Unity among Muslims: Reality or Mirage

By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam 5 June 2023 Muslim scholars, theologians, writers and intellectuals, when deliberating about the causes responsible for the decline and decimation of Muslims, uphold the disunity and sectarianism as the greatest causes responsible. Many Islamists describe the reasons for this disunity being the creation of Muslim nation states on the basis of nationalism, as a part of conspiracy of the European colonialists. There may be a streak of truth in this claim, and according to them Muslims need to throw away nationalism, and unite once again on religious basis. However, the unity on religious basis is again very problematic, that they try to brush aside without engaging in the critical debate about the terms of unity on the basis of Islam. Islam has been mired by sectarianism since its inception. The battle of Siffin and later on Karbala were enough to permanently divide Muslims on the political lines. Later new theological renditions that were propounded by various jurists became a permanent source of disunity and sectarianism. These sectarian fault lines still continue to hurt the body of Islam and Muslims. ] The irony of the matter is that these sects consider each other as deviated and uphold themselves only as the sole upholder of truth. So, when each sects plays God, so these angry Gods will downplay others while chasing dominance, thus resulting in violence. It is such a messy situation, and what these sectarian scholars try to downplay is the fact that they are certainly responsible for Muslim youth turning away from Islam and becoming apostates. Rashid Shaz, a prolific scholar of Islam has been espousing through his academic and general writings about the perils of sectarianism and what steps need to be undertaken to overcome this malice. His academic writings challenge the whole edifice of sectarian Islam that has been dominating Islam to this day. In his small booklet Manifesto of the United Islam, spanning over just less than one hundred pages he raises important and sound questions about sectarianism and Muslim unity. This certainly has frustrated the youth, “The young people have been frustrated by the thought as to which Quranic teaching has caused the splitting of Muslims into four or five or more sects. Be it Abu Hanifa or Shafi’I or other holy founders of different Shia or Sunni sects or sub sects, none of them was appointed by God to their individual task, not did any of them enjoy the companionship of the Prophet. What could be the reason then that they enjoy the unquestionable status of holy and infallible founders of religion and its exponents? Why do different sects of Muslims consider it but essential to follow them? Don’t they realize that our community and religious life was better organized in the early days of Islam when Muslims were just one Ummah?” (P-11) The pulpits of the mosques have been occupied by the sectarian mullahs, so we witness them daily blaring sectarian stuff. Mosques that are the centres of any Muslim milieu have been retrograded to sectarian bastions wherein Takfir of other sects has become a norm. It has even led to a dismal position of Islam, and apathy of Muslims towards mosques. Most people do not attend mosques, except for Fridays, that too quiet late as they are not interested in what the mullah is preaching. Shaz quite aptly observes, “Instead of being places reserved for the worship of One God, these have been reduced to sites exploited for upholding the banner of sectarian faith. Sadly, very sadly, there is no escape from stating that such places are no longer centres of monotheism, but bastions of shirk (polytheism) and sectarianism, which have been active like the virus working against Islam and Muslims right from within the Muslim society. Since these centres survive under the façade of piety and righteousness, we do not normally feel the need to raise a loud and clear voice against them even though we may be fully aware of this alarming situation.” (P-17) These sectarian mosques have led to the reinforcing of Sunni verses Shia Islam. So, Shaz, deliberates how different Hadith (Sayings of Prophet Muhammad) books appeared. The Sunnis and Shias have different types of Hadith books, thus they have even divided the Prophetic legacy. Such is the travesty of authentic interpretation of Islam. Hence, with these variegated sources of Hadith books, the theology and jurisprudence that appeared among Muslims was quite antagonistic particularly among Shias and Sunnis. The clergy that in reality has no basis in Islam, became a permanent feature of Islam. The clergy then for their vested interests interpreted Islam in a sectarian manner. In this whole process the Holy Scripture, Quran got retrograded into oblivion and was replaced by jurisprudence and theology. In this work, Rashid Shaz again makes a controversial claim about Sufis. His claim has been mostly neglected by the scholars, but it needs either to be rejected or accepted. If accepted it will change a huge narrative about Sufism in India and other places. It needs to be quoted at length, “Tasawwuf emerged first as a cry of protest against the political abuse of religion and rampant materialism. It was exploited later as a movement by the Fatimids who wished to consolidate their political pursuit thereby and so they grabbed Tasawwuf and cast it in their own political mould. Just realize the vast influence this secret movement wielded from the fact that during the Fatimid rule itself an Isma’ilite dominion came into being in such a far-flung area as Multan. Right up to Mahmood Ghaznawi’s invasion, Multan served as a busy headquarter for the Sufi movement of the Indian subcontinent. There are quite a few evidences pointing to the fact that a number of Sufis of the brand of Mu’inuddin Chishti, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki etc. frequently visited this little Ismilite city-state in North Western India. All leading Sufi figures, such as Usman Harooni, Bahauddin Zakaria, Nizamuddin Awliya, Ali Hujveri, Baba Farid, and Shahbaz Qalandar etc. were in truth revered and determined Isma’ilite missionaries (da’is). Their secret mission was to work towards strengthening and expanding the Ismilite state of Fatimid Syeds. No doubt, by establishing the hidden caliphate the Fatimids largely compensated for their political deficit.” (P-51) This small booklet makes a lot of noise, needs critical engagement as it certainly decimates the Sunni as well as the Shia versions of Islam, along with the other sects that have not let the unity of Muslim become a pragmatic reality. This book certainly is an eye opener, whose contents need to be debated, critically examined and it offers a rethinking about numerous issues that have undermined the unity Muslims, since its inception. ---- M.H.A. Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir. URL: https://newageislam.com/books-documents/unity-muslims-reality-mirage/d/129922 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism