“And hold fast to the Rope of Allah, and be not divided among yourselves” 3:103.

“Verily, Allah will not change the condition of the people, until they change what’s in themselves.” (Ar-Ra’d 13:11)”

As I browse daily through pages of social media (twitter and facebook) and the electronic and print media, I see a nation divided.

99% of us are Alhamdulillah Muslims, but divided not into religious sects, but divided into ‘1001’ different political parties (besides the people opting for ‘VoteforNone’ and the army personnel). I am sure the enemies of Islam will be extremely happy with what they are seeing. This is a natural consequence of western democracy, although the westerners have limited themselves to a two or three party system, we keep on dividing ourselves further into new parties in the hope of a new Pakistan.

As someone wisely said:

If I was an Indian General, looking for war…

I would never attack Pakistan. That would be far too silly. You see, the people when faced with the threat of war, would unite under one banner. And that, I cannot stand.
They would forget their differences and fight together as one, against a common enemy. No Pathan, no Baluchi, no Sindhi, no Punjabi. No PPP, no MQM, no PML-N, no PTI (No Sunni, Shia and even no Muslim/Christian etc). They would all be one, standing under the banner of “La ilaha il’Allah” (there is no God but Allah).

I would add “and also united under the slogan of ‘Sab se pahlay Pakistan’ (Pakistan First)” for ‘Pakistan hai to hum hain’ (If Pakistan is, only then we are). Some even go to the length by saying ‘Pakistan hai to Islam hai’ (If Pakistan, then Islam is) meaning to say that Pakistan is the final pillar of Islam, that this is the main reason why the enemies of Islam are after Pakistan and are trying to break it into pieces.

Almost all parties are united in this aspect. Whenever we post a news of Pakistan’s success in sports (for example Asian Champions of Squash again after 14 years).

Or whenever we post a story of injustice being done against Muslims around the world like Palestine, Kashmir, Burma, Iraq, Syria etc, we all become united in condemning the oppression. We all become one when it comes to condemning all types of terrorism in the country.

The enemies of Islam have tried to divide us into sectarian sects. They tried to divide us into Punjabis, Pakhtuns, Sindhis and Baluchis. They could not succeed significantly in these aims. And before elections they have always tried to divide us through western democracy-based elections. Let us prevent them from succeeding again this time as well. After all we are Alhamdulillah a 99% Muslim nation.

The late Islamic scholar, Dr. Israr Ahmad, once said: There are four kinds of Muslims:
1. Those who think of Islam as a complete way of life (social, spiritual, economical, political etc). Some people would think them as fundamentalists. They offer the most threat to the western world.

2. The other type are traditionalists, say their prayers, observe Hijab, read  Quran, quote Quran and Hadith on worship, go to the Mosque but that’s it, they don’t go beyond that. They are not that much of a threat to the west.

3. Third type is those who try to amend their lifestyle according to the western world. They think if you support them, you will progress in life otherwise not.

4. The fourth are called secularists, the least bit of threat to the western world.

The surprising thing I observed is that almost every party has each of these four types of Muslims in their ranks.

So why are we fighting with each other like cats and dogs? Why are we making fun of each other, hurting one another and ridiculing one another? Why are we spreading false rumors, propaganda, gossips without verifying the truth? We have even started to kill one another! So who is the martyr (Shaheed) and who is the Victor (Ghazi)?

We have become so much divided this time around that even families have become divided where the father, mother and their children may all be giving votes to different parties. Closest friends are giving votes to different parties and sometimes unfortunately becoming enemies in the process. Neighborhoods and even cities have become ‘strongholds’ or ‘battlefronts’ of different political parties!

I myself find myself in an awkward position, campaigning for a party (and indirectly against a party) of the beloved owners, teachers and students of my former medical college and many students of my present college!

The least that we can do is to:
1. Be respectful to one another especially to the elders
2. Respect each other’s opinions

3. Do NOT call each other names or even worse never swear
4. Do not try to enforce your opinions on one another
5. Leaders and followers should try to highlight/emphasize their own policies/manifesto instead of criticizing other parties policies
6. Criticism should not be for the sake of criticism, it should be constructive positive criticism and a better option/better solution should be provided
7. We should remain within the limits of decency while discussing. If someone is trolling, abusing or ridiculing you, keep silent and or block him.

“O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one’s] faith. And whoever does not repent – then it is those who are the wrongdoers.” (Holy Quran 49: 11)

7. Never try to make rumors, propaganda, hear-say, gossips without valid references from various sources including if possible explanation from the party concerned. This is extremely hard now a days as our media & many other news outlets cannot be fully trusted unless one has witnessed a talk/event oneself.

“O you who believe! If a fasiq (disobedient person) comes to you with any news, verify it, lest you should harm the people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful for what you have done.” (Holy Qur’an 49:6)

8.Supporters should try to tolerate positive criticism, and ignore or delete and answer unjust/negative criticism without becoming too much emotional.
Leaders should not make derogatory remarks of other leaders (hitting below the belt) as the supporters tend to follow suit. It should be considered un-ethical and immoral.

9. We should not agree or disagree with EVERYTHING our leadership agrees and disagrees with. We should try to think over issues ourselves and formulate our own opinions. In other words don’t act like sheep!

10. Victory or defeat in elections should be accepted with grace, no matter what the grievances. Results should be challenged through a legal process.

Only in this way can we remain ‘united’ despite our differences.

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends, we all love Islam and we all love Pakistan. Let us keep it that way from now on and especially after the elections.
“The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers. And fear Allah that you may receive mercy.” (Holy Quran 49: 10)
Pakistan Zindabad!