Lies

Lie: We are told that unity means erasing conviction; that to “be one Ummah” is to file down every edge of creed and practice until nothing clear enough to guide or protect remains.

Lie: We are told that unity is a photo, not a path; a stage of images smiling together, not a covenant of hearts bound by tawhid, Sunnah, and justice.

Lie: We are told that unity means never saying “this is true” and “this is false”, that the only real sin is to draw a line where revelation has already drawn one.

Lie: We are told that unity is measured by how little Qur’an is quoted, how rarely the Sunnah is cited, and how quickly we apologize for what our Lord has made clear.

Lie: We are told that unity requires us to mute the voices of the imams of Sunnah and tazkiyah, to treat our scholars consensus as “historical opinions”, not as trusted guides on what heals diseased hearts.

Lie: We are told that unity means submitting scholars to the moods of the crowd, to the anxieties of donors, to the optics of the moment — that the student of knowledge must become a diplomat first and a witness to truth second.

Lie: We are told that unity is preserved by silence in the face of clear wrong; that speaking with adab and evidence against what breaks the bounds of creed or character is “division”.

Lie: We are told that unity is horizontal only — numbers, networks, and narratives — and that the vertical rope, “hold fast to the rope of Allah all together”, is a private matter.

Lie: We are told to choose a unity without weight, a brotherhood without obligation, an Ummah without amanah.

We reject this. True unity is hearts gathered upon revelation, not egos gathered around a hashtag; it is the mercy of shared truth, not the fragility of shared denial.

Truth

Unity in the speech of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ is a unity tied to truth, not a unity of empty crowds and cancelled distinctions.

What unity is in the Qur’an:

Allah said: وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا

“Hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided.” آل عمران: ١٠٣

The command is not simply “be together”; it is “اعْتَصِمُوا” — clinging with effort and intent — and it is to the rope of Allah, not to lineage, ethnicity, party, desire, trend, political climate, or taste.

The word “جَمِيعًا” indicates a togetherness, but that togetherness is conditioned by the object of clinging: whoever holds to this rope is inside; whoever lets go of it has divided, even if sitting physically among the crowd.

The scholars explained “حَبْلِ اللَّهِ” as الإسلام والقرآن والجماعة — Islam as a full way of life, the Qur’an, and the united body upon that revelation.

Allah also says: إِنَّ هَٰذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُون

“Indeed, this Ummah of yours is one Ummah, and I am your Lord, so worship Me.” الأنبياء: ٩٢

The unity here is explicitly tied to worship: one Ummah because of one Lord and one ‘ibadah, not merely one geography or politics.

What unity is in the Sunnah

The Prophet ﷺ said: ‎«الْجَمَاعَةُ رَحْمَةٌ وَالْفُرْقَةُ عَذَابٌ»

“The united community is mercy, and division is torment.” al-Sunnah li‑Ibn Abi ‘Asim 93

The word “الجماعة” here is not any assembled group; the early Muslims consistently used it for the body that adheres to the truth and to the legitimate leadership upon that truth.

Mercy is attached to that جماعة because it is gathered upon obedience; torment is attached to فرقة because it follows desire, innovation, and injustice.

And he ﷺ described the believers’ unity as organic, not merely formal:

‎«مَثَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ، مَثَلُ الْجَسَدِ؛ إِذَا اشْتَكَى مِنْهُ عُضْوٌ، تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى»

“The example of the believers in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion is like a single body; if one limb complains, the rest of the body responds with sleeplessness and fever.”

Unity, then, is not just agreement on paper; it is a shared pain at harm and sin, and shared joy at guidance and obedience.

He ﷺ also said about the Qur’an:

‎«إِنَّ هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ حَبْلُ اللَّهِ، طَرَفُهُ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ وَطَرَفُهُ بِأَيْدِيكُمْ، فَتَمَسَّكُوا بِهِ؛ فَإِنَّكُمْ لَنْ تَضِلُّوا وَلَنْ تَهْلِكُوا بَعْدَهُ أَبَدًا»

“Indeed this Qur’an is the rope of Allah; one end is in the Hand of Allah and the other end is in your hands. Hold fast to it, for you will never go astray or be ruined after it, ever.”

Here “الجماعة” is silently defined: whoever clings to this rope is under the promise of guidance and safety; whoever abandons it has already fallen into تفرّق, even if he shouts “unity.

What unity is in the words of our ancestors

Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd said:

‎«الْجَمَاعَةُ مَا وَافَقَ الْحَقَّ وَإِنْ كُنْتَ وَحْدَكَ»

“The united community is that which adheres to the truth, even if you are alone.” إعلام الموقّعين ٣/٣٠٨

And Nu‘aym ibn Hammād said:

‎«إِذَا فَسَدَتِ الْجَمَاعَةُ فَعَلَيْكَ بِمَا كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِ الْجَمَاعَةُ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَفْسُدَ، وَإِنْ كُنْتَ وَحْدَكَ؛ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْجَمَاعَةُ حِينَئِذٍ»

“If the community becomes corrupted, then hold fast to what the community was upon before it became corrupt; even if you are alone, then you are the community at that time.”

Our scholars cite these to cut through the fog: الجماعة is a description of alignment with الحق, not a headcount.

The one clinging to the original rope — Qur’an, Sunnah, and the way of the first generation — is closer to الجماعة, even if isolated, than a million who gather upon desire and innovation.

This is exactly the logic of “واعتصموا”: first the rope, then the togetherness. Remove the rope, and the “unity” becomes a rope of sand.

What unity absolutely is

Summarizing the Qur’an, Sunnah, and the three generations' belief system about Unity

Unity is الاعتصام بحبل الله؛ clinging to revelation — Qur’an and Sunnah — in belief, worship, and character, individually and collectively.

Unity is الاتفاق على التوحيد والاتباع؛ gathering upon tawhid, the finality of prophethood, the authority of the Sunnah, and the path of the early generations.

Unity is نصرة الحق وإن قلّ أهله؛ supporting truth and its people, even when they are few, marginalized, or mocked. “الْجَمَاعَةُ مَا وَافَقَ الْحَقَّ…” says Ibn Mas‘ūd.

Unity is توادّ المؤمنين وتراحمهم وتعاطفهم؛ that living body described by the Prophet ﷺ—shared pain at sin and suffering, shared joy at guidance and repentance.

What unity absolutely is not

By the same evidence, unity is not:

Unity is not الاجتماع على الباطل؛ gathering upon falsehood, injustice, or innovation, even if all agree and the banners say “Ummah” and “brotherhood.” Division from such gatherings is obedience, not sin.

Unity is not إسكات النصوص باسم المصلحة؛ silencing Qur’an and Sunnah whenever they cut across the desires of a faction, donor, or board, then calling this censorship “wisdom” and “avoiding fitnah.”

Unity is not محو الفوارق بين السنة والبدعة؛ erasing the lines between Sunnah and bid‘ah, halal and haram, clear truth and clear falsehood, and calling the erasure “inclusivity.”

Unity is not تقديس العدد على حساب الحق؛ worshipping numbers: followers, votes, attendees, at the expense of alignment with revelation. Our scholars said: if the جماعة corrupts, the truth of the former جماعة is your lifeline, even alone.

فليس كلُّ مجتمعٍ جماعةً، ولا كلُّ اختلافٍ فرقةً؛ إنما الجماعةُ ما وافق أمرَ الله ورسولِه، وإن خالفَه مَن في الأرض جميعًا، وإنّ الفرقةَ في تركِ الكتاب والسنة، وإن اجتمعتِ القلوبُ على غيرِهما