The Islamic ruling with regard of Muslims’ unity:

 Dear brother, today’s topic is a needed one and it can be classified as a priority in Islam, but there must be a preface:

The Islamic laws are complete to cover everything:

 Every move a ¬Muslim makes is covered by an Islamic ruling because the Islamic law (Share’) is perfect in its quality and complete in its quantity.
  Hence, any movement, immobility, donation, withholding, satisfaction, rejection, relation, breaking up and any other action no matter how insignificant or significant it was, should be covered by an Islamic ruling and thus any action swings between being Fard (Compulsory religious duty), Wajib (a religious task or duty that has become definite through sound evidence but that is not ordered as strongly as fard), Sunnah mu'akkadah (confirmed Sunnah), Sunnah Ghair mu'akkadah (optional and non obligatory sunnah), Mostahabb (recommended Sunnah), Mobah (permissible), Makrooh Tanzeehan (act which is undesirable and neither punitive nor rewardable), Makrooh Tahriman (An undesirable act, bordering with the forbidden, though not clearly forbidden) or Haram (forbidden), but the Question is:

Under which ruling is the Muslims’ unity classified?

  This is the topic of this sermon, and there are two prefaces: The first one is a moral story, and the second one is a moral example.

The first preface: a touching story:

  In one of Muslims’ Masjids, prayers disagreed upon how many Ruka’ats there are in Taraweeh, and they started shouting, badmouthing one another and quarreling. This case was looked into by a notable Islamic scholar who gave his Fatwa of closing the Masjid because the unity of Muslims is Fard, whereas Taraweeh is Sunnah.

The second preface : a touching example:

  If a man is sleeping and there is a fly on his forehead, would it be rational for you to hit this fly with a big rock in order to kill it but smash his head thereupon causing his death just to kill a fly?
Though there is exaggeration in this example, but By Allah, some believers are ready to sacrifice Muslims’ unity for a very trivial insignificant matter.

The historical reasons of Muslims’ division problem:

  This sermon stems from a great suffering Muslims are in. The weakness of Muslims is a result of their disagreements.
  I am not saying we have to unite with those who have deviated Aqidah which some Islamic groups are adopting, but also Muslims are fighting and disagreeing over trivial matters and they are jeopardizing Muslims’ unity. Due to that we became weak, as Muslims, and the enemy was able to overcome us because of our disunity.
  Islam came in a time when Arabs, in the Arab peninsula, were groups and sects who lacked connections and reasons for their unity save what is unavoidable for their livelihood. This tended to be mere tribal unity and benighted partisanship that ended up always in disperse and fighting instead of unity and harmony.
  When Islam came, it joined Arabs’ hearts together by holding on to one crystal clear truth which is to believe in one God. On the other hand, the teachings of Islam and its method strengthened that bond and supported that unity through offering Salah, Sawm, Hajj and Zakat, also through urging Muslims to hold fast to the Rope of Allah, to His righteous religion, to attain good conducts and to abandon bad disposition. Allah says in Quran:

﴾And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah (i.e. this Qur'an), and be not divided among yourselves, and remember Allah's Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islamic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allah makes His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, that you may be guided. Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good (Islam), enjoining Al-Ma'ruf (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do) and forbidding Al-Munkar (polytheism and disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden). And it is they who are the successful.﴿

[Aal-‘Imran, 103-104]

 What happened after that?
 Dear brother, there is an Ayah in the Quran in which the law of enmity and hatred is fully described, Allah says:

﴾But they have abandoned a good part of the Message that was sent to them. So We planted amongst them enmity and hatred till the Day of Resurrection (when they discarded Allah's Book, disobeyed Allah's Messengers and His Orders and transgressed beyond bounds in Allah's disobedience), and Allah will inform them of what they used to do.﴿

[Al-Ma’idah’, 14]

 This is a Quranic law that is applicable on any two parties whether they are a married couple, brother, partners, two groups, two sects, two countries or two orientations…
When we detached ourselves from Allah’s method, enmity and hatred crawled to us (as Muslims). Hence, whenever there is enmity or hatred, there is definitely slackness in applying Islam. Therefore, you should look for sins, shortcomings, deviations and disobedience because these are the reasons behind the disunity of Muslims after they were united.

Does Islam bring us together or separate us?

  Dear brother, Islam alone will unite Muslims and make them one Ummah after melting all the differences and disagreements, that used to exist, in the pot of unity, not to mention removing all the benighted partisanship, only then Muslims’ loyalty will be to Islam alone, and all the differences of races and colors will be eliminated and the only standard, against which Muslims are valued, will be obeying Allah and fearing Him.
  Though Islam is the factor of unity, our enemies are accusing it of being the reason of disunity, but that will be true only in one case: When we belong to Islam formally without applying its gist. Allah says:

﴾And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah (i.e. this Qur'an),﴿

[Aal-‘Imran, 103]

 If only Muslims apply Islam, we will enjoy a unity which has never been experienced before by Muslims.

Cooperation among Muslims helps them to achieve unity:

  Dear brother, the prophet PBUH had exalted characteristics of perfection, talents and goodness which are enough for the entire mankind. He was the example of the ultimate perfection that can be ever achieved by a human being.
  No wonder then that those, who were taught by him and who revolved his orbit, were heroes whose heroism is witnessed by history.
  Abu Bakr said to Umar: “give me your hand so that I Pledge of allegiance to you”. Umar said: “What land on which I might ever settle and what sky under which I might ever take shade if I become the ruler of a nation, one of whose members is Abu Bakr.” Abu Bakr said: “O Umar you are stronger than me” to which Umar answered: “O Abu Bakr, you are better than me, so I will put my strength at your disposal to be added to your precedence and we will cooperate”.
  Dear brother, let me address you with this despite its harsh nature: your cooperation with believers marks your sincerity, whereas competing with them (negatively) marks your weak sincerity, hypocrisy and duplicity.
  Sowing dissention among Muslims is the ultimate crime a Muslim could commit.
Dear brother, cohesiveness of Muslims makes them an invincible power and this cohesiveness is achieved when the Muslim refuses to let down his brother in Islam, when he prevents whatever would harm his brother and when he approves to his brother whatever he approves to himself.
This is the purpose of resembling the relation between Muslims to the relation between the organs of the human body:

  Muslim narrated on the authority of Nu’man bin Al-Basheer, may Allah be pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah, (PBUH), said,

“The parable of believers in their friendliness, sympathy and compassion is the parable of one whole body: if one part thereof suffers (from an ailment), the whole body hastens (to help) by wakefulness and fever.”))

[Authentic Hadith verified by Muslim and Bukhari]

 Dear brother, the universe is coalescent in its atoms and galaxies, and it will never break any divine law or act outside the boundaries of these laws, and then it is subjugated totally to man.
  Hence, what is the matter with the Muslim who abandoned leading this universe?
  Why would the Muslim accept to be a discord note in the universal symphony?
  Why is the Muslim satisfied to be in the tail of a caravan (of humanity) colleting the crumbs left by sh3er, while he is created by the Creator to lead this caravan?
  Since the universe is coherent, why don’t Muslims become coherent too, given they have one Book (Quran), one prophet PBUH and one Sunnah?

Division and dissension are sorts of Kufr (atheism):

  Dear brother, please pay attention to the following: When Muslims are not drawn together by the truth, the falsehood will divide them, when they are not drawn together by worshipping Al Rahman (Allah The Merciful), worshiping the devil will divide them and when they are not fascinated by the bliss of the hereafter, they will fight one another over the vanity of worldly life, and this is why this chronic fight is a character of the benighted people and it is the behavior of the disbelievers.

 Narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas, May Allah be pleased with both of them, he said: the prophet PBUH said:

((Do not revert after me as infidels killing one another))

[Authentic Hadith verified by Muslim and Bukhari]

 The one, who sows dissention among Muslims and widens the gap between them, is described as a Kafir (disbeliever) by the prophet PBUH:

((Do not revert after me as infidels killing one another))

[Authentic Hadith verified by Muslim and Bukhari]

 The bloody fights are the business of those who are astray from the path of Allah and they are the business of those who are divided into clashing sects. Islam acknowledges the right to disagree with one other in interpretation, furthermore, Islam rewards once he , who does his best, and reaches the wrong conclusion, and rewards he who does his best, and reaches the right conclusion, twice.
  Islam embraced everyone under its extended wing as long as they are sincere in seeking the truth and in being keen on knowing it and acting according to it.

The individual Muslim is one of the addressed groups of Muslims:

  Dear brother, if you look into the Islamic law attentively, you will find that its laws and ethics are based on considering the individual as an inseparable part of the whole Ummah (nation) and one of its body limbs, and thus the individual, willingly or unwillingly, will take his share of whatever is distributed to that whole body of nutrition and of the like.
  The divine speech approved that, and thus Allah is not addressing the individual in His orders and bans, yet Allah addresses the group of Muslims in His guidance and discipline, and according to the aforementioned fact, this divine lesson, which is addressed to all Muslims, should be listened to by the individual who should be advised by it, and this is the way through which the Quran and Sunnah addressed the group of believers, Allah says:

﴾O you who believe!﴿

[Al-Hajj, 77]

 Why didn’t Allah say: O believer? Yet He says:

﴾O you who believe!﴿

[Al-Hajj, 77]

 The reason is because the believer is an individual in the group of believers, Allah says:

﴾O you who believe! Bow down, and prostrate yourselves, and worship your Lord and do good that you may be successful.﴿

[Al-Hajj, 77]

  When the Muslim is offering Munanjat (secret talking in front of Allah and invoking Him, whatever he says to Allah is not something said by his individual tongue only, but it is coming from an inseparable member of the group of Muslims who are connected to one another. Allah says:

﴾You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).﴿

[Al-Fatihah, 5]

 All the invocation to Allah came in the plural subject: “we” and all the commands from Allah came in the plural subject”. Allah says:

﴾You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything). Guide us to the Straight Way The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace,﴿

[Al-Fatihah, 5-7]

 All the divine orders are addressing the group of Muslims and all the forms of Munajat (offered to Allah) are plural.

The unity of Ummah (Islamic nation) is Fard:

  Dear brother, the blazing lusts overlooked this exalted advice, and denied the great divine guidance, and thus, people became sects luring and plotting against one another. Allah says:

﴾O (you) Messengers! Eat of the Taiyibat [all kinds of Halal (legal) foods which Allah has made legal (meat of slaughtered eatable animals, milk products, fats, vegetables, fruits, etc.], and do righteous deeds. Verily! I am Well-Acquainted with what you do. And verily! This your religion (of Islamic Monotheism) is one religion﴿

[Al-Mu’minun, 51-52]

 The unity of the Ummah is Fard. Allah says:

﴾And verily! This your religion (of Islamic Monotheism) is one religion, and I am your Lord, so keep your duty to Me. But they (men) have broken their religion among them into sects, each group rejoicing in its belief. So leave them in their error for a time.﴿

[Al-Mu’minun, 52-54]

 Those, who sow dissention among Muslims, those who widen the gap between them, those who were divided into sects and parties, each sect rejoicing in that which is with it, must be left, by you O Mohammad PBUH, indulged in their sins and heedlessness till (they meet their Creator) on a divine fixed appointment (The Day of Resurrection).
 Allah clarified to us, that following desires and insisting on sinning is the secret behind splitting Muslims into sects.

Bad examples of religious people are the foremost reasons of disunity:

 In fact, the insincere knowledge, which skews the purposes of Islam, becomes a curse on its holder and on people as well.
  People prior Islam were heedless in the mazes of benightedness, but after Islam came and after it was abused by people and became subject to trading in a selfish quest of greediness, people became heedless in the mazes of darkness once more.
  The prophet PBUH used to seek refuge with Allah from any useless knowledge:

  Umar Ibn Al Khattab, May Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the prophet PBUH said:

((That which I fear most for my nation from is every hypocrite of cunning tongue))

[Tabarani and Bazzar]

 The damaged heart makes a weapon out of knowledge in order to spread mischief.
  This kind of destructive knowledge wronged the world in the past and present.  Furthermore, Allah informed us that those, whose knowledge never passes their tongues to their hearts, are the reason for tearing up mankind. Allah says:

﴾He (Allah) has ordained for you the same religion (Islam) which He ordained for Nuh (Noah), and that which We have inspired in you (O Muhammad), and that which We ordained for Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses ) and 'Iesa (Jesus) saying you should establish religion (i.e. to do what it orders you to do practically), and make no divisions in it (religion) (i.e. various sects in religion). Intolerable for the Mushrikun, is that to which you (O Muhammad) call them. Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills, and guides unto Himself who turns to Him in repentance and in obedience.﴿

[Ash-Shura, 13]

 Dear brother, there is a normal disagreement (among people) due to lack of information, and the person in that case is neither praised nor dispraised, but as for the dirty disagreement which occurs despite having the information, it is a despised one because it is a result of conflicts of interests, gains, transgression and envy. Allah says:

﴾And they divided not till after knowledge had come to them, through selfish transgression between themselves.﴿

[Ash-Shura, 14]

 Again, the first kind of disagreement is neutral and it is neither praised nor dispraised because it is a result of lacking information, and when the information becomes available, this disagreement will disappear.
  The second kind of disagreement is dirty one because it occurs despite the availability of irrefutable conclusive information, but it is a result of conflicts of interests, gains, transgression and envy. Allah says in another Ayah:

﴾And only those to whom (the Scripture) was given differed concerning it after clear proofs had come unto them through hatred, one to another. ﴿

[Al-Baqarah, 213]

 Allah warned Muslims from differences among themselves concerning Islam and from being divided because of interpreting it differently following, in that matter, the steps of the old people of the scripture, Allah says

﴾And be not as those who divided and differed among themselves after the clear proofs had come to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment. On the Day (i.e. the Day of Resurrection) when some faces will become white and some faces will become black; as for those whose faces will become black (to them will be said): "Did you reject Faith after accepting it? Then taste the torment (in Hell) for rejecting Faith."﴿

[Aal-‘Imran, 105-106]

The unity of the Ummah after being disunited:

  Dear brother, uniting the Ummah after being divided is close and rationally possible, but because of Muslims’ bad habits it is far from reach. When Allah decrees that something must come to pass, it shall, and whoever seeks after bringing Muslims together, is unquestionably an adjuster, and the short path to make that happen is to call people to forsake the sectarian labels and adopt Islamic titles instead, for the religion with Allah is Islam, and when people answer this call and acquire this characteristic, all the sectarian partisanship will go away.
  Islam is keen on the safety of its Ummah and on the intactness of its structure, and thus it strikes fiercely any precursors of division, moreover, it urges Muslims to join forces in order to bring this Ummah out of the traps of dissention and out of the weakness of division:

((Allah's Hand is over the Congregation))

[Hadith Hasan verified by Tirmizi narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas]

 And:

((Whoever singles himself out, will end in hellfire))

[Hadith Sahih verified by Al Hakem in his Mustadrak, narrated Abdullah Ibn Umar]

 Singling oneself out of the agreement of the Ummah is a divinely punishable act, Allah says:

﴾And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers' way. We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell - what an evil destination.﴿

[An-Nisa’, 115]

 Is there any stronger menace than this one? This shouldn’t surprise anyone, for the bacteria of dissention will not breed until that, which threaten the healthiness of Ummah with destruction, will breed along thereof.

 Narrated Abi Huraira, the prophet PBUH said:

((He who refused obedience (of an ameer proper), disavowed the Jama`ah (the mainstream Muslims), and then died, died on jahiliyyah. And he who fought blindly under a banner, getting angry for a prejudicial group, inviting to blind solidarity, or helped a prejudicial group and was killed … then, his death was a Jahiliyy [The pre-Islamic period is defined as the time of "Jahiliyya"] death.”))

[Part of Sahih Hadith by Muslim and Annasa’i]

 Allow me dear brother to mention the following geometric example: The circle has a center point which is the truth, and all the lines start from that point to reach the perimeter of it like the rays of the sun, and you, as a Muslim, are on one of those lines, and thus the closer you are to the center the closer you will be to the next line, and when you reach the center, there will be no distances between the lines. If we were to apply this example on us as a method to follow, we will become one coherent row.
  Dear brother:

((He who refused obedience (of an ameer proper), disavowed the Jama`ah (the mainstream Muslims), and then died, died on jahiliyyah. And he who fought blindly under a banner, getting angry for a prejudicial group, inviting to blind solidarity, or helped a prejudicial group and was killed … then, his death was a Jahiliyy [The pre-Islamic period is defined as the time of "Jahiliyya"] death.”))

Muslims are in dire need to be united today:

  Muslims are in dire need to become closer and more understanding of each other because they are suffering nowadays, thus this need is most urgent now than any other time, especially after all the tragedies Muslims are facing on a daily basis.
  Dear brother, we are in dire need to unite, for our enemies teamed up against us, they utilized our division and dissention and they stroke us in our religion, in our relations and they distracted us with lateral matters at the expense of the crucial ones, thus we need to develop our attempts (to unite the Ummah) so that goodness will spread all over the Islamic world.
  Dear brother, striving alone is differently performed and rewarded than striving with the group of Muslims:
  The number of Ruka’ats of Zuhur or Fajr will stay the same whether Muslim offers them alone at home or in a congregation in the Masjid, however the reward of offering Salah in a congregation is doubled 27 times than the one offered alone, and so forth.
  All the acts of worship can be offered in a congregation, and thus it will be exponentially rewarded. Hence, The Almighty Allah wants us to be together (as Muslims), and wants us to consider our unity as Fard, accordingly, we should freeze, cancel or put on hold all our disagreements over the secondary matters lest they become the sledge hammer that will wreck this Ummah.

 Finally:
  Dear brother, call yourselves to account before you are called to do so and weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and you should know that the Angel of Death has been reaching sh3er and will reach us soon, so pay heed. The clever one is he who upbraids himself and works for what comes after death; and the weak one is he who follows his desires and lives on wishful thinking, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

***

The second Khutbah:

 Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds and may He bless and grant peace to Muhammad, the Faithful and the Honest, and may Allah bless his folks and companions.

The real danger, facing Islam, comes from its claimers:

 Dear brother, the one, who believes that the threats come from the enemies of Islam, is mistaken, for the grave threat facing Islam comes from the insincere claimers of Islam not its enemies.
 Believing so is not only a mistake, yet it is a major error to consider the enemies of Islam, who badmouth Islam publicly and who hold the sword at broad daylight, as the fiercest ones. Absolutely not, because these enemies are traditional, identified, diagnosed and their plans are well-known by Muslims and are reinforced against.
  The dangerous question which enforces itself: Who is threatening the forts of Islam and the identity of Muslims?
  Our enemies are well-known in their identity, and their call is disclosed, not to mention that they are plotting at broad daylight because they are powerful enough not to pay heed to their reputation, and we, as Muslims, are reinforced against them, however the foremost grave threat comes from every action which allows sowing dissention amongst Muslims and which makes it impossible for Muslims to unite.
The dissention allows rebel sects to emerge and to use Islam in fighting Muslims fiercely, insistently and hostilely in ways that are not used even by Islam’s traditional enemies.
  Dear brother, whoever draws the sword of dissention against Islam and Muslims, whoever doesn’t accept any other interpretation of Islam than his own and whoever doesn’t accept any other perception of Aqidah than his, even though the other’s perception accords with the Islamic regulations and principles, is the mother of disasters which befalls Islam.

Islam is for the entire mankind:

  Our need for Islam is not less than our need for air to breathe, and since air can’t be monopolized by any human being, so as Islam can’t be monopolized by any party, group, sect or school of thought.
The religion is the air that is breathed by all Muslims, it can’t be monopolized, and thus, the fiercest enemy of Islam is the one who monopolizes Islam and who stresses on owning the right perception of Islam without bringing forth any convincing evidences and without abiding by any regulations, moreover he rejects the other, cancels his existence and oppresses him. Our enemies are using the like of those to sow dissention amongst Muslims.

Our enemies are using our disunity (against us):

  Dear brother, let me convey to you a statement said by a minister for foreign affairs of the most powerful country in the west, he said:
  “We are looking forward to making the world 5000 counties instead of 100 ”
 This plan is crystal clear and it is yearning to inauthor sectarian conflicts everywhere in order to make every country divided into twenty cantons.
  It is clear like the sun on a sunny day and it can’t go unnoticed.
 Hence, dear brother, we have to cooperate, to join forces and to overcome our small disagreements which might jeopardize our unity, and I am not asking you to eliminate these disagreements from your perception, rather I am asking to drop them from our dialogue.
 Dear brother, at the present day, it is most needed for us, as Muslims, that we unite. I am not asking you to accept those who have deviated Aqidahs, who said that which has never been mentioned in the noble Quran, and who innovated in Islam that which doesn’t belong to it, however I am asking all the Islamic groups, who have righteous Aqidah yet they have disagreements in secondary matters, to join forces and become one unit, because it is time for unity, cooperation and working shoulder-to-shoulder, and I invoke Allah to accept all of us.

Supplication:

 We beseech you Allah to show us the way of rightness, together with those to whom You have showed it; and give us good health, together with those whom You have healed; and be our Protector, together with those for whom You have become their Protector; and bless us in what You have bestowed on us and save us from the afflictions that You have decreed, for You rule with justice and You are never judged. He whom You protect shall never be humiliated and he whom You make enemy shall never be exalted. Blessed and dignified are You, and we thank You for what You have decreed.
 We seek your forgiveness and we repent our bad deeds. O, Allah guide us to perform good deeds, for You are the Only One who guides to the best of deeds, O Allah guide us to acquire best conducts, for You are the Only One who guides to the best of morals.
 O, Allah make us do well in the religion which is our dignity and make our lives good for it is our living and make us safe on the day of judgment for it is our final destination please make the life our supply for all good things and make the death a rest from every evil our master the Lord of all worlds.
O, Allah please make us with what You have made lawful needless of what You have made unlawful and make us with Your benevolence independent of all sh3er.
 O Allah bless and grant peace to our Master Muhammad, his folks and companions.
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