Qur’an is naturally opposed to sectarianism in deen and factionalism
in politics. Sects and factions breed strife and dissension in the
Ummah. According to the Qur'an, sectarianism is a form of shirk:
And be not of Mushrikeen, i.e., of those who split up their deen and become
schismatics, each sect rejoicing in whatever they have. ( 30 : 31 - 32 ).
The Nabi is advised to have no truck with those who divide Muslims
into sects:
Lo! as for those who sunder their deen and become schismatics, no
concern at all thou hast with them (6:160).
We are further warned:
And be ye not as those who separated and disputed after clear proofs
had come unto them. For such there is an awful doom (3:105; 11:118).
There is little justification for political parties. Each party's
ostensible claim to defend political freedom is in fact an excuse for
capturing political power and use it for its own benefit. There is no
room for such political parties in an Ummah which is dedicated to
the ideals of establishing the Divine Order of justice and of welding
the different factions of man into a single progressive society which
would permit every individual to live a creative life, developing all
his potentialities and latent powers, This is the life worthy of man.
As the Our'an says:
That is the right way of life (30:30).
Western nationalism has proved to be a fertile source of war and
conflict. Under it and its offshoot, colonialism, millions of men in
Asia and Africa have suffered the humiliation of subjugation and
the misery of exploitation. Nationalism is the main obstacle in the
way of unification of mankind. How is the virus of nationalism to
be checked? Let us see what Murray thinks of nationalism:
The religion of nationalism is diabolical. Whether it possesses
Germans, Russians, Japanese, Americans or Englishmen, it appears as
the supreme exaltation of the Selfhood – the religion of Satan, the
Prince of this world. To it today all large-scale religions arc sub-
servient. Christianity in all its forms – except that professed by the
small minority which repudiates Nationalism – is submerged in the
satanic religion of Nationalism. Therefore, religion on the grand scale
can provide no escape from our misery. As veritable and universal
religion, commanding an allegiance that overrides the claims of
Nationalism, it does not exist. In its tacit and unholy combination with
Nationalism, it sanctifies the chief cause of our misery. If religion is
essential for our salvation^ ....^ it must, first, be a religion which compels
Islam: A Challenge to Religion 241