The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) for Unity amidst Diversity

The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) for Unity amidst Diversity

Rashid Ahmed Chughtai
   رشيداحمد جغتائـى
 رئيس – المجلس الإسلامي المتحد

The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) appeared on the global scene as a link between the ancient and the modern worlds. The crux of his teachings is a higher synthesis which involves belief in a single God, His angels, His books, His messengers, the unity of creation and continuity of life. In this broader perspective, it is unity of mankind that by implication figures out conspicuously, and then unity of the “Momins”. As regards the first, the Quran’ “quotes” God saying: “O, human beings! We have created you from a single pair of male and female, and have made you into nations and tribes simply for the sake of mutual acquaintance”. In this verse of a deeper socio-anthropological significance, the ultimate goal of this ethnic division of mankind is mutual / international introduction on the basis of ta’āruf (تعارف), an Arabic word derivative of its root-word ‘arafa’ which means a deeper empathetic knowledge of something, and as such rules out every possibility of ignorance which is the sole cause of inter-group and international tensions, psychosis, neurosis, phobia, conflicts, disputes, quarrels, and wars.
From the Quranic view-point, this kind of introduction at the level of higher, deeper and broader acquaintance is essential for global peace and security, since it is ignorance which breeds and feeds enmity amongst individuals, groups and nations as Imam Ali very aptly says: “People are enemies of things of which they are ignorant”. That is why the Quran reminds us time and again, explicitly and implicitly, that human beings are Children of Adam. It is in elaboration of this Quranic vision that the Prophet says: الخَلْقُعيالالله (All creatures are a single family of God). He has further emphasized it during one of his last sermons, namely, the Farewell Sermon, saying: “O, people! You all come from Adam, and Adam comes from clay. There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab and of a white red man over a black one except in point of piety”. Hence in this view of human unity and equality, it is only the loftiness of character that forms a valid criterion for human excellence. 
The Persian poet-sage Sheikh Sa’di epitomizes this human unity in this verse:

بني آدم أعضاى يك دﻴﮕﺭاند
كه در آفرنيش زِيك جوهر اند
That is, all children of Adam are co-members of a single organism by virtue of their ‘descent’ from a single essence in point of their origin.
As a natural and logical collary to the foregoing, it follows that the advent of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) marks a U-Turn in the history of humanity, that is, a radical change in terms of movement from the old cult of human disunity and split based on tribal and tribal prejudices and biases to a vision of human unity and equality with the Holy prophet introduced and tasked as “A Mercy for all Creation” (رحمة للعالمين).
As regards the second point, the Quran declares that “momins are mutual brothers” further qualified by being mutually compassionate (رحماء بَيْنَهُم). Since the Holy Quran regards humanity as a single organism having come from a single breathing unit واحدةنفسwith human creation and resurrection conceived as a phenomenon of the creation and resurrection of a sing soul, it logically and naturally follows that any discord, disorder and disunity in any part of this anthropological organism must recoil and rebound upon the entire organism in point of adverse and dire consequences. Hence, the health and integrity of a ‘part’ is necessary for the survival of the ‘whole’.
It is worth-mentioning here that Dr. A.N. Whitehead, a British philosopher and mathematician, regards the entire universe as a huge organism -- a view which is in full accord with the Quranic view of the universe. But the Quran adds to this holistic view of humanity as a single sub-organism (with momins as the torch bearer of Unity amidst Diversity) being part of the cosmic organism.
It is on the basis of this trio of cosmic unity, human unity, and ideological unity of the Muslim ummah that the Holy Quran addresses and calls peoples of the Book to a common ground of commonality to resolve a state of tensions, disputes, conflicts and quarrels.
The Holy Prophet has sent his numerous letters and ambassadorial missions of good-will to his contemporary monarchs, tribal chiefs, and bishops, and has received and welcomed, in turn, their ambassadors, missions and delegations with exemplary hospitality right at the campus of the Prophet’s Mosque.

If this has been the Prophet’s policy in theory and practice abroad in favor of the necessity of entering into a God state of reconciliation and harmony with the non-Muslims, then we can imagine how much the Prophet should be concerned at home with the unity of the Muslim ummah at all costs, being an essential pre-requite for international concord, unity and harmony.
The Prophet’s son-in-law, brother and successor Imam Ali upheld the same principle of Unity amidst Diversity and drew it to its logical conclusion in his practical examples, sermons and letters. The climax of this reconciliatory Unity amidst Diversity is seen in his son ImamHussain’s wisdom and sanity exhibited by him towards the stupidity and insanity of his opponent Yazid with a swarm of his armor-clad men, raised against him in the wild oasis of Karbala. Awarding any chance of clash leading to a massive bloodshed at home, that is, the twin holy campuses of Madina and Mecca, Imam Hussain preferred to leave, along with his family members, for Karbala in order to face singly that ordeal which awaited him there.
He and his kith and kin and his close companions -- all numbering seventy two laid down their lives as the monument of Great Martyrdom ever to be remembered in the history of humanity and the universe to the effect that it is Unity of both Humanity and the Muslim, which is of paramount importance. 
The long and short of the above thesis is that such an example theorized and practiced by the Prophet of Islam (S. A.W.W) and his descendantsis holistic, and, furthermore, foregrounded against a background of chaos, disorder, disruption and disunity. How we can draw on it for laying down practical foundations for social unity in Muslim societies is a dire need of the time, keeping in view the ever-changing social, economic, political and global situation. Strictly enough, we need to straighten out certain puzzling knots of Islamic history amongst which the re-writing of ‘Seerat’ of the Prophet of Islam is quite crucial and inevitable, for it must be the first right step in the right direction.  
 “The Holy Prophet (PBUH)’s Seerat (biography) writing is one of the most sensitive and responsible areas of Islamic history. It is very surprising to note here that unluckily ever since the beginning of the craze for Seerat writing amongst the Muslim historians, they have made it their hobby to turn the Prophet (PBUH)’s Seerat into a seerat of maghazi (holy wars) and have focused in their only books only on ghazwat (holy wars) with cursory mention of the untiring efforts which the Prophet (PBUH), throughout his prophetic career, did spend for social, educational, constructive and reformative matters, as if the Prophet (PBUH)’s mission had been nothing but to wage wars.
In this extremely lopsided process, of Seerat writing, all the missionary, educational, reformative and welfare endeavors of the Prophet (PBUH) have been scarified at the altar of ‘ghazawat’ (holy wars) with the result that it has led to the arousal of the insatiable lust for power, conquest and expansionism amongst the despotic Muslim rulers, especially of the Ummayyad dynasty of early times.  The battles which the Prophet (PBUH) were obliged to wage were merely defensive and compulsory. But these later days rules made the Prophet (PBUH)’s defensive policy a pretext, plea and excuse for offensive and aggressive campaign. Consequently Islam which was religion of peace and mercy was misunderstood and projected by the non-Muslim circles as ‘militant Islam’. It is proposed here that as a dire and urgent necessity of our times, a deeper and broader research should be undertaken, in the light of the Quran and the Prophet (PBUH) life and Sunnah, which should be useful for the human and Muslim unity”.