Universal Justice Network wishes all Muslims in Malaysia a happy and spiritually meaningful Eid al Fitr. Millions of Muslims have answered Allah’s command and completed the fast during the whole of Ramadhan and performed prayers and supplications to bring us closer to Him.
Ramadhan is a month of reflection, examining our condition to see whether we are following our Creator’s commandments – doing good and avoiding evil. Fasting symbolises the unity of the Ummah and our submission to Allah. We begin and break the fast at the same times and pray together so that our hearts will be united in the path of Allah. But, unfortunately, certain forces have used this holy month to create division and disunity among Muslims in violation of the Qur’anic injunction: . And hold fast, all together, by the rope which Allah (stretches out for you) and be not divided among your selves… [Surah Al Imran 3:103].
During this blessed month, there has been a vicious campaign to demonise and defame the Shias and breed hatred and antagonism towards them among Sunni Muslims. Both print and electronic media have gone into overdrive in presenting Shia Muslims as a great danger to the faith of the Sunni Muslims. A TV station which professes to promote unity among Muslims had talk shows with ‘Islamic scholars’ who defamed and abused the Shias.
These ‘scholars’ have ignored the consensus among Ulamas embodied in the Amman Message that an adherent to one of the four Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali), and the two Shi’i schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Ja’fari and Zaydi), is a Muslim and that declaring that person an apostate is impossible and impermissible.
The Amman Message has been adopted by the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the International Islamic Fiqh Academy which calls for casting aside disagreements between Muslims, mutual respect for each other, strengthening the ties of brotherhood, and not to permit discord and outside interference. It recommends that relevant authorities in Islamic countries take steps to prevent the printing, distribution and circulation of publications that deepen division in the Ummah.
We need to be aware that sectarian conflicts are being promoted by the Western powers who want to impose their hegemony on Muslim societies and control the resources in Muslim states. Divide and Rule has been their policy since the end of the First World War. They deceived the Arab rulers into supporting their war against the Uthmania Caliphate by promising independence for the Arab lands, but, after defeating the Turks, Britain and France divided the territory between them and created Israel and Saudi Arabia.
We see a replay of the same policy in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan. Imperialist forces are working to partition these states along sectarian or tribal lines; instigating ‘moderate’ Arab states to join with the United States and Israel to destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine and bring about regime change in Iran. Regrettably some ulamas have allowed themselves to be used as tools by imperialists and despots for creating disunity among Muslims.
We call on the Islamic Ummah to unite to resist the evil designs of our enemies and their ‘Muslim’ collaborators.
S.M. Mohamed Idris Massoud Shadjareh
UJN Co-Ordinator UJN Co-Ordinator
For more information please contact either of the UJN Secretariats as below:
Citizens International
Tel/Fax : (6) 04 828 4648
Email : ci@citz.org
Malaysia
Islamic Human Rights Commission
Email: media@ihrc.org
Tel : (+44) 20 8904 4222
