By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
       
“Say (O’ Muhammad): “O mankind! I am the Prophet of Allah to you all [of Him] to whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; there is no god except Him. He gives life and brings death; so have faith in Allah and His Prophet, the uninstructed prophet, who has faith in Allah and His words, and follow him so that you may be guided.” (Holy Qur’an 7:158)
The Almighty Creator raised Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) as the Salvager of all people and the Messenger of Mercy with the universal message of Islam prophesied by all prophets of the past, including Moses and Jesus.
The Seal of Messengers thus left no stone unturned to bring hearts together under the shade of monotheism by inviting the adherents of all religions – Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and even paganism, at a time when the people of the Arabian Peninsula were hopelessly killing each other for very trivial matters. 
He moulded them into Muslims, that is, those who live in peace, lead a morally sound life, and submit to none but the Almighty Creator.
Unfortunately, today the Ummah’s presents a fractured appearance due to sectarianism, cronyism, terrorism, and undue submission to the seemingly powerful non-Muslim powers. 
This appalling situation needs to be resolved through fostering of amity, peace, solidarity, and the spirit of fraternity amongst Muslims.
Today the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal marks the start of the Islamic Unity Week initiated four-and-a-half decades ago, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, by that Sage of the Age, Imam Khomeini (RA), in order to bring Muslims of all denominations on a common platform.
Prophet Muhammad is the perfect role model for us. It is worth recalling that on his migration to Medina and the founding of the first-ever Islamic state, he united the ‘Ansaar’ (Helpers of Medina) and ‘Muhajer’ (Migrants of Mecca) into a monolithic society. 
He removed all ethnic, lingual, colour and class barriers, saying there is no difference between a Qurayshite nobleman and a black African slave. He appointed Bilal the Abyssinian as the Muezzin or official caller to the daily ritual prayers, even though this non-Arab Muslim could not correctly pronounce certain Arabic alphabets. 
If the Roman refugee Suhayb had the honour of becoming his companion, he hailed the Iranian Salman as “Minna Ahl al-Bayt” (from us the people of the house) – an honour no Arab companion ever achieved. 
He next initiated bonds of fraternity amongst 740 of his close companions, pairing together every two of them as per their characteristics, sharing of habits (whether good or bad), and above all their natural inclinations and friendship towards each other.
For instance, Salman Farsi and Abu Zar Gheffari were paired as brothers, while another pair was Meqdad ibn Aswad and Ammar ibn Yasser – because of their lofty degrees of faith and firm adherence to the path of truth which would become manifest both during the Prophet’s lifetime and after him when these four would stand firmly beside his Divinely-designated Vicegerent.
Some of the others paired together were Zubair and Talha; Abu Bakr and Omar ibn Khattab; and Osman ibn Affan and Abdur-Rahman ibn Auf, etc.
The Brotherhood Accord was so firm and binding that if a pair of such brothers were to achieve martyrdom in battle the infidels had imposed upon Muslims, the Prophet instructed their burial in a single grave.
This pairing was on the commandment of God, and after it was over, the Prophet grasped the hand of his dear ward and cousin, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), in his own hands and declared him his “brother in this world and in the hereafter”. 
Then years later, before his departure from the mortal world, after completion of his 23-year mission on Earth, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) spelt the supreme formula for a monolithic Muslim ummah by saying: 
“I am leaving among you the two weighty things; the Book of God (Qur’an) and my progeny the Ahl al-Bayt. Hold fast to them and you will never go astray for the two will never part with each other even when they return to me at the Pool (of Kowsar on Judgement Day).”
What a wonderful legacy did the Prophet leave behind! It is now for us to do some real soul-searching and find out whether we have remained loyal to the instructions of our Prophet. If not, what has made us drift away, whether from the Holy Qur’an or from the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt? 
The birth anniversary of the Messenger of Mercy affords us the opportunity to bridge the gaps that have emerged in the body politic of the Ummah over the past 14 centuries. All it needs is courage to evaluate our beliefs to determine their authenticity – whether these are in accordance with what the Prophet had decreed, or we are stumbling in the dark by blindly following the path of those that had deviated from the explicit instructions of the Messenger of God. 
Thus, those who oppose the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday and desecrate the shrines of the Saints disobey the commandments of God. 
May God glorify the soul of Imam Khomeini (RA) for his dynamic step to bring Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims on the common platform of Islamic Unity by declaring the 5-day period of the two different days of the month of Rabi al-Awwal (12 and 17) celebrated as the blessed birth anniversary of the “Mercy unto the whole creation”. 
Both the Sunnis and Shi’ites know that love and respect for the Ahl al-Bayt (as commanded by God in the Holy Qur’an) is the undeniable Sunnah of the Seal of Prophets and the supreme symbol of Islamic solidarity in the face of the plots of the divisive forces and their backers in the West and in the illegal Zionist entity.