MUSLIM UNITY

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Muslim Unity By Fahad Hanif "I gave a lot of thought to the causes of the sorry state of this ummah, during the years of my captivity in Malta," said Sheikh-ul-Hind Maulana Mahmood-ul-Hasa n. It was 1920, and at 69, he was not only one of the most distinguished scholar s of his time, he also had spent a life time in political activism. His audience was a gathering of ulema, eager to hear the lessons of a life time of study, st ruggle, and reflection. His conclusion: "Our problems are caused by two factors; abandoning the Qur'an and our in-fighting." He spent the few remaining days of his life addressing these causes. These reasons are valid even today. They are also related, the second being caus ed by the first. The Qur'an had declared us one brotherhood and had warned us ag ainst in-fighting. We have ignored those teachings and the billion-strong ummah has turned into an ummah fragmented into a billion segments. A very large number of our internal battles is the result of narrowly defined se lf-interests. Islam could have been the force that helped us overcome that. Unfo rtunately, instead of letting it fulfill that role, today we have made even reli gion provide us with additional and unresolvable points of conflict. We fight ov er petty issues of fiqh. We fight over fine points of religious interpretation. We turn minor points of religious law into big battlegrounds while most importan t and fundamental teachings of religion are violated. We do all this even as this religion has been under attack from all directions. Thousands of people become apostates every year in Pakistan. Qadianis (who decla re Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Qadian to be a prophet), and munkareen-e-hadith have be en busy attracting our new generations to their falsehoods. Haram is being decla red as halal. Our masses are ignorant of their religion and easily indulge in cu stoms borrowed from polytheists. On top of all that is the western culture of he donism, of shamelessness, of moral anarchy, that is invading our societies throu gh film, television, radio, and obscene literature. Corruption of all sorts has permeated all layers of our society. Should not we be reflecting on this and ask ing ourselves what would the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, expect of us , the heirs of the prophets? In the hereafter shall we be able to give a suffici ent answer by mentioning that we wrote a book on rafa-yadain (the issue of raisi ng hands during certain movements in obligatory prayer)? Once I saw Maulana Anwar Shah Kashmiri in a very sad mood. What is the matter, I asked. "I have wasted my whole life," he said. "You have spent your entire life in spreading Islamic teachings. Thousands of your disciples are themselves ulema who are serving the religion. I f that is a waste, what hope can anyone else have?" I insisted. "Look, what has been the main thrust of all our efforts," he replied. "It has been to show why H anafi school is better than others. Imam Abu Hanifa did not need this. His grand eur did not need our approval. Imam Shafii, Imam Malik, and Imam Ahmed ibn Hanba l could not care less about it. All that one can ever prove in these matters is that a certain position is right but has the probability of being wrong and the other position is wrong but has the probability of being right. Moreover, these issues will not be resolved even in the hereafter. For Allah will not humiliate Imam Shafii, Abu Hanifa, Malik, or Ahmed bin Hanbal by showing that they were in error." Then he added: "Today when the roots of Islam are under attack, we have been busy taking care of the leaves." It is not that debates or disagreements in religious interpretation are themselv es evil. Today many western educated Muslims, with scant understanding of their religion do think that way. Some even suggest that we should bury all fiqhi scho ols and create a new one. This is neither possible nor desirable. Differences of opinion are inevitable wherever people have both intellect and honesty. Complet e consensus on every issue is possible only when either everyone is dumb, so the y cannot think of a different idea, or they are dishonest so they willingly agre e with a position that they consider wrong. After all religious interpretations are not personal rights that can be sacrificed away. The problem occurs when we overstate these differences. There were differences o f opinion in fiqh among the Companions, their followers, and great Mujahideen. B

ut they did not turn these into fights. They disagreed but they maintained respe ct and love for each other. The brotherhood remained intact. They had tolerance for the other view. How can we have tolerance for something we know is wrong? Of course we cannot ha ve any tolerance for anything clearly established as wrong by Qur'an or Hadith. We can never show accommodation for apostasy. We can never agree on changing the Shariah's established definitions of halal and haram. But beyond this there are issues about which Qur'an and Sunnah are silent or are subject to more than one interpretation. Here the mujahideen deduce the intent of Qur'an and Sunnah base d on their best ability. Here disagreements are possible. As long as those invol ved are qualified mujahideen (like the four respected imams), their differing vi ews have to be respected. We can follow only one opinion, and we should try and determine the one closest to the intent of the Shariah, but we cannot declare op posing views as evil. We exaggerate when we deal with people holding valid oppos ing views as if they were outside the bounds of Islam. Overstatement (ghuloo) is the main cause of most fights involving our religious groups. It also happens with Islamic organizations. Most are doing useful work i n the areas they chose based on their abilities and inclinations. Had they devel oped a spirit of cooperation and considered their differences as just a natural division of labor, together they could have become a formidable force. Unfortuna tely each one of them considers their work and methodology as the only methodolo gy for Islamic work. If a person leaves one of these organizations to join anoth er, he is treated as if he had recanted his faith. This is ghuloo. It produces t he tribalism of jahiliya (the pre-Islamic period of ignorance) among religious w orkers. Pious people are not extinct today. What we sorely need is the reformers who can rise above their narrow perspectives and heed the universal and unifying call o f Islam. [Adapted from two talks of Mufti Muhammad Shafi, the late grand Mufti of Pakista n, given in 1963.]

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