Abundant commonalties make different Islamic schools of thought united, Iraqi thinker says

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
God bless Mohammad and his holy descendants and Companions
First of all, let me thank Islamic Republic of Iran for making efforts to realize Islamic unity. My special thanks to the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought for undertaking the responsibility of holding unity conferences.
At present, the 37th International Islamic Unity Conference (IIUC - 37th) is underway and in which representatives of Islamic countries are present. My speech focuses on Islamic brotherhood and campaign against terrorism. God Almighty says, “The believers are but brothers.” Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has detailed discussion about “brothers in faith” and “brothers in Islam.” He says, “A believer to another believer is like a building whose different parts enforce each other.”
Another tradition of Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH) concerning brother in Islam and faith is as follows: “A Believer to Another Believer is Like Two Hands, One Washes the Other.” These traditions reveal that the faithful share cultural, religious and moral commonalties. Why such commonalties? This is because God Almighty has made Islamic Ummah the best of nations. The Ummah of Prophet Mohammad (AS) is the one that benefits from God’s blessings. So, it is worth joining hands and show our power through unity and integrity. The reality is that what make different Islamic schools of thought united are their abundant commonalties. The commonalties are sometimes innumerable.
We should know that people are either our religious brothers or our counterpart in creation. As I said, we have many commonalties in religion, including single Qibla and single book. I mean, holy Quran which is an everlasting miracle will remain until day of resurrection. One more commonalty is belief in prophets and the last messenger of God. Another issue that I am going to focus is terrorism and the need to fight it. Before using the military strategy to fight terrorism, we should remove its ideological roots. The reason is that terrorism enjoys roots and sources which need to be removed. We should ask ourselves, from where has terrorism been originated? What is the main source of terrorism? Shall a murderer, having a clean ideological and cultural record, kill others? No that’s not true.
As said, terrorism has a source of emergence and origination. Takfirism has created terrorism. It is that ideology which does not accept the viewpoint of the other party. I mean the ideology which has no belief in Islamic brotherhood and does not consider the faithful to be each other’s brother. That’s a closed mindedness which says only I am the right and others are mistaken. In contrast to terrorism and extremism is peace and security. Our motto is that Islam is the religion of passion, kindness and friendship. Holy Prophet (PBUH) did not try in Medina for brotherhood only, rather he concentrated all his efforts that such a brotherhood be between Muslims and those having a scripture. The reason was that he considered all Muslims to be each other’s brothers, who shared a common religion and prophet. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) united Muslims and men of the book in a way to be beside each other at peace and war. Eventually, he managed conclusion of a famous treaty between Muslims and men of the book. At any rate, Muslims should first of all get together and united and show their power through the unity, i.e., unity around Islam.
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Now let me re-focus on campaign against terrorism. The reality is that terrorism has vast resources. Today conditions are not the same as those at times of such wars as `Badr’ and `Hunayn,’ in which companions of the prophet were present. Gone is the era of direct war. Enemy today uses soft war and the media to divide Muslims and partition them. Today, enemy propagates its own culture and tarnishes culture of Muslims to materialize its goals. Evidently, Muslims will not tolerate such cultures as homosexuality, non-observation of Hijab (Islamic dress code), and insult on outstanding personalities of other religions.
Islam has a number of sanctities, notably Holy Quran. The Ulima who transferred this religion to us, are outstanding religious personalities. West has always been trying to harm dignity of Islam and Muslims and change tendencies of the youth. Unfortunately, today we are witnessing that the west has targeted the youth through their own culture. A look at the past reveals that during wars and battles and even during activities to spread Islam, Prophet trusted the youth Osama Bin Zaid was one of the youths. Another youth was Imam Ali (AS), who was brave. When Amr Bin Wad al-Ameri invited somebody to fight him in a battle, Imam Ali (AS) was the only person to fight him. The time, no body else was ready to face Amr Bin Wad al-America. Once Imam Ali stood up to fight the Arab, Prophet said, “All of faith is facing all of polytheism.”
That bravery will be our focus to achieve through our youth, unity and support of the faithful for their religion. Zeal in faith in Prophet Mohammad, in Ahl-ul-Bait of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), in Prophet’s religion and God’s book are what we strongly need today. In which way are the faithful killed? In the path of religion, honor, assets and soul. Anybody losing his life in the path of religion, will be considered martyr in the path of God.
As long as Muslims strive for religion of Islam and not religious interests, Islamic Ummah will be in a good status. We are proud that the voice of Islamic Ummah is heard in Islam and not the voice of Islamic religions. We are happy for not having ethnicity slogans in Islam. Identity of all of us is being Muslim. We are very happy to move shoulder to shoulder with our brothers in Islamic Republic of Iran and at the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought. I hope that we will reach the next stage of proximity because Islamic Ummah is like a single body that when one limb passes its days in pain, the other limbs cannot remain easy and are in fever. At a time when we in Iraq were in pain and sorrow due to invasion of terrorists and when Takfiri Daesh invaded Iraq, children of the country defended their territory with their soul and property. Here, being brother in faith and Islam became meaningful. As long as there are right personalities among us, Islamic Ummah will be in good condition. God has asked us to be reformist as well as the righteous on earth. On this issue, Holy Quran says, “And your Lord is not such as would wrongfully destroy human habitations while their inhabitants are reformist.” In this verse, the word reformist is used and not righteous.
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