بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

THE ISLAMIC UNITY – 4

The prescription for a magnificent, unfortunate continent, a glorious, defeated state, and a valuable, ownerless nation is Islamic Unity.

The Damascus Sermon (109)

It is necessary to unite over the dharûriyyah of religion and not to dispute over the secondary matters:

Sometimes agreement on haqq causes disagreement on a higher degree of haqq; therefore, sometimes haqq is more rightful than it; and good is better than what is better. Everyone should say about their own way, “It is haqq,” but they should not say, "It is the only haqq way." Or they should say, "It is good," but they should not say, "It is the only good way."

The Letters-The seeds of haqiqah-77

 

Q- What is the cure that will rectify the disagreement in the Islamic world?

A- Firstly: It is to focus on the elevated objectives that are agreed upon. Because our Ilah is one and the same, our Prophet is one and the same, our Qur’an is one and the same... We are all united in the dharûriyyah of religion… The secondary matters, or the differences in views or understandings, which are not among the dharûriyyah of religion, cannot shake this unity and concord nor prevail over them. If

اَلْحُبُّ فِى اللّٰهِ1

is taken as a principle and the love for haqiqah dominates our actions — time also helps a lot — those disagreements can be directed towards a sahîh course.

Alas! Due to pretending to forget or forgetting the sole aim, minds turn towards the ana and revolve and wander around it. Here, the sole objective, the elevated purpose, is exposed with all its clarity.

Sünuhat-Tuluat-İşarat (92)

 

Question: What do you think about the terrible disagreement among the ‘ulamâ of the Islamic world? What is your opinion?

Answer: I consider the Islamic world a disorganised or disordered Council (Shûrâ) of consultation and assembly of deputies. We hear it from Sharî’ah that it says, “This is the judgment of jumhur2, and it is the source of the fatwa. Here, this one is the similar opinion of the majority of this assembly.” As for the opinions other than the judgment of jumhur, if these are haqiqah, and their kernels are not empty and void, they are left to the preference of the people who are qualified for ijtihad so that they can prefer one of those opinions suitable for their tarbiyyah.3 However, this has two important points: {It would not be a bad idea to pay attention to these two points.}

First: Although the opinion, which was preferred through the inclination of those qualified to make ijtihad, which contains haqiqah to a degree and is approved by the minority, should be confined and specific to those qualified to make ijtihad, the owner of the opinion neglected this principle and failed to limit their ijtihad to themselves. Their followers embraced the idea with iltizâm and generalised it, while their blind imitators displayed zeal and worked to demolish those who opposed that opinion to secure it. From this point, conflict, controversy, contradiction and rejection became so widespread that the dust rising from their feet, the smoke rising from their mouths and the lightning rising from their tongues formed a cloud with lightning and sometimes with rahmah; and it became a veil for the manifestation of the sun of Islam.

However, it did not remain at the level of a cloud with rahmah that grants the ability to receive favour from the sun's light. Just as it does not provide rain, it also prevents the sunlight.

Second: If the haqiqah and kernel within the opinion that was approved by the minority but not by the jumhur do not prevail over the desires of the nafs, inherited tendencies and temperaments of those qualified to make ijtihad who chose the opinion, it will be a grave error. For while those qualified to make ijtihad should be coloured by the opinion and transformed into its requirements, the desires, whims, inherited tendencies and temperaments turn the opinion towards themselves, graft themselves to it and make the opinion obey their commands. At this point, haqq and hidâyah transform into the desires of the nafs, and the path they follow is also watered by the temperament and disposition. A bee drinks water and sheds honey; a snake drinks water and sheds poison.

Question: I wonder, will not this sublime Islamic assembly be able to find order again in the universe, in this bewildered city of the globe?

Answer: I believe with all my heart that the entire Islamic world will become a sacred assembly of deputies in the nation of human beings and the tribe of Âdam. The predecessors and successors will look to each other over the centuries and form a Council (Shûrâ) of consultation among themselves. However, the first group, the elderly fathers, will listen in silence and praise.

Münazarat (78-80)

 

Sixth Wahm: Some people say that Islamic Unity, which aims to implement Sunnah as-Saniyyah, limits freedom and is opposed to the requirements of civilisation.

The Answer: In reality, the mu’mins are truly free. One who is a servant and ‘abd of the Sâni’ of ‘âlam would not stoop to submit to His creatures. It means that the more îmân is strengthened, the stronger freedom becomes.

As for the absolute freedom, it is absolute savagery; it is, in fact, animality. Restrictions on freedom are even necessary from a humanitarian standpoint.

Secondly, since some careless and dissipated individuals do not want to live free, they want to be under the disgraceful slavery of their nafs al-ammarah.

In Short: The freedom outside the bounds of the Sharî’ah is either despotism, or slavery to the nafs, or beastly animality, or savagery. Such careless and zindiqs should know well that they can never make any foreigner with a conscience love them through irreligion and dissipation (safahat), nor can they resemble them because no one loves the dissipated and the unprincipled. And if a man wears a dress that suits a woman — liked by them —, he becomes a laughingstock.

Seventh Wahm: The jamâ’ah of the Islamic Union4 is the cause of sowing division among other groups whose aim is to serve religion. It leads to rivalry and contention.

The Answer: Firstly, there can be no envy, strife, or conflict regarding matters about akhirah. Therefore, if any of those societies attempts to compete or strive against another, it would be akin to committing riyâ and nifâq in ‘ibâdah.

Secondly: We congratulate the jamâ’ahs that were established out of the love of religion and unite with them on two conditions:

The First Condition is to preserve the freedom described in Sharî'ah and the public order.

The Second Condition is to act on love and not to try to give value to themselves by smearing other groups. Anyone who is in error ought to be referred to the council of ‘ulamâ, who are the mufti of the ummah.

Thirdly: A jamâ’ah whose aim is to uphold the Word of Allah (I’lâ Kalimatullah) cannot be the means of any form of hostility. Even if they want to, they cannot be successful, because it is nifâq. The haqq is exalted and cannot be sacrificed for anything. Can the stars of Pleiades be a grass broom or eaten like a bunch of grapes? Anyone who puffs at the sun of haqiqah to extinguish it merely declares his insanity.

O religious newspapers and journals! Our aim:

• The jamâ’ahs that serve the religion should unite in aim.
• It is neither possible for them to unite in their paths and mashrab, nor is it jâiz to await their unity. For it opens up the way of imitation and causes people to say, "What is it to me? Let others think."

Eighth Wahm: Here, the majority of the people of the Islamic Union, who have joined this jamâ’ah both materially and in a ma’nawî manner, are ‘âwam, and the background of some of them is unknown; this might lead to conflict and fitnah.

The Answer: On the contrary, the Islamic Union does not allow enmity. Furthermore, all its endeavours and activities are ‘ibâdah since its aim is unity and upholding the Word of Allah (I’lâ Kalimatullah). In the masjîd of ‘ibâdah, king and beggar are equal; there, equality is the true principle; there is no privilege because the one who has the highest degree of taqwâ is the most honourable. And whoever has the highest degree of taqwâ is the humblest. Consequently, in reality, he will be honoured by joining the haqiqah of the Union in a ma’nawî manner as well as joining this jamâ’ah, the aim of which is âkhirah and which merely serves religion and is a material model of the haqiqah of the Union. Otherwise, he cannot gain any dignity. A single droplet cannot increase the ocean. Furthermore, committing a major sin does not cause a person to lose his îmân, and since the sun has not risen in the west yet, the door of tawbah is open. A jug of impure (najis) water does not make the ocean impure (najis) but itself becomes pure. In the same way, some individuals of unknown backgrounds, who have joined this model of Islamic Unity and who, with firm intention, as far as they can, work to fulfil our conditions, which are reviving the Sunnah of the Prophet (asm), obeying the commands of the Sunnah and refraining from what it has prohibited, and not disturbing public order, will not stain this elevated haqiqah. For even if they themselves are stained, their îmân is sacred, and the bond is îmân.

Staining this sacred title with such pretexts is not knowing the value and sublimity of Islam; one who does that simply proclaims himself to be the most stupid. We reject with all our strength any innuendoes made against our jamâ’ah, which is a model of Islamic Unity, and any effort to smear it by comparing it with worldly societies. If anyone raises objections via asking for information, we are ready to respond. Here is the challenge!

The jamâ’ah of which I have joined is an Islamic Unity, which I have here described in detail. What I have joined is, otherwise, not the imaginary organisation that critics have imagined to be bâtil. With the members of this association that serves the religion, we are together whether they are in the north, south, east, or west.

The Damascus Sermon (97-100)

 

With my flawed understanding, I envision the Islamic society of this time as a factory with various wheels and machines. If any wheel of the factory lags behind or encroaches on another wheel, its fellow, the entire function and movement of the machine will be broken. Therefore, the right time is beginning for Islamic Unity. It is necessary not to focus on each other's personal faults.

The Damascus Sermon (58)

 

But as for the people of hidâyah and religion, the people of ‘ilm and tarîqah, since they rely on haqq and haqiqah and since each of them walks on the path of haqq by thinking only of his Rabb and relying on His guidance and assistance, they have dignity at heart arising from their way. They have recourse to their Rabb and seek help from Him instead of men when they feel weak. Due to the differences of the mashrab, they do not fully feel their need for the assistance of the one whose mashrab seemingly opposes their own and do not see their need for the alliance. Indeed, if self-conceitedness and ananiyyah are present, imagining himself to be right and his opponent to be wrong, disagreement and rivalry will replace alliance and love between them. He will lose ikhlas, and his duty will be ruined.

Here, the following Nine Commands are the only remedy to prevent the consequences of this terrible cause:

1. To act positively, that is to say, to act through the love of one's own way. Enmity for other ways or criticism of others should not interfere in his thought and ‘ilm, nor should he occupy himself with them.

2. Rather, it is to unite by thinking that there exist numerous bonds of wahdah that will be the means of love, brotherhood (ukhuwwah) and alliance, regardless of the person’s mashrab within the circle of Islam.

3. To take the rule of justice as a guide, which all the followers of haqq ways have the right to say without attacking the way of others, "My way is haqq or more beautiful." But they cannot say, "My way alone is the haqq" or "My mashrab alone is beautiful," which implies the falsity or ugliness of the way of others.

4. To consider that alliance with the people of haqq is a cause of the guidance and assistance of Allah and a means of dignity within the religion.

5. Furthermore, at the time of the attack of unjust people of dhalâlah by the genius of a strong ma’nawî collective personality in the form of the organisation arising from their solidarity, it is to preserve justice and truth by realising that the individual resistance of even the most powerful person is defeated by that ma’nawî collective personality and forming a ma’nawî collective personality against that fearsome ma’nawî collective personality of dhalâlah with the alliance on the side of the people of haqq.

6. In order to preserve haqq from the attack of bâtil,

7. by abandoning his nafs and ananiyyah

8. and his dignity, which he considered wrong,

9. and his insignificant feelings, which arise from the rivalry, one can gain ikhlas and can properly perform his duty. {NOTE: As proof, it may be mentioned that according to a sahîh hadith, just as in âkhirzaman, the truly pious followers of Îsâ (as) will unite with the people of the Qur'an, and they will resist together against their common enemy, zandaqa. At this time, too, by not making the points of disagreement a cause of dispute and conflict for a time, the people of religion and the people of haqiqah need to unite sincerely not only with their fellow believers and brothers and those who follow the same way but also with the truly pious and devout Christians against their common enemy, the attacking irreligious people.}

The Twentieth Flash-Second Cause

 

When you know your way and thoughts to be haqq, you have the right to say, "My way is haqq or better." But you do not have the right to say, "My way alone is the haqq." According to the mystery of 5 وَعَيْنُ الرِّضَا عَنْ كُلِّ عَيْبٍ كَلِيلَةٌ وَلكِنَّ عَيْنَ السُّخْطِ تُبْدِى الْمَسَاوِيَا , your unjust view and rotten thoughts cannot be a judge and cannot convict the way of others as being bâtil.

The Twenty-Second Letter-Fourth Aspect

 

If it is said: In the hadith, it was said,

اِخْتِلاَفُ اُمَّتِى رَحْمَةٌ6

But disagreement requires partiality.

…

The Answer: …As for the concept of disagreement in the hadith, it is the positive disagreement. It means that each person works to repair his way and make it valuable. They do not work to destroy and invalidate the ways of others but rather work to complement and refine them. As for the negative disagreement, it is to work with enmity and malice to destroy each other, and the hadith rejects this because those who wrestle with each other cannot act positively.

…

As for the clash of ideas in the name of haqq and on behalf of haqiqah, it disagrees only in the methods while being united in aim and principles. By exposing all aspects of haqiqah, it serves both to haqq and haqiqah. However, the flashes of haqiqah do not emerge from the clash of ideas through seeking fame and the partisan and malicious arrogance on account of nafs al-ammarah, which became a pharaoh, but rather the fire of fitnah emerges. Because, although it is necessary to unite in aim, there cannot exist a point of convergence of the ideas of such people even on the globe of the earth. Since it is not in the name of haqq, it continues in ifrât without limit and causes incurable disunities. The current state of the world is a testament to this.

The Twenty-Second Letter-Fifth Aspect

 

The cause of harmful disagreement: The rule “This is haqq” has been replaced with the judgment “This alone is the haqq,” and the judgment “This is the most beautiful” has been replaced with the judgment “This is the beautiful.” The merciful principle

اَلْحُبُّ فِى اللهِ7

has been replaced with

وَالْبُغْضُ فِى اللهِ8

Instead of love for one's own way, hatred of other ways has become dominant in one's actions. Instead of love for haqiqah, unfair support for the ana has intervened. Aims and purposes have been replaced with methods and arguments. However, with a corrupted proof, sometimes a haqq conclusion is established in the mind, and with a bâtil means, a haqq purpose is established in the thought. Since the purpose and aim are haqq, corruption in the proofs and methods should not lead to such a disunity in the hearts.

Sünuhat-Tuluat-İşarat (82-83)