Argumentative Humans

All these village wars: Ramadan, Tarawih, Eid, Raf’ al-Yadain, Amin bil-jahr, etc are valid ijtihadi disputes within ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah – each side has its own evidences and reasoning…

They are easily settled… by agreeing to disagree, but as the Qur’an says:

وَكَانَ ٱلْإِنسَنُ أَكْثَرَ شَىْءٍۢ جَدَلًۭا
‘𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀.’ [18:54].

But people by nature need a ’cause’ to belong to… like with football, MMA, boxing, etc. They need a camp to support. In the past, people used to cheer gladiators in colosseums. We like to cheer a cause.

For the same reason, religious groups managed to split up in various sects, and Allah says:

كُلُّ حِزْبٍ بمَا لَديْهِمْ فَرِحُونَ
‘𝗘𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀.’ [30:32].

The truth is:

The Ummah will NEVER unite on one opinion.

We need to UNITE despite our disagreements.

Unity does NOT require uniformity.

Disagreements are natural and they’re not a problem, as long as it does not cause division and do not lead to hooliganism and cult mentality. It should remain within the realms of Adab.

The Sahaba and Tabi’ieen disagreed on thousands of issues, but that did not break their ranks.

God loves diversity: there are different types of trees, mountains, colours, people, languages, sounds, etc.

I say this after 20+ years of reading and listening to both sides. If you don’t come out of your echo-chambers, you will not appreciate this. Only if you come out and you listen to the other side with an open mind, only then will you understand: they also have a point!

Thank God there are no disagreements on the main fundamentals of religion – the disagreements are only on the branches, which are ijtihadi and minor.

Even those who are wrong will get rewarded inshaAllah, if they do their best to find the truth.

It’s not a big deal people … relax … agree to disagree.

يا ليت قومي يعلمون!!