Unity Among Western Muslim Communities
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Creator: Dr. Jafar Idris
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Identifier: http://www.islamworld.net/unity.html
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Subject: character
Title: Unity Among Western Muslim Communities
Created on: Thu Jan 24 10:57:03 -0500 2008
Updated on: Thu Jan 24 10:57:03 -0500 2008
Version: 1
Abstract: ... way from this, we are all Muslims, we are all fundamentalists, according to some people, and we will be treated as such, so it is better for us to be united. The ideal thing is for all the Muslims, all over the United States, to have one organization, one leadership. And that organization will include all Muslims, whether they are Salafis, or people who have some deviation from the Sunnah, because the Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam said that this Ummah will be divided - you know the hadeeth of the Prophet - that they will be divided, but all those divisions are divisions of Muslims. They are Muslims. They are divided, but they are Muslims. One group, one of them, the best one, it's called al firqatun naajiyah, the one that is saved, that will go to Paradise, in shaa' Allaah, follows the way of the Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam and the way of the Companions of the Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam. The others have deviations, even in matters of `aqeedah, but the deviations are not so great as to take them out of the fold of Islaam. They will still be Muslims. And if there is an Islamic government, they will give allegiance to that government and they will be treated as Muslims, they will not be prevented from going and making jihaad with the Muslims, they will not be excused from giving zakaah, they will not be asked to give jizyah. They will be treated as Muslims. And the same applies to Muslims who might be Sunni and Salafi, but who drink wine. You might wonder how can a person be Salafi and drink wine. Yes, he might do this because he might be Salafi in his `aqeedah, he has no deviations in his `aqeedah, but he is weak, sometimes he drinks wine, sometimes he might be tempted, or she might be tempted and commit zinaa or so, but still they are Muslims. They will not be expelled from the Muslim community. So, the ideal thing, and I don't know whether there is a chance for it to be implemented in reality, is for all the Muslims to have this organization. If we cannot have that ideal, then the second best, there should be coordination among us. If you have, say, 20-30 organizations, we should have one umbrella organization where representatives of people belonging to all these different groups come and discuss things and agree on certain policies which they deem to be necessary for all of us. For example, it should not be left to just one group to decide whether to take part in politics or not. Because if it is only one group, then it will not have a great effect on the political situation in this country, but if Muslims have this group that coordinates all of them, they can give their vote to this or that person and they can have an effect on the policy of this country. If we cannot have even this, then there is something which we can do, at least we who are here. All people who follow the way of the Prophet and who are sometimes called Salafis, even if they have different organizations, they should cooperate. At least these people. They should treat each other as brothers, they should not exaggerate the differences among them because the differences might be just organizational, or differences in certain political issues, or differences among leaders and so on. These are very minor differences, so we as people who follow the way of the Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam should do our best to act according to these principles that I have just explained. We should treat other people as Muslims, even if they have deviations, whether deviations in `aqeedah or deviations in conduct. And we should treat them as Muslims, we should cooperate with them in matters in which there is an agreement, we should not alienate them, especially in a country like this. We should do our best to unite the Muslims and this is something that we can do as a group. We can do [that], in shaa' Allaah. And here I would like to mention that there are different kinds of organizations and this applies to Muslims and non Muslims. There are people who believe in certain principles, you can call them "principle people", but they are so rigid that they cannot cooperate with anyone who does not believe in all their principles. Usually these people do not have much influence on the society, they will just be pleased with themselves. They meet, they say nice words to each other, and they feel that they are the best people, but they do not have any effect on the society, because they are so rigid. They cannot cooperate with others. Now, there is the other extreme, people who have no principles at all and whose main objective is, say, to gain power or so. These people unfortunately can have great influence on the society, but one day they are with this group, another day they are with another group, one day they say something, another day they say something different, depending on experience. Whatever furthers worldly objectives, they will follow that. There is something in between and these are the people who can make a good influence on the society, in shaa' Allaah. I hope you will be among them, people who believe in the truth, who follow the Qur'aan and Sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam, but who are also flexible. They say this is the truth, this is the ideal thing, we abide by this, but this group, judging by this criterion is the nearest one to us, so we cooperate with them. That group is the second nearest to us and so on. And they will be ready to cooperate even with non-Muslims, on issues which, judging by our Islamic criteria, are good things. We cooperate with them. There is a statement by Ibn ul Qayyim in Zaad ul Ma`aa... [Full Article...]
