Messed up

I made this chart out of an idea which came to me some time ago:



Without even trying I can see tons of ways in which we humans are divided. And that's without going into the even more fragmented natures of Christianity and Judaism, and just sticking to a cross section of religion. I am sure I would run out of space if I had to include political, philosophic, economic, racial, and geographic discriminants, as well as every religion in existence. I keep on dividing and subdividing to see if perhaps maybe once we can divide no further, we will stop causing each other problems - but no. People of the same religion, of the same sect within the religion, of the same subsect, who one would assume are more united on theological issues, will still find a way to keep themselves apart. I speak of my own experience, yet assume the same would hold true if one were to follow a different branch on the tree.

Yeah, we're messed up. Muslims especially. That quote always rings true - "Islam is the best religion, yet Muslims are the worst followers". That religion, that has the best of role models, that values piety above all else, that enjoins brotherhood between people, that states we are all equal before the Lord, is now well on its way to being split into 73 sects, as prophesied in the famous hadith.

Perhaps now, more than ever, as the world fragments more and more, we need (and by "we", I mean "me") to pay heed to Imam Ali's (AS) famous statement :

A Person is Either your Brother in Faith or Your Equal in Humanity

Such brevity, such eloquence. And so true.