Honesty in Calling for Unity and Fraternity

Urging us on following the example of the Holy Prophet, God the Almighty says in the Holy Quran:

“Certainly, you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much. (33/21)”

This imitation must not be restricted to the personal life of the Holy Prophet even though the items of his personal life are sufficient lessons that lead to perfection; rather, the holy verse involved calls us to learn from the Holy Prophet’s methods of treating with the public crises, solving the problems, setting up plans that guarantee reformation, leading the masses to self-perfection and felicity in this world as well as the world to come, and organizing the internal and external ties and relationships. Only then can we find in his conducts and behaviors all what we need.

He is verily the counterpart and the spokesman of the Holy Quran. Accordingly, all the virtuous characteristics mentioned in the Holy Quran are applicable to the Holy Prophet, such as those mentioned in the following holy verses:

“We have revealed the Book to you explaining clearly everything, and a guidance and mercy and good news for those who submit. (16/89)”

“We have not neglected anything in the Book. (6/38)”

Thus, the words and deeds of the Holy Prophet must be considered an immortal collection that comprises clear-cut explanations of everything. Likewise, the actual facts of the Holy Prophet are the same as the Holy Quran’s that are described as: “a book that is protected; none shall touch it save the purified ones.” Those purified ones are those whose hearts are free from falsity and whose souls are attached to nothing save God the Almighty:

“Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House, and to purify you a thorough purifying. (33/33)”

Generally speaking, as much as one’s heart is pure and self is clear, one deserves divine gifts and is illuminated by the recognition of God:

“He sends down water from the cloud and then watercourses flow with water according to their measure. (13/17)”

In his capacity as a wise leader, a founder of an everlasting civilization and a great nation, and a redeemer from deviation, loss, disunion, and ignorance, one of the lessons we must learn from the manners of the Holy Prophet is that the first procedure he took the moment he entered the new stage of his promulgation for Islam in Medina was that he brought the Muslims of this new city (lately called ansar) and the Muslim emigrants who had flew their homelands and joined him (lately called muhajirun) into well-firmed brotherly association. By this process (known as mu'akhat), the Holy Prophet ordered each individual from the Muslims of Medina to fraternize with one of the new comers by sharing all what the earlier possessed with the latter, even if the earlier had two wives, he would divorce one so that the latter would marry her if he had no wife. On the strength of this well-firmed basis, the Holy Prophet started to take control of the whole world intellectually and morally. Had there not been a united community on which the Holy Prophet would depend, he would have been totally engaged in solving the internal problems of his community, which naturally produce rivalry, disunion, and alienation, and he would have been unable to put into practice his great, principled program.

Depending upon this fact, all efforts that are exerted in the course of uniting and bringing the individuals of the community into fraternal association are considered essential foundation in restoring the dignity and supremacy of the Muslim nation as well as its pioneering role in civilization. Some honorable personalities of this nation have made several efforts in this field, such as holding conferences, issuing verdicts and statements, and publishing books, as steps on this clear-cut, but long, way. In spite of the sufferings they may undergo on this way, it is still lovable, since it endues the heart with felicity and the soul with highness. One of these efforts is the publishing of this handsome book in English language. If we, moreover, intend to make more steps, we must first of all evaluate these efforts that have continued for ages to see whether they have achieved their sought after goals or not. Unfortunately, I have to admit that these efforts and activities have not yet reached the level of ambition with regard to practice even though they are firm with regard to theory. Accordingly, we, in our capacity as the wakeful elites who treat all affairs with sincerity and seriousness, have no place for playfulness, and have no time to waste, are required to evaluate this great reformative scheme; that is to actualize unity among the individuals of the Muslim nation, to bring them into fraternal association, and to diagnose the causes of lingering, stumbling, failure, and hindrances that stand against our activities in this field. In fact, we do not want to deceive ourselves by looking at the matters with one eye, which is the eye of satisfaction, and close the other eye against the other frustrating aspects, since self-satisfaction is one of the destructive factors to which the Holy Quran has referred by saying:

“Do not think those who rejoice for what they have done and love that they should be praised for what they have not done—so, do by no means think them to be safe from the chastisement, and they shall have a painful chastisement. (3/188)”

I thus beseech God the Almighty to protect my brothers and me against including us with those mentioned in this verse and the like ones. Unfortunately, we are still told of the verdicts of accusations of infidelity and the crimes that are being committed in the name of sectarianism.

As a matter of fact, such criminals who issue such verdicts and commit such crimes do not represent themselves only; rather, they are backed by a big group of people who provide them with accommodation, support, and services, find them places to hide when necessary, detain their hostages and kidnapped ones, and supply them with true information about their victims. Likewise, there are those wicked so-called scholars who justify their crimes, confer legality upon their deeds, bless their violating the inviolable blood in the sacred months, and describe them as the most favorite acts of obedience to the Almighty and the shortest way to Heaven. It is therefore a wide-ranging, complete system that equips, pushes, embraces, supports, and has part in these crimes and then distributes with them the booty, which is in reality forbidden to gain and it will, in the Next World, boil in their stomachs and they will be exposed to boiling flame.

The unpresumptuous words that are issued for purpose of throwing dust in the eyes can no longer work with anybody and have become worthless as long as the processes of poisoning the public life are in progress and the equipping for and educating on crime are still in operation through such different means like space channels, radio stations, journals, magazines, and ritual sermons of Friday and congregational prayers not to mention the secret sessions of encouragement on sectarian annihilation. Similarly, campaigns of misleading and pushing the riotous crowds of hard-hearted people whose hearts hardened; so, “they were like rocks, rather worse in hardness” are still working.

Warning against plotting of evil, the All-blessed and All-exalted Lord has said:

“The plotting of evil will hem in only the authors thereof. Now are they but looking for the way the ancients were dealt with? But no change will you find in Allah's way of dealing: no turning off will you find in Allah's way of dealing. (35/43)”

In many of my statements, I have warned those who nourish mischief in the land inside and outside Iraq that the outcome of wrongful oppression is noxious, since “whoever unsheathes the sword of oppression will be its first victim” and “even if a mountain oppresses another mountain, it will be crumbled.” This mischief in the land that they issue in the form of verdicts and support, for “destroying the tillage and the stock” in this noble country will very soon turn against them, because this is God’s way of dealing that neither changes nor turns off. They will therefore be overburdened by the consequences of their acts and they will by burnt by the flames of this mischief in the land, or what so-called terrorism, they are themselves making as a sort of oppression against the disdainful, Muslim people of Iraq.

We are required to be honest with God the Almighty and with ourselves. As long as we have accepted to bear the knowledge and to undertake the blessed responsibility of teaching it to people, we have in reality accepted to undertake the trust that God the Almighty “offered to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it. He was indeed unjust and foolish,” because he did not fulfill it and he could not act faithfully towards it.

Scholars are the trustees and heirs of God’s messengers, not only with regard to privilege, standing, sanctity, and rights, but also with regard to undertaking the responsibility of conveying the Divine message from all aspects. About the noble prophets, God the Almighty has said:

“And when We made a covenant with the prophets and with you, and with Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus the son of Mary, and We made with them a strong covenant that He may question the truthful of their truth, and He has prepared for the unbelievers a painful punishment. (33/7-8)”

God the Almighty then ordered His servants to follow the messengers and to be with them on the same line and course. He the Almighty has thus said:

“O you who believe! Be careful of your duty to Allah and be with the true ones. (9/119)”

If we are true scholars and if we regard ourselves as leaders of this nation, we must be honest in our call for unity and fraternity, through creating atmospheres of a culture of amiability, brotherhood, and respect for and having a part in the other opinion. As a matter of fact, this culture cannot come into view unless the opinion makers in the nation, including the scholars, intellectuals, men of letters, orators, writers, journalists, and members of the press, put into circulation such positive atmospheres. Only then, the masses will follow this course of mutual amiability. On the other hand, if the circulating language of the masses is the language of ascriptions of infidelity to each other, canceling out each other, false accusations, and reciprocal animosity, then it will be worthless to talk about unity and fraternity. In other words, discussion of such topics like unity and fraternity will be nonsense if not hypocrisy. God the Almighty has bid you all beware of Him, for He is all-aware about His servants. He has thus said:

“O you who believe, why do you say that which you do not do? It is most hateful to Allah that you should say that which you do not do. (61/2-3)”

Since the thirties of the past century, some appeals which I cannot have any misgiving about their sincerity and honesty have been launched in the Muslim world to call for unity of Muslims and abandonment of differences. In the forties of the same century, the people in charge of these appeals have established a “house” for proximity among Muslim sects through which they, as much as they could, worked towards achieving this goal and such efforts are still in operation. However, it is unfortunate to admit that these efforts have not yet achieved the sought after fruit. Moreover, sometimes the opposite would take place. When the points of difference are discussed in order to resettle and fill up the gap, concentration is made on this difference and all solutions to resettlement fail to the degree that we hope that such conferences, forums, and meetings would not be held anymore so that we avoid stirring the points of difference among us.

Leading us to the most healing treatment of our differences and the best way to reunification and reunion of Muslims, Lady Fatimah al-Zahraa, peace be upon her, says, “God has decided the obedience to us to be the system that organizes the affairs of this nation and has decided our Imamate (i.e. leadership) to be security against disunion.”

Urging on unity of the Muslim community, God the Almighty has said:

“Hold fast by the covenant of Allah all together and be not disunited. (3/103)”

Thus, unity and agreement can be achieved through reference to the genuine sources of Islam; namely, the Book of God and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet; that is the Holy Prophet’s authentic, reliable traditions that have been reported through trustworthy members of his Household as well as his elite companions.

A few days ago, I made a long phone call with one of the scholars from Palestine who is interested in the proximity among Muslim sects and in the unification of their word so that they would be able to fortify their religion and defeat their enemies who are rallying each other against them. Discussing the reasons for the failure of conferences of proximity among Muslim sects to achieve their goals, I said that our Sunni brethren are required to make two important steps in order to progress on the right path. These two steps are as follows:

First: They are required to open wide the door to ijtihad; i.e. allowance of deducing religious laws from the genuine sources of the religious code of Islamic laws; namely, the Holy Quran and the Sunnah, because these two are the only sources of legislation in Islam. As for the words of the master jurisprudents, although we do respect them, their words do not represent more than their personal understandings and views about the religious evidence. In fact, the tools of extracting religious laws from their sources that are available to the late and current generations of the scholars of Muslim jurisprudence are very much greater than those possessed by the past generations, as a result of the advancement and profundity of sciences in general. Moreover, the novel events are so various and renovating that the scholars of the previous generations could not discuss as required. As a result, to stop at sects that are more than one thousand years old freezes the power of thinking and opens wide the door before every person to apply whatever verdicts and laws he personally finds good to certain events in order to achieve personal goals. As a consequence, we can see incongruity, absurdity, and lack of discipline in the issuance of verdicts whose issuers do not see any problem in allowing others to shed inviolable blood. Therefore, it is necessary to regulate the process of issuing verdicts according to accurate scientific criteria and to stipulate certain qualifications for the issuance of verdicts. As a matter of fact, this course can be obviously found with the Shi‘ah Imamiyyah Sect that follows the instructions and traditions of the Holy Prophet’s Household (i.e. ahl al-bayt) whose referential authorities restrictively enjoy certain qualifications without which they are not allowed to issue any verdict or decide any law. Furthermore, these qualifications cannot be met except by a few persons who have attained a very high rank of knowledgeability as well as scientific and practical maturity.

Second: They are required not to politicize the religion (i.e. give a political character to it) and the scholars of the religion are required to refrain from following the ruling authorities and ascribing religious legality to their acts and laws, which are in fact compatible to their personal and worldly affairs and which are intersected from one ruling authority to another; otherwise, the religion will be alienated, the scholars of the religion will be engaged in states of contradiction, and the matter will reach dispute and even fighting. If only the scholars of religious knowledge look down upon the worldly pleasures, work honestly for the sake of God, and restrict their relationships with the ruling authorities to guiding, directing, giving advices, leading them to the wrong aspects of their deeds, correcting the mistakes and the mischievous acts, and counseling… As a matter of fact, this is one of the essential conditions that must be met by the referential authorities in the Muslim Shi‘ah Sect, which is terminologically called ‘adalah (decency)’.

In order to put these two steps into effect, it is highly required to make changes to the curricula of the religious studies in order that it would be possible to produce scholars versed enough to practice ijtihad and to establish faculties of religious studies away from the control and supervision of the ruling authorities, just like the Seminaries (hawzah) of the Shi‘ah. Defined as big and large universities of religious studies, these hawzahs have been always independent from the ruling authorities and the systems of rule for more than one thousand years. I now hope that God the Almighty will endue our beloved city, Baghdad, with security, stability, settlement, independence, and liberty so that it will be the center of such great scientific edifice, just like in the past during the flourishing ages of this city when it embraced Shaykh al-Mufid, Sharif al-Murtada, and Shaykh al-Tusi (Shi‘ite master scholars) just as it had embraced Abu-Hanifah, al-Shaybani, al-Ghazzali, and al-Gailani (Sunni master scholars).

The students of both the Shi‘ite and Sunni schools used to study the sciences of each other and become skilled in it to the degree that it would be too difficult to recognize the school a student followed. For instance, Shaykh al-Tusi wrote a book that he entitled ‘al-Khilaf (Difference)’ in which he reviewed the opinions of the Muslim scholars of the different sects along with their points of evidence regarding the opinion they adopt in the one question. After that, he would prefer a certain opinion over the others. Once a researcher follows this methodology, he would discover (as same as I did when I reviewed the articles of my research on the controversial issues of the Muslim jurisprudence that I deliver in the Seminary of al-Najaf) that all scholars refer to the same source and the majority of the reports to which we refer in our deduction of religious laws are the same. Only then, we cannot feel any difference between the Muslim sects; rather, the question is no more than a scientific research that is dependent upon acceptable points of evidence. As a result, we would wonder why there is such difference and alienation among the Muslim sects!

I do appreciate the big determination and sincerity of the editors of this precious book. Now, from al-Najaf, the holy center of the genuine Islamic science and thought, and from the vicinity of the hero of Islam and the leader of the faithful believers; namely, Ali ibn Abi-Talib, I send to them on behalf of the Muslim community all compliments and appreciations for their remarkable contributions to the construction of the edifice of Islamic unity, which is the hope of all Muslims.

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