Surah Al-Anbiya emphasises on unity among ummah despite differences

SHAH ALAM - The Covid-19 pandemic has amplified differences among the ummah (community) especially when it comes to unity and leadership.

This was due to the fact that people were living in an era where there were many different movements or establishments that were intended for Islam and to benefit the humanity at large.

In the Wacana Al-Quran programme entitled "Unity in Diversity", yesterday, discussions centred around deciphering the meaning of the verses in Surah Al-Anbiya as a guidance to create unity among differences of the ummah.

The panelists during the programme were Bayyinah Institute founder Nouman Ali Khan and global syariah advisor Tan Sri Dr Mohd Daud Bakar while Ahmad Tirmizi Ali was the Qari.

Nouman said the surah was a message from Allah SWT about self-identification, which was one of the ways people identify themselves despite the differences between one another.

“The language and the culture of the world are designed by Allah SWT and we identify ourselves through civilisation.

“Genetically, people can be the same but they could be from different parts of the world.

“In this surah, Allah SWT is drawing a line between people from different societies, genetic and different parts of the world who are culturally different from one another but He ties all of them together,” he said during the programme.

Hr said according to certain translations, the word “ummah” could also mean “religion” which meant to have a purpose and direction.

He added that the idea of ummah meant having the same direction in life with all the people throughout history despite the differences in life.

“The way I understand the world is different from the way you understand the world, my experience is different from yours, my political opinions can be different than yours, that is all entirely possible, but that does not mean, just because I study the Quran, my opinions are more correct,” he said.

He said being united did not necessarily mean the differences disappeared, but it meant taking the best out of the differences and not allowing them to create hate and assumptions.

Meanwhile, Mohd Daud said for him, the word ummah means “nation” and “community” despite differences in beliefs and faiths.

“Perhaps it is a habit of humans to disagree and it does not mean bad at all because humans are created to be different,” he said, citing verse 93 of Surah Al-Abiya.

Elaborating more on the matter, he said the word “Al-Khabar” was more powerful than the word “imposition”because it could not be different than what was desirable by Allah SWT.

He said despite the ummah being different in terms of their background, geography, localities and genetics, they were the nation of fiqh (those who follow the Prophet).

The differences and disagreements were there to stay until the day of judgement, he added.

“We cannot be focusing on the disagreements, even our children have different thoughts than us. The younger they are, the more stubborn they are.

“So, this argument is something that is inside human beings and the Quran has not condemned that kind of disagreement but the Quran will condemn something that is undesirable,” he said.

This, he said, was why it was important to work within the disagreement.

“In my world of practice, I have to declare to the stakeholders that in this field of practice, we are mazhab(Islamic sect)-free to suit the localities in different parts of the world as different localities have different environments,” he said.

He said it was important to understand the dimension of the mazhab and suit the locality from one location to another.

“Do not stick to one mazhab or opinion because in Malaysia, we might have different points of view because of the localities and sentiments of the people.

“Although you are different, divided, if among you are those who do something good, there is a reward,” he said citing verse 92 from the Surah.