Let me be very honest – I am tired of hearing Muslims complain about disunity. It pains me greatly to see so many members of my community exude a sense of hopelessness and despondency due to the false belief that the Ummah is divided, and therefore we are all “losers”.
I know that this negativity stems primarily from the need to bear witness to the violence and injustice inflicted on our brothers and sisters by faith in a number of Muslim-majority countries, with perceived impunity, in the context of various geopolitical conflicts.
As Muslims, however, we have a responsibility not to despair. Our faith encourages us to engage in introspection and adhere to the Islamic ideal of “al-amr bil ma’rouf i al-nahy anil munkar (enjoining good and forbidding evil)”. This requires a careful analysis and – if necessary – a critique of the status quo. But never depression.
After the loss of the Caliphate with the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, a significant majority of Muslims focused all their attention and energy on finding ways to “reunite” the Ummah. Without the caliphate, they assumed, the Muslims of the world would struggle to stay on the same page on important issues and suffer the consequences. This led to seemingly endless internal conflicts – primarily between those who sought to maintain old religious practices and understandings and those who wanted to make fundamental reforms of the faith in the name of reuniting the Ummah. Where has all this fighting and screaming gotten us? What did it achieve? A whole century has passed since we had the caliphate, and many of us are still crying because of the disunity of Muslims.
Those who have become obsessed with the loss of the “unity” of the Ummah in the absence of a common political structure have lost sight of the things that continue to hold us together – the things that can actually help our community to collectively achieve justice, peace and prosperity.
True unity cannot be found in the enforcement of political or cultural uniformity under a utopian empire stretching from Morocco to Malaysia. This is already present in our collective adherence to the fundamental principles of Islam, which are universal in themselves. The Qur’anic message, delivered by the Prophet Muhammad, emphasizes this universality. Islam’s origins as an oral, living tradition made it uniquely accessible to a variety of societies, from nomadic tribes to advanced civilizations. This accessibility has created a unity that is incredibly difficult to break.
Today, despite not having a caliphate or a common political structure, the Muslims of the world are much more united than we ever give ourselves credit for. We are united in our principles, our practices, our values. For us Muslims, recognizing this unity and harnessing its power is a theological imperative. Equally important, embracing and nurturing this unity rather than surrendering to false narratives of division is a political act of resistance against the enduring legacy of colonial and imperial tyranny.
This is because our constant internal strife and pessimism about our perceived lack of unity is not entirely the result of our own community. The false story of “disunity” is pushed on us by outsiders, tyrannical forces, who have been working to subjugate us for centuries. They want us to believe that since there is no pan-Islamic political unity, we are not united in anything. They want us to lose ourselves in despair and become truly divided, so that they can maintain their dominance over our people.
Indeed, the story of disunity that prevails in the Muslim community today cannot be separated from the scars of Western colonialism and imperialism. For more than two centuries, the Muslim world was subjected to the political, economic and social subjugation of Western imperial powers. The artificial borders drawn by colonial rulers were designed to break up Muslim-majority regions, sowing division among our people and allowing us to remain under their control. Today, these imposed borders continue to fuel conflicts and disputes.
Nevertheless, the unity of the ummah survives in ways that these “conquerors” could not erase. The continuity of Islamic customs – from prayer to pilgrimage – throughout 1400 years testifies to an unbroken metaphysical connection. This unity, rooted in faith, has outlasted countless empires and regimes. Recognizing this does not mean ignoring the very real political challenges, but reframing the narrative to emphasize resilience.
The key to understanding this lies in embracing the diversity of the global Muslim community. The early Muslim community was multicultural, multilingual and multiracial. Differences in governance and political approaches among the first four caliphs did not undermine unity; instead, they demonstrated the flexibility and inclusiveness of Islamic principles. Similarly, the evolution of multiple Islamic polities across continents—from the Abbasids to the Ottomans—demonstrates that political differences do not equal disunity.
Against the background of this rich history, it is a very harmful mistake to equate unity with uniformity, and to see diversity as weakness and a sign of division. The ability to adapt to different opinions, schools of thought and cultural expressions is a strength that has historically enriched the Ummah. Differences in prayer practices among Islamic schools of thought, for example, are not signs of division, but a reflection of a strong tradition that values diversity within a common framework.
When our people face oppression, violence and injustice or experience defeat by a tyrannical external power – as we have tragically seen many examples in recent years – our response must not be to condemn “disunity” and fall into despair, but to demonstrate resilience and focus on all the things that unite us.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British colonial rule is a moving example of resilience in the face of defeat. After the failed uprising, which resulted in the slaughter of thousands of Indian Muslim scholars, Deoband’s ulema did not give in to despair. Despite the devastating psychological impact of the losses they experienced, they accepted their failure, admitted it and immediately started working on rising from the ashes. They did not panic or cry about the disunity and weakness of the ummah. They did not become discouraged. They decided to move forward protecting Islamic knowledge in British India, knowing all too well that oppressors can defeat individual Muslims, but they can never defeat the sacred knowledge that unites us into something greater than ourselves.
Their proactive response turned a moment of defeat into a foundation for rebuilding, leading to the establishment of educational institutions such as Darul Uloom Deoband, the results of which served and strengthened Muslims across the subcontinent, if not the world. It was a positive reaction to failure, a real lesson in the kind of leadership Muslims should crave today.
Indeed, in this moment marked by conflict, inequality and widespread injustice, instead of fixating on stories of failure, our focus as Muslims should be on the achievements and lasting bonds that bind the Ummah across time and space. The unity of the Muslim world is not an unattainable ideal, but a living reality that demands recognition and celebration.
Of course, recognizing the theological unity of the Ummah should also not lead to complacency. The challenges of the modern world – from political instability to economic inequality and systematic violation of human rights – require innovative solutions. These solutions, however, must be built on the existing foundations of unity, and not undermined by pessimistic narratives.
By reframing the narrative and celebrating what unites us, Muslims can confidently move forward, turning unity into a force for renewal and resistance in a world still struggling with the remnants of colonialism.
This is no time for discouragement. It is time to exercise our faith in Allah’s eternal powers and engage in proactive efforts to reform and improve our Muslim endeavors!
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
