Muslims are one Ummah, distinct from other peoples; their Lord is one, their Deen is one, their Prophet (saw) is one, their Qibla is one, and their Book is one. Allah (swt) says:

[إِنَّ هَذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ]

“Surely this community of yours is one community, and I am your Lord; so worship Me”[Al-Anbiya: 92].

The Prophet (saw) said: «بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ، هَذَا كِتَابٌ مِنْ مُحَمَّدٍ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ بَيْنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ وَيَثْرِبَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ فَلَحِقَ بِهِمْ وَجَاهَدَ مَعَهُمْ أَنَّهُمْ أُمَّةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ دُونَ النَّاسِ» “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. This is a document from Muhammad the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, between the Muslims and the believers from Quraysh and Yathrib and those who followed them and joined them and fought with them, that they are one Ummah (nation) to the exclusion of other people” (narrated by Al-Bayhaqi in Al-Sunan Al-Kubra). He (saw) also said:«الْمُسْلِمُونَ تَتَكَافَأُ دِمَاؤُهُمْ، وَيَسْعَى بِذِمَّتِهِمْ أَدْنَاهُمْ، وَيُجِيرُ عَلَيْهِمْ أَقْصَاهُمْ، وَهُمْ يَدٌ عَلَى مَنْ سِوَاهُمْ، يَرُدُّ مُشِدُّهُمْ عَلَى مُضْعِفِهِمْ، وَمُتَسَرِّيهِمْ عَلَى قَاعِدِهِمْ، أَلَا لَا يُقْتَلُ مُسْلِمٌ بِكَافِرٍ، وَلَا ذُو عَهْدٍ فِي عَهْدِهِ»“Muslims are equal in respect of blood. The lowest of them is entitled to give protection on behalf of them, and the one residing far away may give protection on behalf of them. They are like one hand over against all those who are outside the community. Those who have quick mounts should return to those who have slow mounts, and those who got out along with a detachment (should return) to those who are stationed. A believer shall not be killed for a disbeliever, nor shall a person under covenant be killed while under his covenant” (narrated by Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and Ahmad).

The unity of the Muslim Ummah is not a formal or theoretical unity, but a practical unity stemming from their creed, which makes them brothers. ]إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ [“The believers are but one brotherhood” [Al-Hujurat: 10]. This unity must be evident in all aspects of their lives; in their rituals and acts of worship, especially those performed collectively at a specific time or place, such as fasting during Ramadan, Hajj, and Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha; and in their feelings, so that a Muslim rejoices in every good thing that befalls a Muslim, and grieves and suffers for every evil or harm that befalls a Muslim in any part of the earth. The Messenger of Allah (saw) likened Muslims to one body, as he (saw) said: «مَثَلُ الْـمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ مَثَلُ الْجَسَدِ، إِذَا اشْتَكَى مِنْهُ عُضْوٌ تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى»“The believers, in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion, are like a single body; if one part of it is afflicted, the whole body responds with sleeplessness and fever” (agreed upon). This must also be evident on the intellectual side by making the Islamic doctrine the foundation of thought and behavior, rejecting any thought or opinion not based on or derived from the doctrine, and to submit to Allah's (swt) command, placing it above personal desires and interests. Allah (swt) says:

[وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْراً أَن يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ]

“It is not for a believing man or woman—when Allah and His Messenger decree a matter—to have any other choice in that matter” [Al-Ahzab: 36]. On the authority of Abdullah bin Amr bin Al-Aas, on the authority of the Prophet (saw), he (saw) said: «لا يُؤْمِنُ أَحَدُكُمْ حَتَّى يَكُونَ هَوَاهُ تَبَعاً لِمَا جِئْتُ بِهِ»“None of you truly believes until his desires are in accordance with what I have brought.”

The fact that Muslims are a nation apart from other people means that this should be evident in their political unity, so that the lands of the Muslims are one political and geographical unit ruled by one ruler who applies one constitution derived from Allah’s (swt) Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet (saw). This is what was practically embodied in the Khilafah (Caliphate) state from the time the Messenger (saw) established it in Medina until it was destroyed by the kafir West at the hands of Mustafa Kemal on the twenty-eighth of Rajab, 1342 AH, corresponding to the third of March, 1924 CE. Its absence is what caused the unity of the Ummah to be fatally wounded, and caused the Ummah to live in a state of fragmentation and disunity for more than a century, and caused our countries to be torn apart into cartoonish states ruled by treacherous rulers. Indeed, it has gone further in tearing apart what was already torn apart, as happened in Sudan.

The Khilafah is the state that directly oversees the preservation of the manifestations and features of the unity of the Islamic Ummah. It represents the practical translation of its intellectual and emotional unity. In its absence, Western ideas have invaded us, and the colonizers and their tools among the rulers have worked to replace the Islamic doctrine with secular capitalist thought as the basis of thought and behavior. On the level of emotional unity, we see ourselves pained and burning with anguish for what has befallen our brothers in Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar, East Turkestan, and other Muslim lands. However, artificial borders and criminal rulers prevent us from taking action to support our oppressed brothers. Even our acts of worship and rituals through which we draw closer to our Lord and in which our unity is manifested, in the absence of the Khilafah, the rulers have manipulated and corrupted them for us and have worked hard to prevent us from being united in performing them. Perhaps the most prominent evidence of this is that we have begun to fast Ramadan on separate days and break our fast and perform the Eid prayer on separate days. There is no power nor strength except with Alah, the Most High, the Almighty.

It is important to emphasize that although the Islamic Ummah has been afflicted with weakness and disunity, this is a temporary situation that does not negate its existence or prevent its unity and the return of its effectiveness. The Ummah still possesses its essential components: the unifying creed, and the systems of life emanating from this creed. Allah (swt) says:

[قَدْ جَاءكُم مِّنَ اللّهِ نُورٌ وَكِتَابٌ مُّبِينٌ * يَهْدِي بِهِ اللّهُ مَنِ اتَّبَعَ رِضْوَانَهُ سُبُلَ السَّلاَمِ]

“There certainly has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book * through which Allah guides those who seek His pleasure to the ways of peace” [Al-Ma’idah: 15-16]. The Prophet (saw) said: «تَرَكْتُ فِيكُمْ أَمْرَيْنِ لَنْ تَضِلُّوا مَا تَمَسَّكْتُمْ بِهِمَا: كِتَابَ اللهِ وَسُنَّةَ نَبِيِّهِ ﷺ»“I have left among you two things which, if you hold fast to them, you will never go astray: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet (saw).” It is not nonexistent or finished, and it is the duty of Muslims today to work on restoring its effectiveness and unity, and to work seriously with sincere workers to revive the Ummah and establish the second khilafah Rashida (Rightly-Guided Caliphate) on the method of Prophethood that the Messenger of Allah (saw) gave glad tidings of. They should not be deterred by claims of discouragement and despair, nor by the cunning of the West and its tools. Rather, they should strive in their work and their call, trusting in Allah and His victory for His believing servants, and trusting in themselves and their Ummah and in what it possesses of the elements and characteristics that enable it to assume the seat of glory again, Allah willing.

[وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْناً يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئاً وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ]

“Allah has promised those of you who believe and do good that He will certainly make them successors in the land, as He did with those before them; and will surely establish for them their faith which He has chosen for them; and will indeed change their fear into security—˹provided that˺ they worship Me, associating nothing with Me. But whoever disbelieves after this ˹promise˺, it is they who will be the rebellious.” [An-Nur: 55]