unity

In recent years, Muslim scholars and well-wishers have expressed numerous views on the importance of unity and solidarity. However, they have not succeeded in their admonitions as they should, to the extent that we have witnessed the eruption of practical disputes, partisan divisions, intra-religious schisms, and the emergence of various sects among Muslims. This is despite the fact that the Quran has condemned sectarianism and partisanship in religion in numerous verses, equating them with the perspective of polytheism and considering them a form of divine punishment. The Noble Quran warns Muslims against the harmful experiences of previous religious communities that deviated from the unified divine religion to various sects and obliges Muslims to establish monotheism in all dimensions of life. This is because monotheism in the social realm shines when everyone focuses on a single purpose and goal, channeling diverse tastes and various talents toward achieving convergence. The present article seeks to explore strategies for combating sectarianism by drawing on Quranic verses, addressing both theoretical and practical approaches.

One of the problems of the Islamic Ummah is division and differences, which has caused weakness and backwardness and other problems of the Islamic world. This is despite the fact that Islamic teachings emphasize the unity of Muslims and one of the ways to solve the problems of the Islamic Ummah is convergence and avoiding differences. Hajj as a religious duty has many capacities to realize the convergence and cohesion of the Islamic Ummah. This article seeks to answer the question, what is the role and capacity of Hajj in order to realize the convergence of the Islamic Ummah? The hypothesis of this article is that Hajj, due to its many capacities, including political and social aspects, unificationism, raising awareness and informing about the problems of the Islamic world, can play a decisive role and influence in the issue of the integration of the Islamic Ummah, which the rulers and The elites of the Islamic world should use these capacities. In this article, the descriptive and analytical method was used to explain the discussion, and the topics presented were centered on the thoughts of Imam Khomeini and the Supreme Leader.

Unity is the perception of oneness and the vision of the world as a singular existence. In philosophical traditions, it is achieved through rational contemplation, while in mystical traditions, it is attained through experiential insight. Rumi (d. 1273 CE) and Teresa of Ávila (d. 1582 CE), mystics from Islam and Christianity, respectively, have expressed views on unity in their works. Extracting and comparing these views can be beneficial for a more precise understanding of unity and the process of experiencing it. This article aims to explain the relatively similar perspectives of these two mystics on unity, which can serve as a useful step in clarifying both existential and experiential unity. The study uses descriptive, analytical, and comparative methods to examine their views. The article suggests that the dominant perspective in the works of both Rumi and Teresa is more inclined towards experiential unity, and both mystics consider the experience of unity beyond verbal expression. However, Rumi conveys his experience of unity through the words of others, while Teresa describes it in her own voice. For understanding and experiencing this unity, self-negation and prayer accompanied by meditation play significant roles, although Teresa places more emphasis on these factors than Rumi. Teresa is also more detailed and precise than Rumi in expressing her experiences of unity. While Rumi emphasizes external states, Teresa focuses on internal states in realizing this experience.

In this research, based on the views of Plotinus and Ibn Sina about The correlation of love and knowledge in human, their views are examined and analysis these differences and similarities. In The correlation of love and knowledge in human discussed the effect of love for the desire for knowledge for the attainment of goodness and beauty, the attainment of moral properties, and the union with the general forms and God is considered. The most important issue of the research was to test the hypothesis whether Ibn Sina in the foundations and the correlation of love and knowledge in human was influenced by Plotinus's philosophical foundations while discussing the love of knowledge? Relying on a descriptive analytical method, this article finally concludes that in the epistemological view received from Plotinus's views on love, love is the opposite of the path of knowledge, the path to achievement and union with one. Love is able to achieve something that has no limits and no form. But this view is ontological for Ibn Sina because the perfection of the human`s souls is the same as the essence of absolute goodness and the issuance of moderate actions such as human virtues and stimulating the heavenly souls towards the heavenly substances which are due to the likeness of absolute good and the end of this similarity. It is an approximation of absolute goodness through virtue of perfection and virtue. In addition to being influenced by religious views, Ibn Sina was also influenced by Plotinus and directed the flow of Islamic thought towards illumination and mysticism.

The Gospel of Thomas, a recent discovery within the Nag Hammadi Library, has captured the attention of scholars in recent decades. While some Church leaders consider it heretical, most researchers regard it as an authentic text from early Christianity, containing genuine words attributed to Jesus the Nazarene and his esoteric teachings. This unofficial gospel, despite its similarities to official Christian texts, reveals fundamental theological differences. In this study, we utilize passages from the Gospel of Thomas to highlight one such distinction concerning the concept of the "Kingdom." To clarify the notion of the "Kingdom," this gospel employs various analogies, including mustard, fire, dough, and shepherd. Unlike the official gospels, it asserts that the Kingdom is not an apocalyptic entity but rather a non-historical concept—something present in the here and now, something internal. The Gospel of Thomas posits that the Kingdom belongs to the Father and is accessible to the poor who earnestly pursue the goal of self-awareness. These are wayfarers who, akin to children, trample selfishness beneath their feet, uniting the inner and outer realms to overcome internal conflicts and achieve unity.

Establishing unity and peace between religions requires theoretical foundations, and religious pluralism is considered the best foundation, although it faces fundamental problems. The most important form of the pluralism of truth is relativity in truth. By changing one's epistemological basis and moving from the position of the theory of adaptation and relativity to the theory of pragmatism, religious pluralism can be provided with a theoretical basis that will have fewer problems and benefit from its practical and social benefits. The deep foundations of the theories are unprovable and we are faced with only one choice and in this discussion pragmatism is our choice. According to this theory, the criterion of the truth of perceptions and affirmations is their practical utility. In general, questions have been raised about religious differences and three theories of exclusivism, inclusionism and pluralism have been presented in response to them, which have a common epistemological basis. This is the commonality of the correspondence theory of the three theories of conformity, coherence and utilitarianism, based on which (conformity) is a true perception or confirmation that is in accordance with the reality and the non-conformity of the mental form with the external reality causes ignorance and error. Proponents and opponents of pluralism all agree with this theory. In this research, we disambiguate the concept of benefit in pragmatism and interpret benefit and loss as pleasure and pain in order to solve the problems caused by these meanings.

Unity and empathy among Muslims and their peaceful life together has been and is the concern of all sympathetic Muslim experts, but the debates raised about unity by influential thinkers and even jurists and religious scholars in many cases, in a space Non-jurisprudence and has been formed with a purely social-corrective literature. Looking at this issue and its necessity from a jurisprudential point of view - as opposed to a non-jurisprudential social view for which there is no horizon beyond recommending and praising unity and explaining its necessity - has the capacity to raise the issue of unity and peaceful coexistence at a higher level than recommending and praise in Islamic societies. Especially, the fact that the issue of unification - which is continuously strengthened by the divisions between Islamic sects - has a jurisprudential identity in addition to its religious nature, requires that the issue of unity and peaceful coexistence be raised in a more powerful and effective atmosphere so that it can be ignored. has the views of unification, and according to the analysis and analysis of the issue of unity from the point of view of jurisprudence and exploration to find its jurisprudential ruling (obligation, sanctity, etc.) based on the rule of Muslim respect, he has this position and power.

Oneness, individuality, simplicity, and attributes of perfection, such as absolute knowledge and power, are among the most important attributes of the Abrahamic religions’ God. After proving God's existence, theologians have always presented arguments to prove his attributes. In the western theological space, one type of theological proofs is called cosmological proofs. In different versions of this argument, it is shown that the universe (the set of world possible beings) needs a necessary entity whose existence (its voluntary action) justifies the universe in order to be explained. The different versions generally have in common that their result is no more than the proof of a necessary being. This stage can be called the first stage of cosmological proofs. Pruss inquires in a review article: "Does this necessary being of this argument have the attributes of the God of monotheistic religions?" (Second stage) based on Goldman’ phrase, "Is that being unique and has the attributes of perfection?" (Third stage) and does it have the attribute of individuality and voluntary action? Rasmussen and Goldman have tried to fill this epistemological gap through an argumentative path and answer these problems. Jerome Goldman, using the interpretation, predicated on Gill-Pruss’s Principle of Weak Sufficient Reason, assuming the uniqueness of the necessary being, has concluded that this being has absolute power (and in a sense, knowledge). Rasmussen has tried to prove absolute power by introducing the principle of moderate causality and using a law rooted in Scotus' words: "Any finite being could be less or more than it is." A theme similar to that which is narrated by Imam Reza. He has made an inconclusive attempt to prove other divine attributes as well. It seems that Western theological literature still has a long way to go to fill this gap in the cosmological argument.

In the contemporary history of the Islamic world, the issue of the proximity of denominations has become one of the cornerstones of dialogue between Islamic scholars and intellectuals, and is particularly prominent among the Imamis as they strive to achieve unity among Muslims. However, at times, some factors impede unity among Muslims, sometimes by external factors and by enemies of Islam and sometimes by internal factors among Muslims. Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Al-e Kashif al-Ghatta is one of the jurists who has taken serious interest in the social and political aspects of the religion of Islam, especially the issue of unity among Muslims. The events that took place during this period of life, including World War I and the occupation of Islamic lands by Europeans after the collapse of the Ottoman rule, are important reasons for their entry into the discussion of Muslim unity and its importance to Muslims. In the last century, religious scholars have put forward a phenomenon known as the proximity of Islamic denominations with the necessity of unity and solidarity between denominations, which is a conscious and futuristic approach to the division of Muslims and the enemies of Islam. Lastly, factors such as religious fanaticism, insulting the sanctities of other denominations, and colonial powers are factors that Al-e Kashif al-Qatta has prevented from achieving unity and preservation among Islamic denominations traditions.

Undoubtedly, the missions of the Prophets (the best peace upon them) were the guidance of human beings to goodness and happiness; and the divine Prophets from Adam to Muhammad were among the true claimants of this mystical path. As the religion of the apocalypse and in explaining the way of felicity, Islam never fails to offer the required guidance and solution from birth to end of material life and after that. Among the commands of Islam is the call for unity and solidarity and avoiding divisions and disagreement. Done in a library method, this analytical-descriptive article is an introduction to unity of Muslim Ummah and its benefits. Then, to explain unity and its importance in Islam, it discusses unity in the view of Abū al-ʾAʾimma (AS) and Imam Sajjad (AS). Then, it searches for unity in terms of Ghadīr. It then looks at the divine and spiritual journey of Hajj and examines it as a symbol of Muslims’ unity. Since objects are better understood by their antithesis[1], the article recognizes unity through fragmentation. Also, since any call for division is from the side of Satan, it deals with his attributes and the prohibitions of the Holy Qur’an about him to explain his action and help Muslim Ummah to avoid him and his evil intentions and to be close to God by unity. The invitation to unity is a divine one, Hajj is the pole of unity, and Ghadīr is the instrument.

Unity is one of the most important principles and values emphasized by the Quran and the Infallible Imams. Islamic unity in the contemporary era is considered as an inevitable necessity in determining the fate of Muslims in the political, cultural and social arenas, which provides the flourishing and development of the Islamic Ummah; therefore, it deserves to be considered by the Religions and governmental elites and intellectual thinkers of the Islamic world. The jurists and scholars of the Islamic Denominations of the country also emphasized that the division between the Islamic Denominations causes the enemies of Islam to be benefitted by this division, saying that maintaining unity is more necessary in the current situation and Islamic unity in the Islamic Republic of Iran should be a model for Islamic unity in the region in order to keep the Islamic World safe from the conspiracies of the axes of evil. Due to the importance of the subject, the present article uses the exploratory-analytical method to identify and explain the obstacles to Islamic unity with an emphasis on the views of scholars of Islamic Denominations. It is worth mentioning that in order to identify the components of the research, 35 scholars of Islamic Denominations were interviewed and their views on the obstacles to Islamic unity were obtained. After extracting the key points in their views, the components were aggregated and modified and 12 components were used as the basis. These components were again presented to the research experts and then analyzed by a two-item test in SPSS software. Then, all of the components were discussed and explained.

The classical scholars of Pentateuch , and at the head of them Julius Wellhausen believed that a critical examination of Pentateuch documents indicated a religious development during which Yahweh monotheism eventually led to moral monotheism. According to Kaufman, the morphological analysis of the world's religions does not confirm the theory of religious progress, and shows two different religious forms (monotheism and polytheism). Monotheism, which began with the activities of Moses, also includes other religions (Christianity and Islam), the rest of the religions fall into the category of polytheism. According to his analysis, the Hebraic religion is essentially different from the religion of the ancient world, so it cannot be a logical development; especially because historical evidence does not support such a development. He believed that despite their elements of Polytheism, the religious world of the Hebrews was the result of their own ideas, and external elements did not play a fundamental and creative role in its religious culture. However, contrary to his claim, his theory is not consistent with historical evidence and the Bible, and  has at least three main weaknesses: First, he mistakenly equates old Israel with historical Israel, second, he emphasizes differences in distinguishing the Hebraic worldview from that of their neighbors and ignores interactions, while comparative studies show the interaction of Hebrew intellectual and religious patterns with neighbors; Third, the theory of the absolute distinction of Israeli monotheism from ancient polytheism seems to reflect his theological concern.

Unity is one of the most important human needs today and the emphatic commands of the Holy Qur’an and the Infallible Imams. Islam rejects any intellectual, political, religious, class, and racial boundaries; and on this basis, Islamic scholars have always strived for the unity of the Islamic Ummah and have been the heralds of unity. In their practical tradition, they have always focused on the Holy Qur’an and the tradition of the Infallibles to teach religious teachings and preserve them, and to fight against distortion, heresy, and intellectual and practical deviations among the Islamic Ummah. Hajj is one of the political deeds of Islam performed every year by millions of Muslims in a single time and place, and a large number of people who come to the land of revelation from all over the world have different customs, nationalities, races, and colors. Despite all these apparent differences, there are many similarities between them, including the fact that they all move around the single House (Ka’ba) with a single purpose, deed, ritual, and even a single color of the garment, all of which symbolize unity and uniformity, empathy, interaction of thoughts, and reaching mutual understanding, interacting thoughts and understanding, approaching different cultures to each other, attention to phenomena such as participation, morality, peace, security, the ways of talking and communications, and finally removing misunderstandings and making hearts friendly to each other which are the functions of the Hajj.

Among mythologists, Ibn Arabi, in his ontology, expresses some sort of Trinity in the creation of God, from which it is possible to explain the phenomenon of the proliferation of unity. Ibn Arabi, in addition to teaching subjects such as the truth of Muhammadyya and love, uses logical propositions such as Soghra and Kobra and the middle one to explain creation. Therefore, besides the subject, he can pay attention to one and make half of the creation dependent on his willingness. Knows To illustrate this, it refers to various examples, such as science and the universe. But in the Christian Trinity of Jesus, the agent of human salvation and the spirit of Alcudus is the agent of salvation with nature (Father). However, the belief in the divinity of all three entities in Christianity cannot be combined with Abrahamic monotheism, as it is explicitly rejected in the holy text of the Qur'an and belief in the divinity of Jesus (PBUH) is considered to be disbelief.

There is no doubt that solidarity among human beings constitute the main core of a civilization. Without solidarity, a civilization is doomed to collapse. But the question is: which factors might lead people, with all their differences, towards solidarity and unity? Scholars of civilization have considered different factors such as race, language, religion, manners, customs, and the like. Allama Ja’fari sees these factors as objectionable, and has tried to identify factors that lead to a real and sustainable unity among people. In this paper, we have considered two classes of motivational factors—intrinsic and extrinsic—in order to analyze Allama Ja’fari’s views. Within extrinsic factors, we have examined rational, moral, survival-based, and divine factors. As a conclusion, we think that extrinsic factors cannot lead people to sustainable unity because of their impermanence and utilitarian character. They can merely provide preparations for such unity. Intrinsic factors, however, can establish a sustainable unity because of their permanence and their origin in inner human substance. All in all, these factors give rise to the formation of a single entity for human communities and the desired unity in civilization.

Proximity and convergence are among the main and major needs in modern Islamic world. one of the ambassadors of Musilm unity and proximity of the Islamic world is Imam Khomeini (ra.). The issues of proximity are observed  in Imam Khomeini (ra.) scientific and jurisprodential works as well as his practical Sirah. In this paper, the importance of proximity and convergence in Imam khomeini’s (ra.) jurisprodential thoughts are explicated through a descriptive analysis of his  views on the nature of reconciliatory Taqiyah (precautionary dissimulation), Taklifi (assigned) law and the scope of reconciliatory Taqiyah, performing (Ijza) the  Taqiyah-related practice either reconciliatory or for safety reason, not being contingent upon the absence of any alternative to Taqiyah and compare them with those of other Islamic jurists.

Based on Quranic verses and Islamic traditions, as well as human experience throughout history, unity and convergence are two significant and effective factors to organize and to have the community achieve its purpose and objective. Along with them, progress, prosperity, dignity, authority and creativity will finally lead to sovereignty on the earth. On the contrary, lack of these two elements in the society will cause superiority complex, ethnic and sectarian prejudice, dispersion and blessing deprivation for them, and ultimately it will lead to humiliation and colonialism. Therefore, unity and solidarity in directing society towards progress and excellence have an important and crucial place. The greater the unity among the people, the faster the movement of people towards the ideal society. The alliance is justifiable in various areas and domains, because it can sometimes be built upon beliefs and occasionally it can be based on nationality and race and finally sometimes this role can be played by homeland and geography which directs people towards unity and sympathy. Therefore, the alliance has various foundations which can be justified by ideological, social, racial and geographic approach. One of those foundations is the belief in Mahdaviyat and its basic and common components, such as reappearance of Imam Mahdi, waiting for him and their certainty, the names and characteristics of Imam Mahdi, his relatives, global governance, spread of justice as well as other factors which have been accepted by all Islamic groups and it is an important issue to form an alliance between Muslims and Islamic communities. Therefore, the current study has dealt with the role of these factors for the convergence of believers in this genuine Islamic belief, through expressing and focusing on some unifying elements and it is going to answer this fundamental question "what is the role of Mahdaviyat in the convergence of Islamic world?"

The diversity of ideas among individuals is considered as an admirable act if it causes scientific and practical developments but it is inadmissible when it creates hostility and malice. During the Islamic history, because of various historical events we have witnessed the latter. Removing the differences that causes enmity and following unifying principles like the principle of monotheism, the principle of following the holy prophet of Islam and the principle of observing moral and ethical codes are primary obligations and orders of Islam. One of the novel aspects of the present study is presenting practical solutions in order to achieve this aim, including avoidance of controversial Mustahab (recommended) actions, official prohibition of insulting Shi‘a and Sunni and the companions of the holy prophet by religious authorities, and etc. It has also been proved in this research that the occurrence of disagreement between Shi‘a and Sunni is related to historical factors and as much as we go back in the history towards the time of early Islam and the Prophet’s lifetime (pbuh) the degree and amount of differences and disagreements will be less, and as much as we become further from the period of early Islam, the degree and amount of differences and disagreements will be more.