Al-Azhar Grand Imam, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, said that having a limited burden of obligations in all Islamic societies is a call for unity and strength, which are two of the main objectives of Islam. Having few obligations opens the door to diversity, integration, reasoning and a variety of opinions. At the same time, this case narrows the space of disagreement that leads to fanaticism, extremism, and divisions with which the nation appears as one with two or different religions. This is what our Noble Messenger (pbuh) urged us to do when he said:

“Read the Qur’an as long as your hearts are reconciled; but if you disagree, then rise up from it.” The Prophet (pbuh) prefers to cancel the Qur’an recitation session - despite its great virtue and its status with Allah when this session leads to conflict and disagreement in the reading or in the interpretation of the Qur’an. He (pbuh) confirmed this meaning in another hadith in which he said, “Those who lived before you perished because of disagreement over their Scriptures.” The origin of all of this is in the Almighty’s saying: “Do not be like the ones who split into factions and differed [among themselves], after clear Revelations came to them. For those tremendous torment awaits” (Qur’an, 3: 105).

During the tenth episode of his Ramadan program Grand Imam At-Tayyeb Talk, which has been broadcast for the fifth year, His Eminence added that the reader and contemplator of the story of Moses and his brother Aaron (peace be upon them) finds that the priority of intimacy and unity may at times precede the great priority of belief in Allah Almighty. 

The Noble Qur’an tells us that when Moses (pbuh) went to talk to his Lord and left his brother Aaron with his people, it happened that these people turned away from the religion of monotheism. When Moses (pbuh) returned, he was angry and sorry for what his people had done, so he cast the tablets and roughly dragged Aaron from his beard, blaming him for staying with the apostates. He asked Aaron why he did not leave them to catch up with him.

Aaron's answer to Moses was that he was afraid to break them up. It seems as if Aaron (pbuh) weighed two harms: staying with his people despite their polytheism, and leaving them, with the grieve consequences of their separation and division if he left them and joined his brother. 

Al-Azhar Grand Imam showed that Aaron (pbuh) preferred the first option. This means that disagreement, dispute and argumentation are more harmful and faster in destroying societies than the influence of paganism and polytheism. His Eminence explained that there is a due comparison between the harm of polytheism and the harm resulting from disagreement and disunity. Scholars see that the harm of disunity is more dangerous than that of polytheism. The reason for that is that polytheism, even though it is a widespread evil, is not immune to guidance and return to faith in Allah Almighty. The evidence to this argument is that many nations and peoples were transformed with the guidance of prophets from the darkness of polytheism to the light of true faith. In contrast, the ailments of division and strife, and the failure they lead to, leave no hope for cure or reform. Consider the Prophet’s saying, “An ailment may afflict you that had already befell the nations before you: envy and hatred; it is the shaver, I would not say it shaves hair, but it shaves religion. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, you will not enter Paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love each other. Shall I not tell you what helps you with it? Disseminate peace amongst you”.

His Eminence the Grand Imam warned contemporary Muslims of the danger of disagreement concerning religious issues. This danger does not affect the unity of one or two societies, but the unity of Muslims all over the whole world. The Grand Imam explained that one who ponders over what afflicted us in this century realizes that it is due to the exploitation of the differences among Muslims although those differences have existed since the emergence of Islam. 

Suddenly, these disputes flared up and the followers of one sect accused the others of being infidels and wanted to shed their blood.  The Grand Imam pointed out that the researcher, looking for the causes of bloodshed in any Arab country, will not find an apparent reason behind that except what is related to such-and-such doctrine, although both doctrines have lived harmoniously under Islam for fifteen centuries before.

His Eminence concluded that it was historically and scientifically known that the dispute in the past was over political issues. He indicated that this criterion should not be used by the enemies as a reason for sedition among Muslims. However, they did succeed in causing sedition, and they could almost destroy the unity of Muslims by exploiting the disagreement among them. The Prophet (pbuh) said, “This nation will not be reformed except with what reformed its beginning.” The hadith does not mean that we go back to what the first generation of this nation was in form and in substance. This is unreasonable talk and cannot happen, but that this nation in its beginning triumphed with unity and union.