasoning & convincing & studying & listening & tolerance between different sects is much needed & that the difference in religion understanding should not at all lead to breaking or shattering or fighting in the muslim nation , so as long as the muslim believes in ALLAH & his book “Quran” & the Prophet (pbuh), then he is a muslim & should not at all to be considered kafir or out of the muslim community & it is very important that the personal interest & bias or gain should not interfere or influence religion

• Recapping, the muslims can unite as one powerful & civilized nation if they accept & tolerate their in between religious different views as long as they all believe in Allah & his book “Quran” & his prophet