With Allah’s name The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer.
Unity Through Diversity
By Imam Omar Hazim
One of the beauties of Islam is that it emphasized the concept of unity; oneness of God, and the oneness of mankind.
Muslims are united under the banner of Al-Islam, although most of us have come from different countries, are of different races and cultures, and speak different languages. These differences are insignificant in the sight of Allah. What is most important is the ideology of Islam and the faith itself.
Allah says in the Quran: “O Mankind, we have created you from a single male and female and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Verily, the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you, and Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted.” (Chapter 49, Verse 13)
The Prophet (PBUH) said: “O Mankind, you are children of Adam and Adam is from the soil.”
Diversity means the quality, state, fact or instance of being diverse, different, variety, multiformity; dissimilar or varied. We constitute a diversified group in Topeka , and in America . We are different in our ways of thinking, in our actions and reactions. We may differ in the way we handle the same problems or situation, we have different economic circumstances, different life experiences, and different educational backgrounds.
Unity means the state of being one – in spirit, sentiment or purpose; harmony, agreement and concord. As Muslims our unity is based on our consciousness of the oneness of Allah, oneness of Prophethood, oneness of religion, and oneness of humankind.
We have one basic Islamic ideology with respect of various schools of though. We have one book, the Holy Quran; it is one text, one language, one dialect, and one standard for every Muslim (over 1 billion).
We have one Prophet, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). There is no disagreement on his character and his personality. He is our leader and the leader for Mankind.
We have one Quibla (direction) in which to pray – the Kaba at Mecca . The Quran says “It is not righteousness to turn our faces towards the east or west.” However, it is obedience to Allah’s’ will.
We, as Muslims, should have one goal, one aim, one intention, and one purpose; and that is to be true and worthy Muslims. We should hope to please Allah and be of service to all humanity. This unity (oneness) is so much greater and significant than our diversities.
O Allah, have Mercy on us and forgive us of our sins. Ameen.