Division undermines solidity, cohesion among Muslims: Tunisian Thinker

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful. Peace and blessings be upon Prophet Muhammad and his pure family, and peace and blessings upon his chosen companions.
Greetings and salutations to the participants of the "Islamic Unity" conference. At the beginning, I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers of the conference for providing me the opportunity to participate in this great and significant gathering. I also appreciate the efforts of all of you for addressing the vital and decisive issue of the Islamic Ummah, which is, the issue of Muslim unity.
I regret to say that the phenomenon that we are facing today is division. I hope that we will get out of this negative situation as soon as possible and reach a situation where there is strength, solidity and cohesion. Perhaps holding this gathering has an important role in creating awareness and insight [in the eyes of Muslims]. The Holy Quran is considered as the resource that all Muslims refer to. examining the Holy Quran shows that God Almighty has spoken many times about founding or building. What I mean is the “solid foundation” in Quran. Prophet Abraham was the person who founded the Kaaba. Of course, this example may imply the physical construction of a building, but it is not unrelated to building societies. It means that societies must be founded [well] and this construction requires engineering. Naturally, there are both successful and unsuccessful engineering. In this sense, we have to say that the famous historian "Ibn Khaldun" has uttered many words about building and destroying. I ask God Almighty to protect all your societies from any kind of destruction.
Based on what has been said, we should pay attention to what is mentioned in the Holy Quran regarding construction and foundation. We must have a successful engineering for our societies. In this context, we can refer to the Holy Quran. Quran tells us in different verses and in different ways that faithful thinking can turn a person into a powerful and creative one. This powerful and creative person will be able to build societies with his principles, thoughts and views. The subject of building or destroying societies is a critical issue; This issue is directly related to the issue of unity and division which has always been raised in relation to the Islamic Ummah in different eras. The Islamic Ummah has been tested over the centuries and especially in recent decades with the issue of unity and division. Naturally, this topic has wide aspects, but I will talk about it briefly. I will be very happy to use the opinions and views of other participants in this gathering.

Naturally, Islamic societies are targeted today. This issue is quite obvious. When you turn on the TV or check the various news media, you see quite clearly that Muslims are being targeted on a daily basis. Muslims are targeted by foreigners both materially and spiritually. The knowledge and insight of Muslims, their spirit, the borders of their countries, their peaceful life with other religions and sects, etc. are always targeted by foreigners. Therefore, we have to think and find appropriate solutions to deal with such actions. We must realize that today's battle is not a military one. In my opinion, the era of massive and direct wars is over, because these wars have enormous and staggering costs for the invaders, and everyone is terrified that the scope of the possible war continues to become wider. Therefore, we can clearly see that direct military wars are not favored in the world. Images of war and destruction are not pleasing to anyone. Now the question that arises is: Does this mean that we are now living in peace and security? No, on the contrary, today more than ever, tensions, grudges and hatred have increased. The reason is that the war has taken other forms. Today, we see that direct military war has given way to soft war; A war based on virtual tools and new technology. Naturally, psychological warfare can also be defined in this framework; Moreover, the war against awareness and insight as well as the war to influence minds and hearts is also considered a part of soft war.
Accordingly, when we are faced with such wars, we have to adopt solutions of their own kind. At times and on some fronts, we need the young that are trained, armed, determined and yearn for martyrdom, but we believe that this alone is not enough to face the current challenges. It is quite clear that the enemy seeks to attack the awareness and insight of Muslims. We must try to deal with this plan; Especially when it comes to our children and youth. For example, I am from a generation that has experienced various events over the decades and now it is very difficult to influence my generation. Meanwhile, it is much easier to influence children and young people. Today, children are fans of social networks, television pages, Facebook and Twitter, audio and visual media, and short and effective videos. They are very interested in the mentioned items. This means that children and young people are in the focus of the enemy's attention; whether the colonialist or the Zionist enemy. When we enter mass communication networks, we can clearly see that the enemy has used all their facilities and capacities to target the age groups of children and youth. We should not underestimate these capabilities [the capabilities employed by the enemy] and ignore them.
Naturally, young people have their own literature and terms. These terms are not necessarily religious and theoretical terms. In general, young people live in a different frame of mind than what we imagine. In this framework, they are directly affected through various means. In order to influence these young people, we have to devise a language that they can fully understand. In interacting with these young people, we must use terms that are similar to their vocabulary; Terms they use on a daily basis. Therefore, we should refrain from speaking to the young using the old traditional language, even though it is a strong language based on truth. We have always spoken about our values and beliefs through the language of religion. Now the time has come to express our thoughts, ideas, beliefs and principles through audio-visual language, art language and innovative language. So, the duty and responsibility of directors, artists and innovative people becomes heavy, because they have to play a part in this field too. To be successful in this field, we even have to participate in educational workshops; We should start conducting sociological studies; Studies that help us about influencing and being influenced drastically.
Those who work in the field of writing and publishing books, should pay special attention to the future generation. They should treat the emerging generation with great intelligence and also kindness. Naturally, this is my suggestion and there are many other suggestions as well. Despite all, I believe that this is the most vital suggestion possible, given that children and youth are being targeted by the poisonous projectiles (media) of the foreigners. I ask Almighty God to protect all your children from such poisons. As I mentioned earlier, to deal with challenges, we must resort to solutions that are similar to them. Today, our battle is not a military and coercive one. We must prepare ourselves to win the soft war to be able to overcome these new types of challenges and issues.
In the end, I once again consider it necessary to express my appreciation to those involved in holding this great conference. I pray to God Almighty for the success and victory of those involved in organizing the "Islamic Unity" conference. I hope to meet all of you once again in other gatherings that will be held on future occasions. I am grateful to those who gave me the opportunity to speak at this exceptional gathering. Peace and God's mercy and blessings be upon you all.