The Myth of Muslim Unity

Last updated on: September 7, 2015 at 10:11 am by Muslims Writers Guild of America

The Myth of Muslim Unity 2015-09-07T10:11:09-05:00 Muslims Writers Guild of America

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It happened 41 years ago today, September 7, 1974: Muslim unity. And then it disappeared.

And despite the sectarian violence, fatwas of infidelity, and state sanctioned terrorism, the myth of Muslim unity pervades the Muslim “Ummah.”

I call it a myth because in every spectrum where it truly matters, Muslim unity seems to disappear. For example, it disappears when we ask why Muslim leaders aren’t uniting to alleviate the suffering of Palestine? It disappears when various Arab states in the Mid-East remain unwilling to take Syrian refugees. It disappears when the Muslim world sits idle as Muslims suffer in CAR, Myanmar, and China.

But just as perplexing, Muslim unity suddenly re-appeared on one major topic, which manifested itself once more in the past week.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s former High Commissioner to London, spoke at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s 49th annual International Jalsa Salana—UK’s largest Muslim conference. In his short remarks before His Holiness the Khalifa of Islam, some 35,000 attendees and tens of millions watching via satellite, Mr. Hasan condemned Pakistan’s 1974 decision to constitutionally declare Ahmadi Muslims as “non-Muslim.” Mr. Hasan instead advocated universal freedom of conscience, and praised the Ahmadiyya community’s motto of “love for all, hatred for none.”

No major Muslim organizations or Imams stood up in solidarity with Mr. Hasan.

Meanwhile, the day after the International Jalsa Salana ended, a prominent British Imam, Naveed Anjum Khan,sent a mass email to numerous UK based Imams, writing, “Can we have all Imams to sign a letter that the Ahmadiyya are not Muslims and should not be speaking on behalf of the Muslims.” Mr. Khan was furious that the BBC interviewed Ahmadi Muslims. Most shocking, Mr. Khan called Ahmadi Muslims as, “the greatest challenge and deception we have to rise up to.”

Whether Mr. Khan’s email directly influenced what happened next remains to be seen. What is a fact, however, is that combined with Mr. Hasan’s comments at the international Jalsa Salana, the myth of Muslim unity suddenly became a forceful reality. Within days, Pakistan’s Punjab Assembly passed a unanimous resolution condemning Mr. Hasan’s favorable, but apparently blasphemous, comments about Ahmadi Muslims. The unanimous resolution further demanded Mr. Hasan be stripped of all government posts, and called for an annulment of any and all awards he’d received for his decades of service to Pakistan.

Mr. Hasan’s crime? He called for Pakistan to return to the secular state that Muhammad Ali Jinnah founded. Just as Muslim leaders were silent prior to the unanimous resolution against Mr. Hasan, still no major Muslim leaders, Imams, or organizations stood up to defend Mr. Hasan for his audacious act of demanding equal rights. On the contrary, the deafening silence from Muslim leaders everywhere speaks volumes and Mr. Khan’s unchallenged statement rings clear that apparently, Ahmadi Muslims are, “the greatest challenge and deception we have to rise up to.”

This is the grievous claim that united the Muslim ummah in 1974 when a leader from every sect joined a resolution to declare Ahmadi Muslims as “non-Muslim.” And today, this grievous claim lives on, aggravated by Muslim leaders and organizations choosing to remain silent. For if Ahmadi Muslims are indeed the greatest challenge to the Muslim ummah, what isn’t?

Not Syria, not Iraq, not Gaza, not CAR, not Myanmar, not the Rohingya, not ISIS, not the Taliban, not Al Qaeda, not Boko Haram, not death for blasphemy laws, not death for apostasy laws, not systemic racism, not oppression of women, not persecution of Christians, not illiteracy, not poverty, not corruption, and not vast economic failure. But instead, a community of Muslims who have a 127 year history of representing Islam peacefully, serving all humanity, and championing love for all, hatred for none—are “the greatest challenge and deception.”

Imams demonize Ahmadi Muslims only due to dogmatic differences, and without a shred of evidence that Ahmadis have done anything but serve all humanity. Regardless, the Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya community obliges Ahmadis to continually serve all humanity. Ahmadis do so with pride worldwide through Humanity First, hundreds of free schools and hospitals, and particularly in Syria, Gaza, and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, this farcical Muslim unity against Ahmadi Muslims has become a dangerous trend. Indeed, this isn’t the first time Muslim clerics united to bully courageous voices of opposition into silence. Former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was assassinated for trying to repeal Pakistan’s blasphemy law, as was former Federal minorities minister Shabazz Bhatti. Despite her valiant effort for peace, her Excellency Sherry Rahman was bullied with death threats into retracting her motion to amend Pakistan’s blasphemy laws to repeal the death penalty. Prominent Pakistani Journalist Raza Rumi narrowly survived an assassination attempt for his calls to counter extremism. And now, Pakistan’s former high commissioner to London is labeled a treasonous blasphemer—for his “crime” of championing universal freedom of conscience.

Meanwhile, the Muslim leaders and Imams who speak up for arrested journalists in Egypt, persecuted bloggers in in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, and victims of Islamophoia in the West, are all eerily silent on the issue of Mr. Hasan and Ahmadi Muslims.

Thus, it seems the myth of Muslim unity isn’t a myth at all, for when it comes to opposing Ahmadi Muslims, Muslim unity is stronger than ever.

Now if only Muslim leaders could learn to unite on something that actually benefits humanity.

But 41 years later, that myth lives on.

Qasim Rashid is a national spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA and a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Prince Al Waleed bin Talal School of Islamic Studies. Follow him on Twitter @MuslimIQ.**

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