What prevents Muslim unity in the world?

Answer 1

A:In my view, Muslim unity is prevented by religious intolerance. Ideally, Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims should be able to live together in harmony, even while holding different views about the successors to Muhammad, and other peripheral issues. However, many Sunni Muslims refuse to accept their Shi'ite brethren, and vice versa, Both reject the Druze, often considering them not Muslims at all. People may believe that Islam is a religion of peace, but intolerance is never a path to peace and unity. Of course, Christianity, Judaism and many other religions are historically at least as guilty of intolerance, so no one can say that Islam is unique in this respect.

Answer 2

By imperialism and colonization

Answer 3

There are numerous things that prevent Muslim unity in the world.

Concerning Western Imperialism, Colonialism, and Warmongering: Many Muslims hold that the failure for Muslims to be united under one political banner has to do with western forces which divided and conquered them. There is certainly an extent to which that is true, but the Muslims had 25 separate Empires long before the Western regime of imperialism and colonialism. The first break in the unified Islamic State came only 120 years after its founding (The splitting off of Umayyad Spain and Idrissid Morocco). 50 years later saw the independence of the Aghlabids in Algeria, Tunisia, and Malta and the Buyids in Persia. 100 years after that saw the rise of the Fatimids in Western Libya, etc. By the mid-900s C.E. on (as Europe remained aloof from Islamic affairs except in Spain), Muslim-on-Muslim warfare and attempts for economic dominance persisted until the Ottomans conquered all major Islamic States in the Middle East. This was undone by separatist governors in the more distant provinces (like Algeria and Tunisia) and open rebellion in some of the closer provinces (like Hejaz and Syria). Some of these were supported by Western powers (like Hejaz). Others were crushed by them (such as the Syrians).

Concerning Historical Disunity: Muslims have gone to war with each other at numerous times and in numerous places. Nearly every border in the Arab World has played host to a military engagement of some type within the last 100 years. The Modern Arab World has never had anything even close to the European Union or the Schengen Border Agreement. (The Arab League is much more like the United Nations and has no superstate components.) Islam is an even weaker union that has no unified monetary policy, immigration policy, international policy (except perhaps Israel), and no unified interpretation of which version of Islam is the one worth supporting. Although Muslims, as individuals, may feel connected across borders, like those between Morocco and Algeria or those between Syria and Lebanon or those between Egypt, Sudan, and Libya, or those between Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, or those between Malaysia and Indonesia, their governments do not.

Concerning National Cultural Differences: Each Muslim nation has a different ethnic, religious, and tribal makeup. Take for instance the neighboring countries of Tunisia and Libya. President Bourghiba of Tunisia proposed a union with Muammar Qaddafi of Libya, but his own people made it clear that they were not interested. The reason for this was that Tunisia was (and still is) the most progressive state in the Arab World, embracing such concepts as "national identity", "freedom of religion", near-complete "freedom of speech", and a Western-Style Government. Libya was (and still is) one of the most conservative Arab States outside of the Arabian Peninsula. Its people were very tribal with numerous militias sprinkled across the country and a system of bribes and counter-bribes used to keep the tribes from breaking out in revolution. (It seems that this federal bribing system eventually failed but the Libyan government has not managed to eclipse the militas.) With national organizational and cultural differences that were that huge, Pan-Arabism could not begin, let alone Pan-Islamism.

Concerning Regional Superiority: Each leader in the Muslim World believes that they are smarter, more capable, and more deserving of leadership than every other. However, uniting under one banner requires that there only be one government. This means that every other state must subordinate their power to one leader. Many Arabs joke about this bemusedly because of a conversation between Nasser of Egypt and Assad of Syria where Nasser said, "I am proud leader of the United Arab Republic based out of Cairo." and Assad said the next day, "I am proud leader of the United Arab Republic based out of Damascus." Both were referring to the same state, but each refused to really cede all control to the other. The United Arab Republic fell apart after three years. (And this was the longest period for such a united state.)

Concerning Oil Wealth: The Leaders of the Persian Gulf States such as Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman have little interest in giving up all of their oil wealth and power to accede to a vague hope and dream. This is especially true because it can be assumed that the leaders of such small states would definitely not become the leader of a united Islamic government.