Unity
The writer, Ayyad Dilawar Padhani is in Marketing at his family optical practice. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Marketing and related support services. He has been rendering community services from a very early age.
T
he word discriminate means deciding to unjustly treat someone or something differently because of their nature/features.
We can discriminate against people by treating them differently based on income, social class, fame, intellect, religion, race or even physical features. Humans are good at identifying differences between objects, living things, and ideologies.
It often helps to look at the opposite, to understand something. Since the advent of social media for example, multiple academic studies have found that the way social media algorithms have been designed is meant to keep us on the platform for as long as possible. Even if this means showing us extreme content, that one may passionately agree with or disagree with. This results in more and more divisive content and therefore divisive actions in the offline world.
Furthering the issue at hand, the fact that modern-day confrontation allows people to hide behind their screens, therefore delaying the results of consequences of saying otherwise unreasonable things which reach millions of people. To discriminate against others we must feel superior, different in a better way, or ungrateful for the blessings and opportunities that we have.
Now that we’ve seen discrimination, we turn towards Unity. The famous story of the boy who broke one stick, but could not break a bunch of sticks, because together they were stronger. Unity can be based on deep congruence of ideas, and many shared beliefs, but it can also be based on basic valuing and respect of fellow human beings.
Social media has a powerful positive side to it as well, whereby we can share the plight of everyone suffering around the world, and raise awareness about what governments and big corporations are doing to harm common people, as well as then take charitable or divestment action to influence change.
There is an ayah in the Qur’an that commands Muslims to unite and hold on to the rope of Allah (swt), all Muslims, regardless of their differences should come together, especially in the modern world, where we see our weakness in global affairs, such as against what is happening in Palestine. Without unity amongst the ummah, against oppressive practices, we end up in a situation where we feel and are in many ways, helpless.
Differences Allah (swt) says in the Quran, were made for us to know, and recognise each other with. These differences may be physical or ideological, however, that should not push us away from seeking unity and peace with our brothers in religion, or equality in humanity, especially those who stand up for justice and against oppression.
Finally, we should educate ourselves on how we can best advocate for movements we are passionate about, and engage in respectful and meaningful discussions to understand each other better.
More from this writer:
Writers Panel | A Simple Thought | Obituaries | Ziarat Ashura | Islamic Calendar | Facebook | Instagram
