There are vast distances and great differences between the means (the tool) and the end (the goal). When means turn into ends in themselves, or ends are pursued by other than their correct means, the results are grave and counterproductive. This is what we try to draw attention to in our criticism of some of the ways followed to reach Islamic unity. .
There is no doubt that preserving unity and repairing what has been demolished of it is among the duties of every Muslim sincere to his religion and his nation; but we must not forget that this unity is a “means” to greater ends, such as achieving justice and fairness, preserving the dignity of the human being as a human being, making religious freedoms available, and other Qurʾanic values and commands. When the Qurʾan commanded us to Islamic unity, it joined it to the worship of Allah, as He, Almighty, said: “Indeed this community of yours is one community, and I am your Lord. So worship Me” (Qurʾan 21:92); and the worship of Allah is only through following His commands, which His Book and His Final Messenger (s) brought, among them the values and practices we have mentioned.
Some miss the true path to unity when they consider it a sacred end—in itself—that should be achieved by any possible means, even at the expense of these values. On this supposition we say that “the end does not justify the means.”
And on the first supposition we say: if using wrong means does not lead to the end, then what is the state of one whose “means to his means” is wrong?
There are three wrong ways that some contemporary advocates of unity focus on, which we would like to focus on first, and then we will set out the correct way.
1) Forgetting or feigning to forget history
Following the common saying “The door the wind comes to you through—shut it and rest,” and using as a pretext His saying, the Exalted: “That was a nation that has passed: for it there will be what it has earned, and for you there will be what you have earned, and you will not be questioned about what they used to do” (Qurʾan 2:134), these people promote feigning forgetfulness of history, putting the verse in other than its place and feigning to forget that the Qurʾan is full of the stories of past nations and of the command to follow their example or to disavow them.
So does forgetting history lead to unity? And what is this unity that rests on feigning forgetfulness of historical “facts” and “values” and hiding them?
We have not heard that any nation was unified by feigning forgetfulness of its contentious history; rather, we have heard the exact opposite. Here is the American nation, which today focuses, through all means, on the evils of the period of racial discrimination to prevent the repetition of its hideous, bitter, inhuman mistakes. At first, the law condemning and criminalizing racial discrimination did not pass peacefully and with full acceptance; rather, there were those who were sensitive about this law, as it caused violent demonstrations and bloody clashes on the part of whites and blacks, and no side admitted its error. But this courageous stance, which calls up the contentious past and admits its mistakes that caused the dispute—despite the sensitivity of some—forms today the basic guarantee of the unity and stability of the American nation.
When we struggle because of history, we do not struggle because of dead people or worn-out books; rather, we struggle for the sake of “values”: for the sake of establishing justice and lifting injustice from whichever side it may be, and for the sake of respecting the rights of the human being, whoever he may be. We struggle because our “present” repeats the mistakes of our history, and indeed also seeks to hide them and consign them to oblivion. So will the conflict disappear by forgetting the past without removing the “roots” of the conflict? And if the past is actually forgotten, how will it be possible to remedy these mistakes in the future and prevent new conflicts?
Feigning forgetfulness of history is an “obstacle” among the obstacles to true unity, because it means ignoring the real causes of division. What achieves the unity of the Muslims today is recognizing the evils of the past and warning against them to avoid their repetition, and this is what removes the barriers to true unity.
2) The wrong revision of the heritage
There is no doubt that the heritage is tainted by many impurities that need revision; but who revises the heritage? How is the heritage revised? And why does one revise it?
Is the revision of the heritage left to the imams of mosques, the preachers of pulpits and the writers of newspapers and papers? Do we revise the heritage to achieve goals set in advance, regardless of the scholarly means of revision? Do we negate or affirm some of what has come in the heritage merely because it disturbs or attracts others? This is called “trickery,” not revision. Is this not a crime committed against the heritage? Is there not in this a confiscation of the right of later generations to know their past, with all its negatives and positives, whether it pleases others or does not please them?
Revising the heritage is an unavoidable necessity; but what is more important is that the process of revision take place according to precise and completely neutral scholarly foundations that focus only on the “scholarly nature of the steps,” so as to lead to correct results—whatever these results may be—and that it not be influenced by the external surroundings out of consideration for some parties.
No unity can last if it is built on a false foundation whose reality the Muslims soon discover, and they return to their division and their conflicts, which may be more violent and bloody than before because of their feeling of betrayal and treachery.
3) Abandoning religious beliefs and practices
Multiplicity and diversity are among what strengthens unity, enriches it and preserves its being, whereas exclusivity leads only to more dispersion and division. Through multiplicity each side can benefit from the other—from its achievements and its mistakes as well—whereas exclusivity and the cancellation of the other lead to inevitable collapse, through intellectual breakdown—since the intellectual output of any side does not continue if there is no intellectual interplay with other, differing sides and currents—and through sinking into the swamp of repeated mistakes, since a person does not see what clings to his back unless there is another person who tells him of it.
Whoever truly wants unity—not merely in words—must unite with the “different” other; because if the other is modified, crossed out, his identity dissolved, and the process of “disassembly and reassembly” practiced on him, there will be no “other” to unite with; rather, there will be a “true copy of the original” with which the original does not need to unite.
Likewise, it is not required of any side to change or “dilute” its beliefs and religious practices in order to be closer to others, because by that it takes a step in the process of “cancelling” itself in favor of the other's domination and exclusivity. Psychological defeat and self-contempt, or the unbridled desire for unity, may be among the causes of this tendency, but it moves in the direction completely opposite to unity, since unity cannot last with the domineering, cancelling and arrogant other.
Of course, this is so long as these beliefs and practices do not reach the other side and assault it directly, materially or morally. As for a side's belief regarding certain historical figures or events, or its practices that concern it and affect it itself, this is the right of every human being, and no one at all has the right to prevent him from them.
Accepting the other.. the correct path to unity
Accepting the other as he is, respecting him, and sharing rights and duties with him is the path that guarantees the Muslims a sincere and lasting unity. As long as the sides cooperate in good and refrain from aggression against one another, unity remains strong even if beliefs differ and clash; for difference is one of the norms of life, and it is not possible to live in contentment except by accepting and respecting it.
If a person affirms the essentials of religion, he becomes a Muslim united with the rest of the Muslims—“he has what they have, and he owes what they owe”—even if he differs from them in other beliefs and practices. This is the religion of Islam and what the Greatest Messenger (s) brought, and it is what achieves for the Muslims their unity on the ground.
The Muslims' acceptance of one another is what moves them toward unity—not feigning forgetfulness of the dark history and then repeating it afterward, nor playing tricks with the heritage, nor changing identity and beliefs. All these ways are nothing but factors of division and fragmentation that may be worse than what we are living now, and tools that give the opportunity for the repetition of injustice, the confiscation of rights and the deception of the Muslims by the practitioners of these atrocities, who are present on all sides in varying proportions.
May Allah grant the Muslims success in being a rising nation and a single rank, like a compact structure, as Allah has willed them to be and has commanded them, and in avoiding every path that would make them miss the path to that. Indeed He is All-hearing, Responsive.
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* A writer from Saudi Arabia
