While we have great spiritual relish for the Holy Ramadan, this joy is being overshadowed by the ongoing sufferings in the Islamic world. Every day adds more suffering, sorrow and troubles for Muslims, while a sense of darkness grows over the Islamic world. There is Muslim bloodshed in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, East Turkestan, etc. and in brief, all across the world.

While the coalition forces led by Britain and the U.S. continue to devastate the Islamic geography with Syria and Iraq suffering the most dreadful carnage, civilian massacres have reached unprecedented proportions. The bombardments carried out in Mosul under the guise of combatting ISIS kill Muslims en masse.

According to the statement by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in a span of one month between April 23th and May 23th, 255 Muslim civilians, 44 children and 36 women among them, were killed. This figure is recent as thousands of others have been martyred by the coalition forces for years.

In his press statement at the UN office in Geneva, Christophe Bouilerac, the UNICEF spokesperson, said he received some alarming reports about the Raqqa region. He stated at least 25 children lost their lives while 80 thousand children were internally displaced during the operations in the region. UNICEF regional director Geert Cappelaere, on the other hand, said: “An estimated 40,000 children remain trapped in extremely dangerous conditions in Raqqa.”

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), noted that civilians in the province have no access to humanitarian assistance, adding that military operations to drive ISIS out of Raqqa have affected more than 440,000 civilians across the province.

The reason why Muslims are exposed to such persecution is that Muslims are interpreting the religion according to their own mindset rather than following the Quranic prescription.

Radical terror organizations play the lead role in the “design operation” carried out in the Middle East and provoke the Sunni-Shia conflicts. These radical organizations resort to numerous brutal terror acts to instigate massive wars among Muslim countries. The objective is to kill Muslims en masse. The treacherous terror acts carried out in Afghanistan at the beginning of the Ramadan during which hundreds of innocent Muslims were martyred are parts of this vile plot. Persecution is not only limited to the Middle East. In places such as Arakan, Kashmir, Moro and East Turkestan with Muslim-minority populations, there are unprecedented levels of extreme and shocking levels of systematic torture, violence and massacres going on against Muslims.

The only hope for these poor and desperate Muslims who are virtually ignored by the international institutions and organizations is again the Islamic world. Ironically, according to the statistics, it is Muslims who carry out the greatest number of Muslim massacres. This is a most dreadful and embarrassing situation.

The non-stop attacks of coalition forces that has been ongoing for the last 2 years and ISIS terror have turned Yemen into a blood bath. Meanwhile epidemics ravage the country with its 9 million starving people. The World Health Organization reported 38,300 suspected cholera cases. One third of the Yemeni people do not have access to fresh water.

The recent artificial crisis into which Qatar has been drifted is the epitome of devastation in the Islamic world from within. For apparently no reason, in just one day several Islamic countries established a hostile front calling for sanctions and embargo against their brother country, Qatar. Turning a blind eye to the presence of millions of Muslim residents living in the country, some authorities gravely threatened Qatar with waging a war.

Deceived by such plots, it would be extremely wrong for Muslims to ignore the real actors who create plots while manipulating Muslims to fight each other. Muslims must develop a sharp awareness or otherwise such plots would cause great disasters, may God forbid. What Muslims essentially need to do is to become united and mobilize all their might and means against the world-wide dreadful sedition of the system of dajjal. There are no verses of the Qur'an in which God makes it lawful for Muslims to make war with other Muslims. On the very contrary, God commands Muslims to reconcile the fighting parties, if there are any (Qur’an, 49:9). The Qur’an warns not only against fighting, but even warns against negative and evil speech towards one another, or talking behind one another’s back, or having evil thoughts about the other.

Almighty God may bring disasters upon Muslims for abandoning a very important act of worship He makes obligatory in verse 103 of Surah Al ‘Imran: “Hold fast to the rope of God all together, and do not separate...” The purpose here is not to be pessimistic, but rather to pay attention to what God has decreed. We need to remind Muslims that the only way out is to immediately repent for this mistake and, under the guidance of the Qur'an, become united with an unbroken and unshaken unity in a spirit of love and brotherhood. Muslims must dispel all disputes and come to terms as brothers and sisters.

Some of the verses in which God commands Muslims to be united and bans any disagreements and separation among them are as follows:

As for those who divide up their religion and form into sects, you have nothing whatsoever to do with them. (Surat al-An’am, 159)

God loves those who strive in His Way in ranks like well-built walls. (Surat as-Saff, 4)

Those who are irreligious are the friends and protectors of one another. If you do not act in this way [be friends and protectors of one another] there will be turmoil in the land and great corruption. (Surat al-Anfal, 73)

Indeed there is a great turmoil and corruption in the world today, for Muslims no longer act like protectors of one another. They have fallen weak because they are in conflict with one another.

While almost all the entire world is united against them, it is by no means appropriate to fall apart and fight one another. Shias, Sunnis, who are all pure Muslims, and all other Muslims who say, “La ilaha ill-Allah, Muhammad-ur Rasul Allah” are, by the provision of God, brothers (Qur’an, 49:10). For this reason, those who have faith must remain in close ranks with all their might, protect one another and carry out an all-out intellectual struggle against any attacks.

We are praying and hoping that the Holy Month of Ramadan draws us closer to this blessed union!