Tariq Ramadan – Ramadan Chronicles #16 Uniformity

Tariq Ramadan
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of unity in achieving their goal of achieving diversity within the community. They explain that diversity is not about uniformity, but rather about finding a stable way to achieve it. The speaker emphasizes the need to celebrate diversity and not simultaneously pursue uniformity.
AI: Transcript ©
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There is one notion

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that we keep on repeating because it's an

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ideal that we want to reach, and we

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know how important

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it is. And it's the notion of unity.

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What we need and what we need to

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achieve within the community

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has to do with unity. The problem is

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that we are confusing

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unity and

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uniformity. This is the problem, and this is,

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where some people who, in the name of

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unity,

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uniformity. Uniformity. We have to understand that the

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the cosmology, the Islamic cosmology,

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it's not about,

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uniformity. It's about diversity.

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It's the very essence of everything. When you

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have, for example, yes, the unity of humanity

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is.

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Oh, you people, we have,

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created you,

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from a male and a female.

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So the origin is the same. This is

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the unity of, humanity.

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But

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we made you nations and tribes.

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So meaning that there is a diversity

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here. And this diversity, it's everywhere in the

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universe. Nothing in the universe is about uniformity.

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And even

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saying from by,

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from everything,

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we created a couple, meaning that there is

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diversity. It's that this unity unity is about

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trying to find a stable way,

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completing

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one another and trying to get this unity

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out of diversity.

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To the point that when it comes to

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religions and when it comes to tribes and

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nations,

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what we have in the Quran is

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If we have, we would not have put

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people and a set of people resisting

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a set of other people, the other the

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the the world would have been corrupt. And

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we have the same verse starting exactly the

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same and and ending by

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If that you you would have,

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synagogues and places where the people are praying

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and temples and mosque would have been destroyed.

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So meaning that the diversity

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of,

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religion is going to be protected by the

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diversity

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within humanity

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among religions, among cultures, and among tribes.

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So we need to celebrate

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diversity,

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and we need to get it right.

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Unity is about accepting this diversity,

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celebrating this diversity,

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and not imposing uniformity.

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No uniformity

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in the way we think. No uniformity

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in our nations. No uniformity

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even within the Muslim tradition.

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And this is why, for example, it's a

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pity to see, for for example, today, Sunni

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and Shia,

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struggling and and and not being able even

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to accept and to acknowledge that both are

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Muslims. This is one Islam and with the

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diversity. And even among the the the the

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the schools of thought or the trends, when

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you are rationalist, when you are traditionalist, or

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when you are,

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madhhabie, or,

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following a very specific school of law, or

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when you are reformist.

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This is a diversity that you have to

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deal with. You cannot just in the name

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of uniformity

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and unity, for example, destroy

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all these trends. They are part of our

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community.

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No way.

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No way to get unity if we are

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not able

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to deal with diversity, to respect one another,

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and to try to work together. This is

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the starting

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point, and it,

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it takes effort, understanding,

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and openness

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to get it right.

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Remember to tell the people you love that

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you love them, and never forget.

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Never forget. Life is fragile.

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