Sisters’ Unity

how far have we gone with this unity sisters. im in africa and i feel very isolated from other sisters, who are in america or india or other parts of the world. sometimes people speak of things ive never heard of. this :grits" u talk about. i dont even know what that is. sometimes i fell silly to ask questions, cos everyone else seems to know and im clueless.

what action plan can we implement to make this unity a reality. even on this forum, we dont really interact as often as we should. most times when i come online , the other sisters are not here. that cos of the time differences i guess. but it would be nice to be able to communicate the same time, rather than reading a comment after some time, and then commenting later and waiting for a while for someone to respond.

As Salamu Alaikum

For a long time I have been praying for Unity amongst the sisters, and the Ummah.

I strongly believe despite our differences on some issues we can learn from each other and support each other. Religion, culture and social issues- all enrich our lives and make us better human beings. Sharing these experiences takes us one step further, we are enriching the lives of others too. Insha Allah!

Basically from an Islamic point of view there is more we agree upon than what we disagree. Let�s concentrate on these issues more, and discuss them for example � concentrating on our Salah.  (I think I should make this a topic under Islam in Diversity) lol

Jazakallahu Khairan sister Herjihad for starting this thread, Insha Allah we can move forward from here on.

May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala guide us and keep us on the Path that leads to His Jannatul-Firdaus Ameen!

Wa Alaikum Salam  

Bismillah irrahman irrahim

Wa'alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahe wa barkatuhu

I think we need unity as a ummah too so we need to start somewhere. One thing i have seen is the more longing a person has for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the more caring he/she is. Alhamdulillah as a muslim we all share this love for our Lord so it should come natural to us.

I want to thank sister alwardah for mentioning topic of 'islam in diversity' in 'basics of islam' section. The reason we felt a need to start the topic was exactly this issue of unity and a heart warming peaceful coversation about issues. For all of us mojority of matters are coming from islamic point of view so if we discussing that then inshaAlla we get to know more about each others view. We get to respect each other and have a strong bond so thanks again sis.

I think we need to have approach of 'benefit of doubt' for our brohters and sisters. Not to judge each other, whatever is said to us take it calmly. We also need to understand the fact that some people are more into religion than others. People who are more religious should approach their muslims brothers and sisters in a way that they dont feel insulted or inferiors. And if some one gives an islamic ruling to us in a way which is not very nice, still we should acknowledge the fact that they want us to be better and closer to our Lord. First and foremost we need to have patience with every thing and inshaAlla things will get much better.

Their is a beautiful hadith that a muslim should help his brother whether he is opressed or opressor. Sahabah radhiAllah unhuma asked Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wassalam that we know we should help the opressed but how are we suppose to help opressor. His reply was by stopping him.

Wassalam

Assalamu'Alaikum Immeca67,

I'm so sorry you've had those experiences....

I'm a convert to Islam...I've been a muslimah for almost 19 years and have seen the division and the unity at it's best and worst...

Unity is something we all have to strive for and being that we all as muslims and humans come with baggage and flaws it is a constant struggle and something worth working hard to achieve....

I empathize with you about the isolation...don't let it shake your Imaan...

Just stay positive and remember why you are going to the masjid... the house of Alllah(swt).

I wanted to tell you about a few experiences I had and what I'm working on to overcome them...you know the saying "every coin has two sides"...Well it's kind of true I often felt the way you did and yes sometimes it was sr's not wanting to expand their social circles due to the fact that they really enjoyed speaking in their native tongue. Sometimes it was me just be shy and not initiating conversations...But remember even if sr's are not seeming to be friendly we should always make Dua' for them to be guided and forgive them for their mistakes and pray for ourselves to be forgiven for our own mistakes.

When we lived in CA...at our masjid I was often in the same position you were. I found out later that the sr's thought I was Arabic and just didn't want to talk to anyone...Being that I'm shy by nature and have been my entire life I didn't realize that by me not speaking up I was helping to promote the issolation...After that the word spread and even though the cliques you mentioned will always exsist I did have some conversations during monthly dinners and summer picnics etc...

Here in MI we attend a masjid a couple of miles from our home. It's the nearest to us and it's mostly Indo-Pak sr's so there's a even larger language barrier. At least with Arabic I can pick up about 50% of the conversation. I know little to no Urdu at all...But even though the sr's are very much divided into cliques they are always very friendly... At first I thought it was me as well there are so many cultural differences from everything from language to dress and it was stopping the growth of social relationships. But last summer at the annual picnic I was sitting in the sisters area and started looking around and noticed that although many sr's had ongoing conversations many also were like me just kind of starring at times at the kids running around playing....We've been attending the masjid for almost 7 years here in MI and it has taken time to forge friendships.

Insha'Allah you sound like a very kind person just stay strong in your deen and do what you can to promote a positive muslimah image to everyone and say your "Salaams" and just attend and go to the functions at the masjid for the sake of Allah(swt) and ask Allah(swt) to send a friendly sr' to visit with you....and don't be super shy like me and initiate the conversations sometimes...that's something I'm working on...

MasSalaama