Grand Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Alavi-Gorgani, explained that since the beginning of the expansion of Islam until now, the sources of emulation and the scholars have always been the flag bearers of Islamic unity and sought harmony among the various Islamic sects and schools of thought. “A role model for Islamic unity was the late Grand Ayatollah [Sayyed Hoseyn] Boroujerdi,” he explained.
His Eminence said that Islam is a religion of reason and argument which always calls people to unity and fraternity because with unity all work can be accomplished. “However, every sect has its own ideology and we must ask them to express every one of their issues with reason and logic,” he said.
Ayatollah Alavi-Gorgani added: “The Prophet Muhammad was a ‘mercy for all the worlds’ and that the guardianship of the Commander of the Faithful [Imam Ali] is not just for Shi’ite Muslims. Also, unity is not something that mankind want, but is something that God Almighty wants for mankind.”
We should not think that unity is only for Muslims, but God wants us to have unity with other religions as well. Unity is the path of God and is against the goal of Satan to create differences among mankind. Why do they want to create a third category? We still see that the enemies of Islam are our enemies and the enemies of Sunnis as well,” the renowned source of emulation stated.
Ayatollah Alavi-Gorgani explained that all Muslims must gather under the umbrella of the slogan “there is no god but God.” “Even during the time of the infallible Imams, there were various schools of thought. These various schools of thought should not belittle each other, rather their scholars should express their viewpoints with reason and logic,” he said.
“This boldness in relation to others over Islamic issues is not compatible with Islam and our goal is come together under the umbrella of divine unity so that we can reach a conclusion. Today, we witness the actions of those who have murdered and pillaged in the name of Islam. Their actions and cursing other religions and sects are not compatible with Islamic logic,” Ayatollah Alavi-Gorgani stressed.
The revered scholar said that when the Prophet Muhammad conquered Makkah, he stated “today is a day of mercy,” and added that we must also act like the Prophet Muhammad did with others.
“We must not think that when we gain power we should oppress and kill others, but rather we should be thankful to God for His blessings that we have gained the power to be merciful to others,” His Eminence concluded.
