Consequences of Muslim Disunity
Reply
Muslim unity comes not from the triumph of a single view, but from courteous respect for difference. In our extreme times this must mean an insistence on husn al-zann – giving other Muslims the benefit of the doubt. How easy and seductive is the path of deflecting the confusion by pretending that one’s own views alone are right and faithful!
Whilst sitting in Imam Shafi’i’s class one day, his student Yunus ibn Abd al A’ala differed with him. He got so angry that he left the class and went home.
That night, Yunus heard a knock on his door and asked who it was. The one knocking answered, “Muhammad Ibn Idrees!”