A few decades ago there was a news item in the Hindustan Times(while Khushwant Singh was its editor if I am correct) that the then President of Pakistan General Zia-ul-Haq said that ‘there are only two parties in the world, – one of Allahi.e. God and the other of Shaitan i.e. Devil’; however he did not specify to which party he himself belonged. This is no news for those aware of human history; but a joke for those misled by their own ignorance.
Islamic Shari’ah or divine law is only latest and final version of many earlier versions revealed by the Creator through numerous of His messengers, of whom Muhammad(peace and blessings of Allah be to him) is the seal. Clearly, this does mean that man has a single correct system of divine guidance at any point of time and all versions of His guidance are not equally valid at all times, even if they existed in pristine purity, which we know is not the case.
A Muslim prays (through Suratal-Fatiha) to Lord of the Universe in every cycle (raka’at) of Salah for Straight Path (Sirat-al-Mustaqeem), of the rewarded; not of those who earned His anger and not of those who are misled.
Here we can note that the many misled groups are logically opposed to the only one peace loving, correct, true and straight path of Islam; and practically there are only two political forces – one, the Islamic straight path and the other un-Islamic splinter groups creating chaos, discord and unrest on earth. We know today many western countries who called themselves guardians of democracy exposed. It is perhaps regarding the people about whom theQur’ān says, “When they are told, ‘Do not cause corruption in the land’, they say ‘we are only promoters of peace,’ but it is they who are really causing corruption, though they do not realise it.”(2:11-12)
Even today satanic forces create factions among factions, who refuse to realise the unity of man as well as his Lord, who says ‘O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women’(Qur’ān-4:1).
Also the Qur’ān says, “Satan has got the better of them and has caused them to forget the remembrance of God. They have gone over to the side of the devil, and it is as the devil’s partisans that they shall be the losers: those who oppose God and His Messenger will (on Judgement Day) be among the abased. God has decreed, “I and My messengers shall most certainly prevail….God’s party shall surely enter into a state of bliss.”(58:19-22)
Many of the so-called educated, modern and enlightened Muslims fall prey to the false notion that it is in America that the idea of ‘unity, liberty and fraternity’ has originated, whereas more than 1400 years ago, it is Islam’s Prophetwho declared ‘liberty, unity, and fraternity’ of entire humanity (during his parting Hajj-speech), not limited to people of any one nation or one country.