What if I told you that Muslim unity has never existed and that’s good thing?
Chris Rock had a funny bit in his standup routine where he introduced the stripper myth. The comedian played on the idea that women become strippers to pay for college tuition. There is a similar myth that I would call the unity myth. It is the idea that certain groups of people based upon race, skin color, nationality were always united. Let’s explore this in relatable events in the 2000s.
1. Activists in the Black Lives Matter movement preach that black people all over the world should be united and if they did, that would result in a utopia. Compare a Muslim man from Abuja, Nigeria who prays 5x to Allah and the Christian man in Bahir Das, Ethiopia who is a devout follower of Christ. Would the former rejoice to live under the Christian’s rule all because they have the same melanin?
2. There is a purity movement in Colorado, USA where the daughters pledge their virginity to their fathers and wait till they get married before engaging in sexual intercourse. The purity movement wants to spread into the rest of the USA. What do you think the effects would be if this movement was given the power to control a woman from Miami from engaging in intimacy. Would women in liberal states be receptive to being dictated when they can have sex by a bunch of middle-aged men from another state all because they are united by nationality?
A similar unity myth being fantasized by Muslims where we become powerful when we are united. You don’t believe me? Go to the mosque during Eid and you will hear the Imam preach about how Muslims are not united by a common ideology and that we should strive to do that. The problem with this is that one Muslim’s utopia is another’s nightmare. The fact that the Muslim population has exceeded 2 billion does not help. There are various factions within Islam that want to dictate the Muslim world and use violence that results in the death of Muslims. Funnily, even amongst factions, there is infighting on what the rules should be. Historically, there never was a Muslim unity. After the death of Muhammad in 632AD, civil war resulted that led to the murder of both the Prophet’s grandsons Husayn and Hasan. The Muslim world has been split ever since but that is good as there are options. The Christian world was initially split into Catholicism and Protestantism; Judaism even more. Have these religions not progressed? Did the presence of a Reform Jew destroy the practices of the Hasidic one? Even the major religions understand that for unity to occur, there has to be divine intervention. Coincidentally, all 3 Abrahamic religions have an ideal time point when they would be united:
- Judaism: Moshiach arrives to build the third temple
- Christianity: Jesus arrives to heal the world after the Rapture
- Islam: Mahdi comes at the End Times to battle the Dajjal and unite all Muslims
Trying to unite all Muslims by force is the mother of good intentions going astray. This results in a central power that uses the threats of violence and intimidation to ‘unite’ Muslims. History has shown us that eventually there to be infighting amongst the ruling power resulting in more chaos.
The Muslim world must be careful with the idea of ‘uniting the Muslim world’. Like what happened with the FLDS, the wrong group can take charge. It is in our best interest to have different subsets to choose from as the diversity will cater to the 2 billion Muslims on the planet. Plus, it shows us what system works and what does not. Even if your ideal group is in charge, history has shown us that power corrupts people. Men with the noblest intentions change into tyrants once they get power.