Accomodating differencs

Accommodating the Views of Different Muslim Groups

All Schools of thought and all understanding of Qur'aan and Sunnah are respected and are part of the discussion of this group; The World Muslim Congress. God is the master of the day of judgment.

Whoever claims to be a Muslim is a Muslim and that is all there is to it. Our relationship with God, Prophet, Imams or others is personal, how we pray is really one's own responsibility, as that is the person who is answerable to his deeds and no oneelse is.

Alan Border forwarded the following piece.

Mike Ghouse

“ The Believers are but a single Brotherhood: So make peace and reconciliation between your two (contending) brothers; and fear Allah, that ye may receive Mercy.”(Al-Qur'an, 49:10 (Al-Hujraat [The Private Apartments, The Inner Apartments])Accommodating the Views of Different Muslim Groups http://ourdialogue.com/answers/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=2138

QuestionOn our campus there is a large population of Sunni, Shiite, and Sufi Muslims. As the president of the Muslim Students Organization [MSO], I and the board of executives are responsible for making sure our group is the voice of all Muslim students on the campus, which means that we must represent all groups equally and fairly, giving them a platform to address Muslims and non-Muslims on campus to their particular beliefs, whether we agree with them or not. For example, sometime back a Sufi music concert was held to raise money for the tsunami victims that was sponsored by our group. Some people in the Sunni community are having a problem with this because they are saying that such things are against the Qur'an and the Sunnah. While I agree with some of their arguments, the MSO is a place where all kinds of Muslims may express their views and particular practices (cultural, religious or otherwise) to the University community. In addition, as a student organization funded by our university, we are bound by the university rules which bar discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, or religious belief. Please comment.

AnswerIt has always been the practice of distinguished and leading scholars to accommodate views that differ with their own. They all took the attitude that, to the best of their belief and knowledge, their own view on any particular issue was correct, but they never excluded the possibility that they could be wrong. Nor did they think that any view that differed with their own was inevitably incorrect. They admitted that it could be correct. This is the proper scholarly attitude. All this naturally applies to matters of detail. As for essential beliefs, there is no difference among Muslims.

We will be certainly well advised to follow in their footsteps and accept differences of views as normal. This means that in working within the rules of your university, the Muslim Students Organization will be only following a great principle of Islamic scholarship, where other people are welcome to express their views and argue their point. You should encourage such an attitude as much as possible. God quotes in the Qur'an the arguments put by unbelievers in defense of their attitude. Why should any Muslim suppress the views of a fellow believer?

Besides when the question at issue is one of detail, it does not matter how far we differ. Take the issue of music as an example, which has caused a problem for your organization. I realize that some scholars today strongly believe that it is forbidden in Islam. I do not share this view as I consider that the evidence put in support of it to be poor. I recently read a well-argued piece of research in which the author, who is undoubtedly a well-versed scholar, suggests that music is a Sunnah. Of course the two views are diametrically opposed. In between there may be many different views, ranging from opposition to encouragement. I do not propose to compare these views or discuss them at any length. I merely wish to point out that as music is a question of detail, adopting a mistaken view on it will not affect a person's belief. The maximum that could happen is that the holder of a wrong view will be judged by God to have committed a genuine mistake that He may be pleased to forgive.