The Unity of Muslims — Page 31
31 and the law. Thus, Jihad is a shared responsibility, and any assertion that Islam is a religion of individualism is fundamentally incorrect. On the contrary, Islam is a communal faith. On the one hand, Islam acknowledges the importance of individuality and deems it necessary; on the other, it teaches the significance of the collective. The question then becomes: How can we reconcile this apparent dichotomy? The answer lies in recognising that these two ideologies are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary. A blend of both is essential for progress. Every religion or nation that solely emphasised individuality has faced a decline. No faith or nation can pave the way for advancement without embracing individualism and collectivism. In earlier eras, communion with God was only an individual act. However, the optimal path lies somewhere between individuality and collectivism, much like the concept of As - Sirāt [the bridge] in the afterlife. In other words, Islam embraces the idea of the individual and the collective in tandem. On the one hand, Islam elevates the individual to such an extent that one ascends to the divine throne, as it were, with no intermediaries between a person and