Honourable Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami on Saturday graced the camping programme organised by the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) B-Zone.
The 109th Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) has entered the fourth day which was heralded by the formal opening ceremony of the event.
While invited guests and delegates were physically present at the MSSN B-Zone permanent site, the venue of the 10-day camp, the honourable minister joined virtually from his office in Abuja to speak on the theme, ‘The Common Ground’.
Sheikh Pantami, in his presentation, harped on the unification of Muslims, stressing that no religion preaches unity than Islam.
According to him, “A scholar conducted a research and concluded that there’s no religion united than Islam. However, there’s no set of people that are more disunited than the Muslims. Islam promotes unity more than any other religion.”
Pantami, who emerged Muslim News Nigeria Minister of the Year 2020, posited that disunity is completely prohibited in Islam while disagreement is allowed.
“Disagreement is commendable when it is sincere, honest and based on Qur’an and Sunnah without any sentiment or self-interest”, he added.
Driving home his point, the learned minister said: “The Prophet’s (SAW) companions are known to disagree on some issues. Even Prophets have their disagreements. For example, Prophets Musa and Harun disagreed (Suratu Taha); Musa also disagreed with Khidr (Suratul Kahf) but they accommodated themselves and as such had their achievements.”
Sheikh Pantami observed that in recent times, most Muslims ignore the call for unity over insignificant and frivolous issues.
Muslim News findings show that Muslims appear to be more divided now than ever, as different opposing groups have emerged within the ranks of Muslims, with each claiming right to supremacy and righteousness.
The Communications Minister further enthused, “Our perceptions and opinions should not bring disunity to the Ummah, as our unity is our strength. For everyone, some parts of our bodies like our fingerprints, outer part of our ears, etc. are unique. The same way we’re unique in our physical creation is the same way we are unique in our opinions, perceptions, understandings and so on.”
The reputable Islamic preacher proposed that the understanding of Muslims should be guided by the Qur’an in order to reduce the level of disunity and narrow the gap of disagreement.
“However, our perceptions on issues must always go with the Qur’an which is an impeccable and infallible source of knowledge. To narrow the gap of misunderstanding and disagreement, we should:
1. Be sincere in our opinions, as sincerity is the backbone of our unity.
2. When there’s misunderstanding, we should narrow the gap based on the explanations of the Qur’an and Sunnah. We should make it the basis of bridging the gap of misunderstanding (Q4v59).
3. We should be merciful, gentle, forgiving and humble to one another when disagreeing, even if the other Muslims commit mistakes.
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