ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Hajj, Manifestation of Unity Muslim Unity and the Hajj ============================ The concept of unity is central to Islam, tawhid being the most important principle and doctrine of religion. Tawhid literally means “unification” and “the act of uniting” - of bringing disparate “realities” together under a single total vision and Reality.

On the doctrinal level tawhid means nothing less than understanding and seeing reality for what it is, on all its levels. It means to understand the unity - or unicity - of the Godhead in the first place and then to realize the unity of His creation in the second; all created things being nothing but the signs, words, and acts of the one God. Now, man being the greatest creation of God, is no exception to this rule.

Hence, unity on the human plane implies that first and foremost, men are united in their created Divine nature - God having inspired them with something of His Spirit. From there on down, any type of unity in the human sphere acquires worth in accordance with its awareness of the Divine and its efforts at trying to aim for and reach It. The concept of the Ummah is precisely this type of unity. It is the concept of a congregation of humans self-consciously traversing the path to God.

For if any kind of details detract the Muslims from the application of this Divine precept, and then they truly must be from the Devil. If on the other hand, the details are aspects of the overall unity and fall in line with its ultimate purpose, they are acceptable. This is because unity can be envisaged on different levels and different people, depending on their aptitudes and archetypes, will incline to one or more of these levels.

On the most outer, basic, and pragmatic level, there is the need to unite out of sheer necessity. This is the political unity of those who label themselves Muslims in an attempt to defer the attacks of those who oppose them.