Ismail ibn Musa Menk Diversity Through Unity

Diversity Through Unity

Opening

May the peace and blessings of the Almighty be upon us all.

Main Khutbah

Today we will be discussing a very very important topic and that is unity and the diversity in unity.

Many people have misunderstood the entire meaning of unity. Some feel that it means everyone must think the same, everyone must do the same, everyone must believe the same, everyone must be in one direction and then only we will be considered united. Whereas that is absolutely impossible.

If we've ever thought of it, even within one family, two members of the same family cannot achieve that. Even husband and wife cannot achieve that. So what then is the meaning of unity? When we stand united, we have certain common goals and we have certain common items we'd like to achieve, the goals, the objectives, and we work towards them.

And these are broad objectives. The fact that we can tolerate each other, sometimes you may even have a person whom we can be united with, but his aims and objectives are slightly different to ours. And when we say united, we stand together, we respect each other, we do not harm each other, we tolerate each other, we can engage with each other in discussion, possibly even in debate, nothing wrong with a respectful debate, in order to learn and not in order to hate each other and to draw lines.

However, when we have that common purpose, we need to know primarily we are human beings. We all have a nose, we all have eyes, and we all have the faculties that we do have, we are all in need of oxygen, and we would all suffer if that oxygen was taken away. We all need water, we need food, and this is why we need to cooperate.

Quranic Verse

The Quran says:

Do not forget the virtue that you need to adopt between one another. There is a virtue, I respect you, you respect me. You have a person who is a doctor, another one who is a plumber, one who is a lawyer, and one who might be a scholar.

Each one needs the other. So for example, if we have a bad relation with everyone who is not in our field, the day we get sick, we won't have a doctor who is connected to us. If I am sick at two in the morning, and because I've had a good relation with someone who was a doctor, I can pick up the phone, and in two minutes he can be at my doorstep.

Why? Because we are united, we have different fields totally, but we respect each other. We smile at each other, we have a common goal, we share, we may even exchange gifts now and again, and we tolerate them in a great way. Sometimes people don't understand this, and this is why even the baker and the plumber, we never underestimate anyone to the degree that even the one who works for us, cleaning our place and so on, it could be us doing it tomorrow, may the Almighty grant us all good jobs, but we would require the one who has employed us to respect us.

If there is no respect, there is no unity, but the minute there is respect, we stand a greater chance to be united, to stand united, and to face that which would, you know, be a challenge against us standing as a united human being family, the family of humanity. So, the first circle we have drawn here is the circle of humanity. We have that in common, and every one of us has to have certain items, like we mentioned moments ago, the air and so on, nobody can say, no, I'm not a part of this and I don't want it.

If we don't unite in that, we would then suffer the floods, we would suffer so many other things, and we would not be able to help one another, because when I see you drowning, I leave you, when you see me drowning, you leave me. When the flood happens, you notice people put aside all their differences, and they go out to sacrifice even their lives in order to save someone else. How many have we heard of? Plenty people who have lost their lives, saving people they don't even know.

Those are the heroes, the heroes of humankind. And this is why we say, it is not difficult to achieve unity, if only we understand what unity is. The problem is, we have lost the live and let live policy.

People want to prove that they are better, they want to prove that others are worse, they want to stand higher than everybody else, they believe that we are the only ones who are right, and we will fight those who do not think the way we think. That is not acceptable. Even within religion, we have the right to believe we are right, but we do not have the right to claim that we are the only ones who are right, or that we will fight those who do not adopt exactly what we do, because then the world would be chaotic.

Prophetic Example

Rather, we engage in discussion. Some might even quote the messenger Muhammad peace be upon him, very wrongly, and they don't understand that in his life, he was the best when it came to treatment to non-Muslims. He was so beautiful in his teachings, that just by looking at him, and by interacting with him, they adopted Islam. They said in a lot of cases, if this is what Islam is all about, then we are there, we are part of it. Why did they say that? Because he didn't just go out and fight them, and kill them, and say, these are my enemies, and so on. He went out to them, he tried his best with them, and he spoke to them, he engaged them in dialogue, he worked hard with them, he assisted them wherever he could.

When he was called to a common meeting, where things were to be discussed that affected the entire community, he put aside everything and went in order to discuss those matters. Although he disagreed on ten things, but the ten things that he did agree with, he supported the whole cause. And this is amazing.

It is the sunnah, it is the teaching of the blessed Prophet Muhammad may peace be upon him. And for this reason, we have a lot to learn. And we need to interact with our neighbors, with those whom we mix with on a daily basis, even on the road and on the street.

If we are intolerant, it will result in disunity. And it will result in hatred. And hatred, as you know, it splits people up, it splits them into pieces.

But rather, when we are courteous on the road, when we have so much goodness, when we concentrate on the commonalities, and we can engage, as I said, and I'm repeating this, as I said, we can engage people when it comes to discussing matters, possibly of religion, or matters of politics, matters of various other issues that people have difference of opinion on, it does not mean that because you support a different party, or you belong to a different group of beliefs, that you are disunited with the rest. No. Maybe we have disagreements in five items, but if you look at what we agree on, there are another thousand things which we agree on commonalities.

Call to Unity

And for this reason, we call on not only ourselves, but the globe at large. Let us unite. Let us tolerate each other. Let us appreciate each other's differences, the different cultures and traditions. For as long as they do not trample on the feet of others, we will allow that to pass, and we will respect it, and we will acknowledge it with open arms. And we expect the same.

That we need to be also allowed the same freedoms that we would allow. And we ask the Almighty to open our doors. The topic of unity is great.

I've only touched on a small part of it. The idea is to conscientize the masses to say, It is not something impossible, but we need to understand what is meant by unity. I hope today's talk has put in a little bit of focus for us to concentrate on.

Closing

,Until we meet again