Unity in Islam

Unity in Islam

1992 5 May 24-26 Unity in Islam (1089) When an individual places his trust in God, his trust is with the Almighty. This brings to him the conviction that he has secured the support of the supreme Being, the possessor of all powers on earth and in the heavens. This is a feeling which boosts his courage and confidence to the greatest possible extent. All other powers appear meaningless to him, while he himself becomes a tower of strength that no one can conquer.

The history of Islam is a living proof of this reality. Before the emergence of Islam, when Abraha, the ruler of Yemen, attacked Mecca with a dozen elephants, the Arabs became so frightened at this onslaught that they left their city and fled to the mountains. Yet, it was those same Arabs who, once equipped with the wealth of Islam, and supported by Iman, braved an encounter with the hundreds of elephants comprising the Persian army in the field of Qadsiya during the caliphate of Umar Farooq. Setting their very lives at risk, they hacked at the elephants trunks with their swords, forcing them to flee in retreat. The feats achieved by the Arabs of old, armed with the power of Iman and Islam, have been openly acknowledged by non-Muslim historians. Here are two quotations to this effect:

The army of the Faithful was borne forward by an enthusiasm which the half-hearted warriors opposite were unable to withstand.

(Muir, pp. 225-26)

The first companions of Mahomet advanced to battle with a fearless confidence; there is no danger where there is no chance; they were ordained to perish in their beds; or they were safe and invulnerable amidst the darts of the enemy.

(Gre V.P. 361)

However, only by fulfilling certain conditions will a group be entitled to the succour of God.

The first of these conditions is that each member of this group should possess true, living faith, have absolute trust in God, love and fear God alone, and strictly obey God, whether or not it be in accordance with his own will.

They should be truly Islamic in character, possessing the attributes of truth, honesty, justice and constancy in the fulfillment of promises. They must, in short, be men of principle, and not men guided by their own selfish interests.

They should be people who are moved to action for the sake of the hereafter, and not for the sake of the world, who regard this world as a place of trial and the hereafter as the real place where man’s success and failure will be decided.

Members of this group must have complete unity and accord, remaining united in spite of differences and complaints.

As we all know, the Muslims belonging to the first phase of Islam achieved the greatest of success ever recorded in human history. However, they became the achievers of this most extraordinary success because of their living faith which enabled them to fight for God’s cause in ranks, as if they were a solid cemented edifice (61:5).

Here I would like to remind you how this unity can be brought about – by tolerating the differences. Every man’s likings, aptitudes and ways of thinking are different. It is therefore but natural to have differences among human beings. This is why social cohesion can emerge only when people demonstrate their ability and willingness to tolerate the differences. It is only by staying together in spite of differences that we can have unity.

I should now like to narrate only two of the inspiring incidents from Islamic history which serve as an example for us.

The battle between the Muslims and the Sassanid empire of Persia occurred during the caliphate of Umar Faruq. The final decisive encounter took place in the field of Qadsiya under Saad ibn Waqqas, the commander in-chief of the Muslim army. During the encounter, Saad was seated on top of an ancient building in the field, with the Muslim army in front of him and the Persian army further ahead.

When the battle began, Saad did not take part in it, but commanded it from his perch on top of this building. Continually inspecting the battlefield, he would write his commands on a slip of paper and drop it to a horseman on the ground, who in turn would gallop off to communicate the message to the commander on the spot.

After the victory a short poem became popular in the ranks of the Muslim army. Two of its couplets reads: ‘I fought and fought until God granted victory, while Saad clung to the gates of Qadsiya. We returned (from the field of battle) to find many women widowed. Yet none of Saad’s wives were widowed.’

Now what is remarkable about this is the fact that, in spite of the grudge they bore Saad every soldier of the Muslim army continued to fight fearlessly. No one broke the ranks. No one showed any signs of weakness. No human complaint could come in the way of their unity.

It is this spirit of remaining united in spite of differences that led Muslims of the past to success, and it is this same spirit which will lead them to success today.

Khalid ibn Walid was appointed commander-in-chief of the Muslim army by Abu Bakr Siddiqi, the first Caliph. Khalid ibn Walid was very popular in the army because of his successive victories, but on Umar Faruq becoming the second Caliph, he was relieved of his post and demoted to the rank of an ordinary soldier. When the army learned of his dismissal, many of the men gathered in his tent to urge him to disobey the Caliph by refusing to accept his orders. ‘We shall all be with you,’ they said. In other words, they encouraged him to stage a coup. But Khalid ibn Walid’s answer left the men of the army speechless, he said:

I do not bear any grudge against Umar, because I fight not for Umar, but for the Lord of Umar.

It is this spirit which made the Muslims of the past so powerful that Margolioth, an Orientalist, called them a “nation of heroes.”

All the conflict and confrontations in this world result from complaints from human beings, but when man’s action is wholly for God, complaints from human being become irrelevant. In spite of grudges voiced against him, he continues to serve the cause of Islam for the pleasure of God until, with divine succour, he reaches his ultimate goal. The greatest need of the hour is the inculcation of this divine spirit.