Unity Among Western Muslim Communities
Dr. Ja`far Shaikh Idris
The Muslims are supposed to be very distinct from other communities, even in their political organization. And that is why our `ulamaa used to say that jamaa`ah, jamaa`at ul-muslimeen, one of the characteristics, one of the conditions of having a real jamaa`ah, is that it must be ruled by a ruler who follows the Sharee`ah, and it must have `ulamaa who know the Qur`aan and the Sunnah of the Prophet . Allaah subhaanahu wa ta`aalaa said: "Obey Allaah, obey His Prophet and those who are in authority." [4:59] And those who are in authority are, as they say in Arabic, al umaraa' wal `ulamaa', the rulers and the learned people.
Does this mean that there was no difference at all among these Companions of the Prophet ? There were differences, but - and this is a big but, as they say - the differences were individual differences. They were not group differences, this happened later on. Aboo Bakr said something, another person disagrees with him, he says no, then the other person tells him that the Prophet said so and so, Aboo Bakr says, "OK, I'm mistaken." He agrees. `Umar says something, Aboo Bakr differs with him. `Uthmaan says something, `Alee differs with him. And they might make ijtihaad also and they differ in their ijtihaad. But today I am with him on one point, tomorrow I differ with him, then the next day, we both agree and we differ with another brother and so on. So, differences are on the individual level, there were no group differences. This is the ideal thing.
What can we do in our situation? I think it is very important for Muslims living in the West - let us just confine ourselves to the United States - it is very important for Muslims living in the West to be united, because, as I said, I think yesterday, whether we like it or not, we are all considered as Muslims. There is only one label, and sometimes even fundamentalist Muslims. And even those who don't go to the mosque, since they are Muslims they will be called fundamentalists. And someone said all Muslims are by definition fundamentalists. So there is no way of running away from this, we are all Muslims, we are all fundamentalists, according to some people, and we will be treated as such, so it is better for us to be united. The ideal thing is for all the Muslims, all over the United States, to have one organization, one leadership. And that organization will include all Muslims, whether they are Salafis, or people who have some deviation from the Sunnah, because the Prophet said that this Ummah will be divided - you know the hadeeth of the Prophet - that they will be divided, but all those divisions are divisions of Muslims. They are Muslims. They are divided, but they are Muslims.
One group, one of them, the best one, it's called al firqatun naajiyah, the one that is saved, that will go to Paradise, in shaa' Allaah, follows the way of the Prophet and the way of the Companions of the Prophet .
The others have deviations, even in matters of `aqeedah, but the deviations are not so great as to take them out of the fold of Islaam. They will still be Muslims. And if there is an Islamic government, they will give allegiance to that government and they will be treated as Muslims, they will not be prevented from going and making jihaad with the Muslims, they will not be excused from giving zakaah, they will not be asked to give jizyah. They will be treated as Muslims. And the same applies to Muslims who might be Sunni and Salafi, but who drink wine. You might wonder how can a person be Salafi and drink wine. Yes, he might do this because he might be Salafi in his `aqeedah, he has no deviations in his `aqeedah, but he is weak, sometimes he drinks wine, sometimes he might be tempted, or she might be tempted and commit zinaa or so, but still they are Muslims. They will not be expelled from the Muslim community.
So, the ideal thing, and I don't know whether there is a chance for it to be implemented in reality, is for all the Muslims to have this organization. If we cannot have that ideal, then the second best, there should be coordination among us. If you have, say, 20-30 organizations, we should have one umbrella organization where representatives of people belonging to all these different groups come and discuss things and agree on certain policies which they deem to be necessary for all of us. For example, it should not be left to just one group to decide whether to take part in politics or not. Because if it is only one group, then it will not have a great effect on the political situation in this country, but if Muslims have this group that coordinates all of them, they can give their vote to this or that person and they can have an effect on the policy of this country.
If we cannot have even this, then there is something which we can do, at least we who are here. All people who follow the way of the Prophet and who are sometimes called Salafis, even if they have different organizations, they should cooperate. At least these people. They should treat each other as brothers, they should not exaggerate the differences among them because the differences might be just organizational, or differences in certain political issues, or differences among leaders and so on. These are very minor differences, so we, as people who follow the way of the Prophet , should do our best to act according to these principles that I have just explained.
We should treat other people as Muslims, even if they have deviations, whether deviations in `aqeedah or deviations in conduct. And we should treat them as Muslims, we should cooperate with them in matters in which there is an agreement, we should not alienate them, especially in a country like this. We should do our best to unite the Muslims and this is something that we can do as a group. We can do [that], in shaa' Allaah.