The ‘Ummah’; a community of unity,
our oneness in spirituality;
an entity of faith and loyalty
in serving God and humanity.
But is this just a fantasy of harmony?
Will we wake from this reverie
to see
a fragmented
Ummah
in disunity;
the sects, cultures, nationalities:
different practices in seeking
the same God and sacred purity
from the same Quran devotedly;
so what of the non-Sunnis: Shi’a, Ahmedi,
the mystic Sufis; what of the minorities
reciting la ilaha illallah
with undeniable fluency?
What of the women breaking boundaries
beating patriarchy, misogyny,
aspiring to be like Khadija, Ayesha;
their strength and autonomy?
What of our brothers and sisters
trapped in a man-made hierarchy
of race and class; left unforgivably
oppressed for their God-given reality?
When will we stop this wholly unholy
tyranny with no divine authority,
politically, physically, emotionally
harming each other in this Ummah divided.
Where is the solidarity?
By Hanain B
Hanain is doing a PhD in Applied Linguistics at Newcastle University, focusing on interactional identity construction in Muslim women. When she is not nerding out on her research, she likes writing poetry and dabbling in photography as a hobby. She also runs a small-scale project with a couple of friends called Project Happiness, distributing food & care packs to the homeless. You can follow her on Twitter @hanainbrohi
Intrafaith intolerance, discrimination and hatred is rife in the Muslim community 🙁 Even taken to a political level sadly impeding on people’s civil rights. Why can’t religious diversity be accepted? Cultural diversity is something to be proud of I think – it shows the universal message of Islam, whilst allowing us to be who we are in terms of cultural and ethnic heritage 🙂
These are really important questions!
🙂 often silenced, ignored and small in number. All the more for blogs like SSWH!
*more need