Hawzah News Agency- In spite of our various cognitive and emotive faculties, we are duty-bound to strive for unity and to prevent disunity. That God has created us as a multiplicity but has ordered us to strive for unity and to shun disunity indicates that unity is attainable and disunity avoidable.
 

But what must we do to be in harmony with one another and to form a unit? As Muslims, there are many
methods available to us for attaining to this end. Islam warns us of the dangers of disunity and informs us of the advantages of unity, the factors conducive thereto, and the obstacles that hinder the
achievement of unity.
 

Islam teaches us that unity is not something that could be produced by such conventional means as economic and military treaties, which may one day be ratified and one day invalidated. The consolidation that unity engenders is one which transcends agreements and contracts. The unity to which God exhorts us is not contractual; it is, rather, a unity rooted in our very existence.
 

Language, time, and ethnicity engender difference among human beings, but none of these are essential to humanity. Humanity springs from human nature, which is shared by all human beings equally. This is the inner unitive element. It is ever-active and enduring, for it is not the result of human convention; it is God’s creation:
 

There is no altering God’s creation
 

Human nature, which directs us from within, is unalterable:
 

That is the upright religion
 

It is human nature that defines humanity, not the colour of skin, not conventions, not habits. This inherent direction is so beautiful and effective that it remains unchanged; God leaves it unchanged, as it is the best constitution (95:4), and no other being is able to alter it. Hence, there is no altering God’s creation. All human beings possess this unitive nature, and the mission of God’s prophets has been to nurture it.
 

The unity engendered by human nature is so profound that it extends beyond religious boundaries. Islam
teaches us that all human beings who submit to the guidance of a divine guide are our brothers, our equals, and our peers in faith. God, the Immaculate, says,
 

O apostles! Eat of the good things and act righteously. Indeed I know best what you do. Indeed
this community of yours is one community, and I am your Lord, so be wary of Me
 

This verse clarifies that all divine religions are on the same path. But instead of heeding the inner guide—human nature—the believers of divine religions fragmented this cord of salvation, each grasping only a thin thread of it:
 

But they fragmented their religion among themselves
 

This is contrary to God’s will; He furnished a single agent of salvation and thus commanded us:
 

Hold fast, all together, to God’s cord, and do not be divided [into sects]
 

There are numerous hadiths that express that Islam and the Qur’an constitute “God’s cord.” One end of
this cord is in the hands of God, and the other end is with us. We must hold this cord with a firm grip and
use it to ascend. We must hold it all together, for otherwise we would be all holding it but in disunity. God, the Immaculate, exhorts us to think together and to keep together. This is the solution to many a theological, jurisprudential, and historical dispute, for the efforts of a circle worthy of God’s salutation is,
without doubt, productive.

3. Qur’an 30:30.
4. Qur’an 30:30.
5. Qur’an 23:51-52.
6. Quran 23:53.
7. Qur’an 3:103.

Reference:
Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli, Elements of Unity, Journal: volume-2-number-3-winter-2008

Translated by D.D. Sodagar,Published by Al-Taqrib Qom