Unity is not a choice, nor is it a sport. Unity is a necessity. It is our survival, our endurance, and our success. “And hold firmly together to the rope of Allah and do not be divided” [3:103] – Allah commands the believers, clearly indicating that division is a disorder which at the very least remains dormant.
Muslim scholars speak of unity. Each one of them gives us a recipe for unity. Some say that Muslims should go back to the Qur’an and Sunnah. Others say that there will be no political unity without ideological and theological unity first. There are other Muslim intellectuals who propose that political pragmatism is necessary. There are even those who propose a military rebellion against the enemy as the most viable plan to succeed.
Perhaps all are right or relatively right. In order to unite a community, there should be a theological and ideological unification, there is a need for a military activity, and as part of the war strategy, there is room for pragmatism, tricks and concealment.
In my view, what Muslims are lacking today is a concrete plan on how to get united. Teaching people the true religion, the right theology, and the pure monotheism – which are the very requirements for unity, will not automatically unite the believers because we are not living in a political vacuum.
Indeed, the lack of political vacuum is the most immediate problem that we have to deal with. The world is ruled and governed by very a strong and powerful political system, established in a way that does not allow room for changes.
The political system is like a river whose water is murky and flows fast, and in order to build a dam by throwing individual rocks, the process will lead to no success as rocks will be pushed down the stream. Uniting Muslims under this existing despotic political system is as difficult as building a dam in a big river.
Muslims today live under a certain political system. They live under the enemy, occupied and controlled; therefore, everything which leads to unity – theology, knowledge, ideology, economic entrepreneurship, political movement, or military activity, will not easily bypass the enemy’s safeguard or security measures. Our enemy is not naive.
In this regard, I believe that at this very time, Muslims need to raise general awareness about the enemy. Our problem is not that we don’t agree on the project of unity. Our problem is that our enemy doesn’t even let us start with the project. Even teaching people things as peaceful as monotheism is not that simple because the enemy controls our universities, money, mosques, the economy, the media, the national governments, and the global intelligence service.
Monotheism per se will not unite Muslims as long as the enemy controls those who preach it, our mosques, the audience, and above all: the economy. Addressing this very issue is a necessary condition before anything else.
Sabri Lushi
