The Poison of Sectarianism Deep in the Veins of Religiosity

A little but a bit serious thing! But before I go to mention it let me explain the opinion about actuality of Islam that I have established in the light of a deliberate and careful study, to the extent possible for me, of the Quran and the Sunnah of Muhammad, be peace and blessings of Allah upon him.

Believing in Oneness of Allah, with all His attributes and powers, and an unconditional submission to Him, believing in all His Prophets, particularly Muhammad, SAW as the last and final Messenger, a perfect model of the best human moral character. Believing in the revealed books to be the Divine Guidance for the people to whom the Prophets were sent. And the Quran, the essence of the teachings of all the previous revealed books and the best Code of life for entire humanity till the establishment of the Last Day. With true love and reverence, sincerely following the teachings given by the last Messenger of Allah, be peace and blessings of Allah upon him is also an essentiality of Deen.

Unity and harmony of the Muslims by holding the rope of Allah (The Quran and Sunnah), firmly and fervently, letting not divisions and differences of petty nature occur and ramifications arise in the ranks of the Muslim community, after clear proofs and commandments have come, is a call of Iman (Faith).

Since long sectarianism had got roots and the divisions had started to appear. Now, not on the basis of Jurisprudence only, but dozens of other unfounded bedrocks surfaced to disunite the Muslim Ummah. The issues are, of course, trivial but the evil and badness caused by them is weighty and consequential.

Now coming to unfortunate happening I had to experience recently. Normally, just to utilize my time in an organized way, I recite a particular amount of the Quran, in the Masjid, before the congregational prayer of Fajr starts. I was happy to find a good translation of the Quran in the shelves of the Masjid. For a long time I continued consulting that translation for understanding if I felt some Quranic terms a bit difficult to understand. I did not take it seriously when that translated copy of the Quran was displaced. I took another edition translated by another renowned religious scholar. But, amazingly, after sometime I found it missing also.

Till then I thought the matter relating to those who are responsible to keep the racks and shelves in order. Very interestingly, I was successful to trace a third translation of a scholar of a genuine school of thought. To me importance of strictly belonging to a particular school of thought or ‘Firqah’ sounds a nonsense thing. Tauhid (Oneness of Allah) and adherence to the Sunnah and Seerah of the Messenger, be peace and blessings of Allah upon him, is a substantive issue. But what happened, the third translation used by me was also displaced from the point where I usually sit to recite the Holy Quran. As it is a big Masjid, with many shelves with its walls, I had to take a lot of trouble to find the same copy of the Quran.

To my shock, the happening of ‘hide and seek’ for the copy of the Quran I keep in study is now a matter of every morning. Almost all of the translations of the Quran, kept in the shelves of the Masjid are allowed by the Masjid administration to keep there after a strict scrutiny and making satisfaction they are not against the accepted standards of the unbiased religious scholars. So it is not someone of the Masjid staff but from among those who come to join the congregational prayer, but have the poison of sectarian prejudice. The poison of sectarianism has penetrated deep in the veins of the faithful now. Labeling each other to be ‘Wahabi’ and ‘Sufis’ almost all over the Muslim world and ‘Deobandi’ and ‘Barelvi’ in South Asia is unfortunate phenomenon tearing the Ummah into many pieces. Now a new boastful division with the claims and blames of ‘more and less’ love for the Messenger of Allah, be peace and blessings of Allah upon him, is speedily seen evident. No doubt Iman without true love for the Messenger of Allah, SAW, is spurious and fake but the claim of loving the Messenger, SAW, without following his true model of human character and getting our social customs, views, dogmas, acts and even our expressions of love for him sifted in the sieve of his Sunnah is a bigger counterfeit.

I think the man or the men hiding the translated copies of the Quran are from the very sectarian groups claiming and blaming each other of loving the Messenger of Allah, less or more than each other.