The differences

Did the Quran talk about difference? What does difference mean? What does it mean that I am different from you and you are different from me and they are different from us? Should you be a duplicate of someone and whoever does that, that is, a duplicate of someone: the first thing he loses is himself, and loses the respect of those around him, be you with your courage or cowardice, be you with your beauty or ugliness, be you with what God has endowed you with of difference, and by your difference admit it, the difference in the types of flowers in the garden does not mean that they compete, but rather complement each other to give life the greatest inaudible musical note. My difference in color, religion, race, or country of origin does not mean that you accuse me, compete with me, or hurt me, rather, it means that we exchange experiences, advice, and what each of us has achieved... Now... Did the Lord of the Worlds speak about difference? And in what tone did He speak about difference: that is, whether He loved it or hated it for the Muslim nation? In this article, we will learn together about some of these meanings, or perhaps we have gone through them all, so let's begin.

The Holy Quran 

God Almighty said 

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

وَلَوْ شَاءَ رَبُّكَ لَجَعَلَ النَّاسَ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلا يَزَالُونَ مُخْتَلِفِينَ إِلَّا مَنْ رَحِمَ رَبُّكَ وَلِذَلِكَ خلَقَهُمْ وتَمَّتْ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكَ لَأَمْلأَنَّ جَهَنَّمَ مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ أجْمَعِينَ [هود:118-119]

And if your Lord had willed, He could have made mankind one community, but they will not cease to differ. Except for those upon whom your Lord has mercy, and for that He created them and the word of your Lord has been fulfilled: “It will surely fill Hell with jinn and people all together.” [Hud: 118-119]

What do we learn from this noble verse? 

The beginning of the verse says (And if your Lord had willed) So it is merely a divine will, and we know that God - the Most High - has a will related between the Kaf and the Noon, so if He says: :N, it would be immediate without logical reasons calling for that... See:

And if your Lord had willed, He could have made mankind one community.

The reality is otherwise, so what is God’s will then? That we should be different in color, language, religion, country of origin, even in the mental background of each one of us, and the mental background in short includes the simple principles that you established during your childhood, which are who you are, what your religion is, your language, your motherland, etc., passing through intermediate beliefs, from the beliefs you learned in middle age, to the principles you learned recently and close to the surface of your life, think of it like an iceberg. Your beliefs, values, and actions are derived from the lowest part of the iceberg, underwater.

Let us return to the noble verse: 

And they will not cease to differ

They will continue to differ: present tense verb: whether you like it or not, whether you are satisfied or angry, you are a religious Easterner and there is a liberated Westerner, so the will of God Almighty basically wants this difference, and no matter what you do, people will remain different. God Almighty expressed it in the present tense (and they will continue to differ).

Except for those upon whom your Lord has mercy

Notice: God Almighty: does not generalize, but always excludes, and so do the fair-minded in this life. As they say, generalization is blind. What does this mean in the context of the verse? That is, God Almighty wants differences between people. after a while, in psychology, you will learn about the benefits and harms of differences, but here God Almighty wants to guide you to the value of unity, the value of union, the value of uniting for good and on good, and God Almighty called them the merciful ones. So imagine, my brother: that any global unity is merciful and we are not. The unified currency union, the euro, for example, is merciful simply because it is unity, and we are divided and fragmented, striking each other’s necks.

And for that reason He created them

What, is this why we were created, to be different, and a group of us unites and is the one who is blessed, and the rest are not blessed because they are not united, does God Almighty command us to unite in this verse? Is this why we were created? Something strange, hen Allah the Almighty concludes the verse with something terrifying for the believing souls

And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled: “I will surely fill Hell with jinn and people all together.”

Jinn, Why all people? Is it because of division that you will send us to Hell - God forbid... Why all people together? Is it because of division that you send us to Hell? - God forbid... My brother, at the end of the interpretation of the noble verse, do you remember with me the Almighty’s saying at the end of Surat Al-Anfal? 

Allah says 

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ آوَوا وَّنَصَرُوا أُولَٰئِكَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَلَمْ يُهَاجِرُوا مَا لَكُم مِّن وَلَايَتِهِم مِّن شَيْءٍ حَتَّىٰ يُهَاجِرُوا ۚ وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ إِلَّا عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُم مِّيثَاقٌ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ (72) وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ إِلَّا تَفْعَلُوهُ تَكُن فِتْنَةٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَفَسَادٌ كَبِيرٌ (73)

Indeed, those who believed and emigrated and strove with their wealth and their lives in the cause of Allah, and those who gave shelter and aided - they are allies of one another, and those who believed but did not emigrate - you have no guardianship over them at all until they emigrate, and if they seek help of you in religion, then you must help them, except for a people between whom and you there is a treaty. And Allah is Seeing of what you do. (72) And those who disbelieve are allies of one another. If you do not do so, there will be fitnah on earth and great corruption. (73) 

fitnah: Test by fire (severe trial)

The divine command: is unity and types of unity are great among the believers with each other, and among the unbelievers with each other on the other hand, otherwise for those who do not do it there will be great turmoil and corruption on earth. 

Just think;

Don't you see the great corruption in the land, across its length and breadth? Don't you see the fragmentation and how we as Muslims are like a bowl around which the vile have gathered, getting high from here, and getting high from there in places of the Islamic nation? Don't you see that unity is a mercy and division and difference are torment? You, you, have the responsibility of unity, and division and fragmentation, whether you did it to yourself or did it to others, will be punished for you, so await it.

The Psychology 

First: The positive effects of difference:

 A sport for the mind Mutual pollination Opening up areas of thinking to reach other assumptions that minds can reach Multiple solutions for the owner of each incident to find the appropriate solution for the situation that suits the reality of his life-Giving individual's self-confidence and the ability to confront and find solutions Difference of opinion is a mercy because it is impossible to convince people of one opinion

As for the negative effects of difference:

 Killing competencies and draining the remaining unpromising energies Relying on a single canned idea Increasing backwardness and distance from civilization.

The point:

1- It is not a shame to be different, as difference indicates your individuality and distinction and that you are not a copy of one of them, and it is important to look for areas of agreement before disagreeing in dealing with the other.

2- Learn the etiquette of disagreement and do not be a duplicate copy of those who cannot discuss, as discussion is only possible for great minds.

3- If Allah - the Almighty - wanted to create duplicates of the same shape, color, size, etc., He would have done so, but we were created different, so let us enjoy this difference, and let us take from each other (ideas, exchange of knowledge and experiences).

4- Just remember that: the earth's clay is not one color, but it is red, black and white, and some of it is hard and easy, so acknowledge the difference in the origin from which we were formed and there is no contradiction in the difference because it is a universal law and nature.

5 - Small unions become big over time, not just a union of Muslim scholars and that's it, but a union in a unified Arab currency - never, never - a union in an idea like a general union to sponsor orphans, as they are many in the nation) and it has standards and laws, If any of the small orphanages exceeds it, it will be subject to prosecution... And you, as a man of law, as a man of administration, as a man of planning, know better than I what the nation needs in terms of unions to reach the desired level of change.