Unity of the Muslim World

Abstract

Islam wants to bring all humanity under the fundamental principles of Islam i.e. fraternity, equality and justice. It is possible when Muslims as followers of monotheism emerge as millat free from all ethnic, linguistic, territorial and sectarian differences. This millat is united by the fear of Allah and love for His messenger Muhammad (Peace be upon him). But today the Muslim world is divided into various territories, races and linguistic groups. Emphasizing need for Muslim unity Iqbal pointed out in his Presidential address in 1932, that peoples of Asia are bound to rise against the acquisitive economy the West has developed and imposed on the nations of the East. In view of the present state of the Muslim World, Iqbal suggests that for the present every Muslim nation must sink into her own deeper self. He endorses his view in his Presidential Address of 1930 that even the staunchest internationalist recognizes that without the fullest national autonomy it is extraordinarily difficult to create the international state.  Iqbal says that Muslim world should learn to rise above all ethnic, sectarian and linguistic schisms till he reaches the level nothing short of humanity. This will be a model for the West to follow, and the Muslims will once again be the torch-bearers of those eternal and universal values which the world and humanity need today to live a life of mutual love, equality, justice.