The Turkey Youth and Education Service Foundation (TÜRGEV) recently hosted Dr Ovamir Anjum, founder of Ummatics Institute – a research organization for the study of ummatic thought and practice – at its centre in Istanbul. Dr Anjum focused on the issue of disunity in the ummah, comparing it to an epidemic, “about which something can be done”. In his view, a root problem causing disunity was sectarianism – be it between madhabs, salafi vs sufi, Shafi vs Hanafi. He felt that we were succumbing “to the narcissism of minor differences” and that “we should not let sectarianism be weaponised”. Sectarianism was not a religious problem – and he had examples from the US of the bitter Republicans vs Democrats divides now taking place within family settings. Sectarianism was a “human problem amenable to psychological and sociological study” and not an exclusively religious one.
He noted that an epidemic cannot be eliminated but it can be managed – through healthy nutrition, medicine and building of immunity. In combating sectarianism, healthy nutrition can be likened to knowledge and communication. He added, “we need a theory of ordered unity”, which places emphasis on what is shared – “every believer deserves our loyalty, according to Abu Hanifa”. There was need “for a graded concept of walaa“, that would allow deep differences to be accommodated without imposing political hegemony.
The event included a presentation by Professor Kazim Kopuz, Marmara University, who cited the medical missions from the Subcontinent that came to the aid of Ottoman Turkey during the Balkan wars of 1911-1912 as evidence of ummatic unity. The talks were followed by a relaxed,wide-ranging Q&A session, that moved from the theoretical to the realpolitik of our times, be it the tragedy in Gaza and developments in Syria.
Dr Anjum’s talk preceded a one-day conference organised in Istanbul on 25th July, at which speakers included Muhammad Jalal, host of the Thinking Muslim podcast and Mehreen Khan, a prominent British journalist.
For further details on the Ummatics Institute, click this link
JS/July 2025