Man is by nature a social being who cannot fulfill his material needs for food, drink, clothing, and protection except through cooperation with others via the principle of division of labor. Likewise, he cannot acquire knowledge, evolve, and advance except through positive interaction with others and what wise predecessors have bequeathed of knowledge and monotheistic ethics. Since man is the only being in this existence who possesses reason, freedom, the capacity for creativity, and the aptitude to evolve from one stage to a higher stage in knowledge, it was necessary for his mind to interact with the minds of others through study, imparting, and acquiring knowledge, so that the required creativity and development could be born. For this reason, the happiness of the individual is considered part of the happiness of the community, and the dignity of the individual is part of the community's dignity, as are his misery, backwardness, and regression into the lowest depths.
Societies and communities are like seas, governed by the ebb and flow of tides. When communities experience the rising tide of love, they harmonize, stand in solidarity, and unify their visions, hopes, dreams, and achievements; resulting in civilization, advancement, openness, and positive engagement. But when communities experience the receding tide of hatred, they become divided and scattered, their interests clash, and their ideas and visions conflict, giving rise to backwardness, insularity, fundamentalist currents, civil wars, the collapse of what was built, the tearing apart of what was unified, and the fading away of what was created.
The Almighty said in His Holy Book: “And hold firmly to the rope of God all together and do not become divided”; and He said: “And do not be of the polytheists—of those who have divided their religion and become sects, each faction rejoicing in what it has”; and the Almighty also said: “Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects—you are not [associated] with them in anything.”
Is this sacred discourse not sufficient for those of understanding to realize that God created mankind only that they might know Him? And whoever knows Him respects the human within his own self and respects the humanity of others. He is the One Who engraved His laws upon the gems of the mirrors of all souls: some have polished the mirror of their souls with sound belief and virtuous integrity, so the lights of truths shone upon the mirror of their essence; while others obliterated their mirror with polytheism, falsehood, and lusts, so the lights of truths disappeared as though they never existed in the first place. Therefore, no one has an excuse to say, 'I do not know the truth,' for it is imprinted upon the essences of souls and is closer to us than our jugular vein.
The noble Prophet (PBUH) said: “A believer to another believer is like a solid structure, each part strengthening the other.” And he also said: “Adhere to the congregation, for the wolf devours only the stray sheep.” And he (PBUH) also said: “The likeness of the believers in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion is like that of a single body; if one limb suffers, the rest of the body responds to it with sleeplessness and fever.”
Is not all this guidance and instruction sufficient for us to know that the hand of God is above everyone's hand, and that a community united upon truth and goodness is invincible with the help of the Almighty? As for uniting upon evil and aggression, that is the very essence of bigotry, and it is the most abhorred of vices in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of people.
And it was said in a sermon to a congregation of believers: “Beware of dealing with one another with hypocrisy, for hypocrisy is the gateway to division and discord.”
Ma'n ibn Za'ida said, advising his sons:
Stand together, my sons, if misfortune strikes, and do not scatter into solitary individuals
Sticks refuse to break when gathered together, but if separated, they break one by one
And Ma'ruf al-Rusafi said:
Cooperating in righteousness and uniting to elevate the word of truth—that, by my life, is the community's clear, luminous path, its haven of paradise, and the ultimate peak of its dignity and happiness.
Anis al-Maqdisi said:
O my homeland, I desire lofty heights for you, an independent life, and order / But how far is that from a land that insists on rift and division
If God has endowed man with the blessing of meditation and reflection, making them a means to bring happiness to the soul and establish it in the tranquility of certainty; and if, through meditation and contemplation, man realizes that God is closer to him than his aorta, enthroned upon the heart of the believer, illuminating what lies within his chest—then how can man remain stubborn, looking at the truth without seeing it, and plunging himself into darkness upon darkness? Is this not man's torment of himself? For God did not create creation in vain, but most people do not understand.
