By Abdul-Ganiyy Raji

As our Muslim clerics (Alfas) argue with one another online, our Medinah, Shakirah, Ibrahim, Sherif, and even Muhammad are on their way to church or the shrine.

As our clerics (Alfas) tear one another apart online, our Abdur-Rahman, Nurudeen, Aisha, Maryam, and Khadijah are now serving as ushers, drummers, choristers, and even pastors-in-training in different churches around us. We see them, don’t we?

As our clerics abandon true Da’wah online and focus on petty fights, families known for Islam in the past can no longer show up to two members who are still Muslims today.

As our clerics fight online, 5 out of 10 Christians you meet in Yoruba Land today are former Muslims. They were born into Islam, but they have renounced the religion due to ignorance or other factors.

As our clerics rip one another apart online, Isese worship, which our grandfathers had already triumphed over in the past, is now back stronger, more ferocious, and more audacious in Yoruba Land.

As our clerics (Alfas) fight one another, the Ummah is more disunited and more fragmented today than ever before. We were not so disunited before.

As our clerics (Alfas) fight among themselves, our youths and women are worse off academically, economically, spiritually, and morally. This is not the Ummah the Prophet (PBUH) wanted us to be.

As our clerics (Alfas) bicker among themselves, graduates of our Arabic institutions who constitute a big part of our Ummah, remain without viable job opportunities. No visible efforts by the Ummah to support or empower them.

As our clerics launch verbal attacks on one another, our brothers or sisters who are married to people outside the fold of Islam are leaving Islam to join other religions.

As our clerics fight over superiority and seniority, hunger, poverty, ignorance, and joblessness are ravaging the Ummah.

As our clerics turn online insults into public lectures, a large percentage of the Ummah remains ignorant and unfamiliar with the true teachings of Islam.

As our clerics twist or manipulate the Qur’ān and the Hadith to pursue personal vendettas and get back at their real or imaginary enemies, real enemies of Islam are getting more weapons to launch greater attacks against Islam and Muslims.

If our clerics fight one another, who will teach us about Allah and His Messenger?

If our clerics turn social media into a boxing ring, how do we learn our Deen from the comfort of our homes?

Ours is a great, attractive and beautiful religion. But, how do we present it to the world?

Our scholars now preach and fight to preserve their ideologies or the ideologies of their sponsors, not the same Islam that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) brought to us.

The time has come for Muslims to learn to respect one another. We can disagree without being disagreeable. We can be students of different scholars and still be friends and brothers. We can be graduates of different Arabic institutes and still work together as partners and colleagues in Da’wah. We can follow the opinions of different respected scholars without becoming adversaries or opponents.

Muslim clerics should wake up and face the real needs of the Ummah at this time. The Ummah does not need disunity at this time.

May Allah unite the Ummah.