On the Unity of Muslims and the “Ahbash”

Islam is a religion of unity as Allah says in His book (Al-Qur’an):

“And all of you fast together to the Rope of Allah (i.e. Islam), and be not divided among yourselves” (Sura Aali Imran: 103)

In other ayah of the Qur’an, He said

“And be not like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall into disputations after receiving clear signs” (Aali Imran 105).

When you asses the past history of Islam, the sources of its glory had been the unity of the Ummah. That is why the Sahaba (r.a.) used to defeat had their enemies with only few soldiers, as Khalid ibn Waliid, the sword of Allah (r.a) , did when he faced the Byzantine Army of 80,000 (even more) personnel with only 4,000 troops. Again, in the world of Islam then, there were no social crises as the “ummah” had been united in love and brotherhood.

After the prophet (s.a.w) had passed away, the enemies of Islam continued their trials to loosen the unity of Muslims. And they succeeded in some respects (if not totally). For this, we may recall the time of the great “fitna” that started after the death of Khalifa Uthman ibn Affan (i.e.). Who has started that “Fitna”? It was an enemy of Islam. Then followed the battle between Khalifa Ali (r.a) and Khalifa Mu’awiya (r.a). On that, two divisions came to the Muslims (Sunni and Shi’a).

After a century of the Hijra, (around 720 A.C.) a brilliant and devoted Khalifa had appeared among Muslims. He was Khalifa Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz (r.a). He stayed on power only for three to five years. But he had a long lasting effect on the history of Islam. He united all of the Sunni Muslims and Shi’a. He applied full justice in the land of the Muslims, managed social crises and applied a great project to collect the “Hadith” of the prophet (which Imam Ahmad, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud and others completed a century latter).

 So then afterwards, the glory of Islam started to shine again until the first half of the 13th century. Even though the heretical sects such as “Murjia”, “Jahmiya” and Mu’tazila caused some schisms, they had no strong effect on the unity of the Ummah. And the unified Islamic world had been the leader in science, technology, warfare, commerce, religious stance or social modesty. It was Muslims who introduced “Algebra”, trigonometry, pharmacy, diagnostic medicine etc.. Magnificent leaders such as Haroun Al-Rashid and Salahadin Al-Ayyubi had toped the whole world in their administrative ability, justice, modesty, power etc. Europe was in her dark age then (America was unknown as that time).

The great scholars of Islam know the importance of the unity of “ummah” and they were so careful not to decree or practice any thing that undermines their unity. They understand the difference between sectarian divisions and the scholarly disagreements in jurisprudence or exegesis. Here is one example.

Imam Malik ibn Anas used to pray 36 “raka’at” for “tarawih” (It was a Sunnah introduced by the aforementioned upright Khalifa Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz). But when Imam Shafi’i became chief Qadi, he preferred the 23 raka’at introduced by Khalifa Umar Al-Farouq (r.a). After some years, Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal became a chief Qadi at Baghdad, and he preferred to pray the 11 raka’ats that he approved in his Hadith book called “Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal”. Here are interesting things to note:

1. Imam Shafi’i was a beloved student of Imam Malik, and Imam Ahmad was an awesome student of Al-Shafi’i.
2. All of these people had never disapproved each other. They had witnessed the deep love that runs among them rather. The source of their difference was a matter of “Ijtihad” (which I can’t discuss now.)

What can we learn from this? These ulama didn’t make their differences to erode the unity of the Muslims. They had never said “only my jurisprudence is correct”. They difference brought only the fiqh schools (“mazhab”) which are not sects but some of the valuable treasuries of Islam.

As time passes, unity of the Ummah deteriorated again and the glory of Islam had declined. And it had stayed this long time as it was.  Who had caused this deterioration?

All of our sources witness that the causes of factionalism, sects, schism etc… are not from Islam. Usually they are created outside of the ummah by the enemies of Islam. They enter to the “umma” through its weak sides. They try rise scholars to contemplate some minor differences in jurisprudence and exegesis. The wises know how to handle this differences. But the weaks magnify such simple differences and take them for demarcation of their positions. So the glory of Islam deteriorates further and the “ummah” became weak in the front of its enemies.

To conclude, Islam needs the unity of the Ummah. We can defend the path of Allah and the Sunnah of the prophet only if we are united. Allah will help us only if we keep his rope in unity.

Repel Ahbash in Unity

Ahbash, the pseudo-Islamic cult, is clearly an agent of ant-Islam forces. It’s aim, as many brothers and sisters had repeatedly announced, is not only seeking legal grounds for its non-Islamic thoughts but also trying its best to widen our minor differences and creating further schism. It does so because

1.      It can resist our refutations and succeed in getting extra followers if we are divided

2.      It can fulfill the demands of the anti-Islam forces who aimed at weakening the unity of the Ummah.

I am very happy to see my brothers and sisters becoming so concerned on the unity of the ummah. What do I see in these two weeks is so encouraging. I do witness that the young generation is leading the whole age groups of Muslim Ethiopians in struggling against Ahbash. What I wish is to deepen this encouraging phenomenon and take it to the whole mass. We need to make aware every Muslims on threats posed by Ahbash on our unity. Let us go further to strengthen our unity and create a big united Anti- Ahbash voice. Allah will always help us.

Victory is for Islam.