Necessities of unity in the Islamic World (3)

We are marking the Islamic Unity Week these days on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Almighty Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). With the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini (God bless him) took the dynamic step of designating the Islamic Unity Week to span the two dates of the month of Rabi al-Awwal regarded as the birthday of the Seal of Messengers by two groups of Muslims. The Sunnis regard consider 12th as that auspicious day while Shi’a Muslims maintain that the Prophet was actually born on the 17th of Rabi al-Awwal. Thus to bridge the gap and to gather all Muslims on a single platform, Imam Khomeini declared the Islamic Unity Week.

The enemies of Islam always try to create disputes among the followers of the various Islamic schools of jurisprudence. Their sole aim is to prevent solidarity by sowing the seeds of discord, so that Muslims indulge in fratricide. Divide and rule was a strategic policy during the British colonial era. Today the Americans are following this same policy to splinter Muslim ranks, by pitting Sunnis against Shi’a Muslims. Thus, in order to defeat the colonialist plot, Imam Khomeini emphasized Islamic Unity, both inside Iran and abroad. Today the present Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei spares no effort to promote Islamic unity. He insists that dialogue and coordination are important for promotion of Islamic solidarity. He has warned: Global bullying powers are seriously pursuing violence and division in the name of Islam and are making efforts to undermine the Islamic Ummah by sullying the enlightening religion of Islam, pitting nations against each other and even causing conflict within a nation.”

The enemies of Islam in order to derail the Islamic Awakening that swept across North Africa and West Asia created the Takfiri terrorist outfits, so as to divide Muslims.  These groups, under various names such as al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, an-Nusra, Ahrar ash-Sham and the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, have no connection to Islam. These group consider Muslims whether Shi’a or Sunni as heretics and kill them, when in fact the real heretics are the Takfiris and their parent outfits, the Salafis and Wahhabis. Regarding the crimes of Takfiri terrorists, Ayatollah Khamenei said: Islam is the religion of fraternity, kindness and goodness for others and these crimes have nothing to do with Islam. This dynamic concept aims to bring all Muslim schools of thought on the common platform of Islamic unity. There is indeed unity in diversity and the idea of Islamic Unity Week has awakened Muslims from centuries of slumber largely because of the discord sowing policies of the enemies of Islam especially the Western colonialists and their local ignorant agents.

He said, the Ummah has also begun to realize that it is only unity and solidarity that will enable Muslims to utilize their vast untapped potential and rescue them from the never ending devious plots of their enemies who range from imperialists, Zionists, arrogant powers and Islamphobes.

Ayatollah Khamenei called Islamic unity as the need of the hour, especially after the crusading campaign against Muslims unleashed by western governments, led by the great Satan, the US, in the name of combating terrorism following the highly suspicious incidents that rocked New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

Ayatollah Khamenei says that unfortunately, some Muslim countries are playing a negative role by supporting and strengthening Takfiri currents. This is while the holy Qur’an in ayah 103 of Surah Aal-e Imran stresses unity among the Islamic Ummah and says:

“Hold fast, all together, to Allah’s cord, and do not be divided.”

Regarding this Qur’anic ayah, Ayatollah Khamenei says: This has been addressed to us, to the Iranian nation, to the Muslim states of Islamic states and to all faithful all over the world. We practice it. There is no doubt that certain element of sedition in the Islamic world and outside the Islamic states in Europe and the US try with the help of some Muslim states in the region to wage massacre of Muslims. They plan to practice their long-period objectives in the region without killing one western soldier. The Ulema of all Islamic schools shoulder a heavy duty and they should nullify this dangerous plot of the enemies of Islam since the commonalities among Muslims are much more than their disputes. The Ulema should try to further promote the teachings of Islam in order to enlighten both Muslims and non-Muslims. Islam has nothing to do with Takfiri and extremism. Islam is the religion of humanity and is based on logic and intellectuality. Unity among Muslims is a necessity and is obligatory. The enemies of Islam have put into effect the policy of sowing discord among Muslims by supporting the Takfiri currents for pushing forward their objectives. The only way for confronting this policy is clarification and emphasis on Islamic commonalities and isolating the Takfiri currents which have nothing to do with Islam and commit their crimes with the support of western regimes and the help of some reactionary regional states.

FK/AS/SS