The Muslims today have two options to attain the desired unity...

The Muslims today have two options to attain the desired unity: The first approach: The ahl al-sunna wa'l -Jama'a accept the madhab (school of thought) of the household of the Prophet which is the madhab that the Ithna'ashari Imami Shi'as follow. This madhab would then be classified as a fifth madhab to them (the Sunnis), and they could then treat its jurisprudential texts in the same way that they do with the other four Islamic schools.

They should not disparage it nor deride those who embrace it. They should give the educated students the freedom to choose the madhab which they are satisfied with. And, by the same token, it is incumbent upon every Muslim - Sunni and Shi'a - that they recognize the other Islamic madhab s, such as the Ibadiyya and the Zaydiyya.

This approach is a remedy for many of the conflicts and differences that affect our umma, but it still does not present a complete cure for the historical discord we have endured for centuries. The second approach: The Muslims should unite under a common creed as dictated by Allah and His Prophet (S.A.W.). They should do so in one way and on the right path, which is to follow the Imams of the ahl al-bayt, [they are] those from whom Allah has removed all filth and has purified them completely.

Indeed, all Muslims - Shi'as and Sunnis - agree upon their acts and their superiority in their piety, virtue, asceticism, character, knowledge and good deeds. Since the Muslims differ regarding the companions, they should leave what they differ on in favor of what they agree upon in compliance with the hadith of the Prophet (S.A.W.): "Keep away from what casts doubt in you in favor of what does not make you doubtful".

By doing this, the Muslim umma would come together and unite based on a fundamental rule that forms the pivot around which everything revolves, [a principle] established by the Prophet (S.A.W.) when he said: "I leave amongst you two weighty things, if you stick to them, you will never go astray: the book of Allah and my ahl al-bayt " [cited in] Sahih Muslim.

Since this hadith is accepted by both sects, in fact by all Muslims regardless of their different madhab, why is it that a faction amongst them does not act in accordance to it? If all the Muslims were to follow this hadith , such strong Islamic unity would be fostered between them that no breeze could shake it, no storm destroy it, no propagation could refute it, and no enemy of Islam could thwart it.