No and it can be a bad thing.

Alternatively, define "unity". Unity in the form of a hive mind would be a catastrophe. Besides, even the early Muslims had differences of opinion.

However they could tolerate opposing views and still respect the individuals for coming to those views, something that we may be lackig today.

I like the idea of unity.

A mosque is a mosque.

Yep, if they're Muslims then being a different sect doesn't matter so i should/would give salam.

I know this is kinda hypocritical but although i think we shouldn't divide ourselves and identify ourselves through our sects etc but just stick to "i am a muslim" i am wary of listening to scholars form other sects as i'm not sure if i should "trust" what they say.

Unless they pray differently, I don't see the harm in praying behind an imaam from a different sect/group/w/e

yes i do have friends who are not from the same sect/school of thought

i believe in it but i see very little of it.

Having said that maybe it depends where you live.

In the previous town i lived the bengalis and pakistanis who were mostly hanafi madhab but in berelwi sect would go to one mosque.

The gujerati muslims hanafi again but mostly deobandi would go to another mosque, largest mosque in town and best facilities teaching wise. However the gujerati mosque had the biggest number of reverts actually all the reverts. Anyone in that town who reverted had done so through the dawah and assistance in that masjid. There were ppl there also following hanbali and maliki madhabs but they prayed together without any problems. All the hafizs mostly small children were coming from that mosque.

Ironically in the other masjid even today all they do is warn ppl not to go to the gujerati mosque. i think it's just down to a dislike and even hatred of the different views. i mean deobandis and berelwis have had opposing views for a long time. To be fair the gujerati mosque would warn of the different beliefs in berelwi mosque but they never said don't pray in that mosque.

Since moving town where i am now the imam says they teach hanafi method. but the mosque is run by saudi king. The imam has told us there is a big mix of madhabs there, and ppl manage to congregate in large numbers for prayers and even send their kids there to be taught without any major quibbles. Plus it is the first time i've seen ppl from so many different races, and ethnicities all worshiping together it's so beautiful. i guess ppl in london are blesssed to see that all the time, but i've never seen such a mix. Before all i knew of muslims were indopak muslims and nothing else. it's great to be exposed like this and get a chance to meet muslims from different backgrounds. it's all very well saying i love all my brothers and sisters around world. but do we really? When we sse differences in praying in dress in language humans as we are we can become prejudiced.

i grew up on hanafi madhab, praying behind an imam following any of the madhabs will not invalidate my prayer, so i don't see no issues there. But sect wise i think there can be issues, it depends what sect and sometimes the extremities of their beliefs. But unless someone told me how would i know the sect? I would not unless i visited mosque several times and saw practices i did not believe in.

I don't have friends from different madhab but they may be from a different sect. main reason is because all muslims where i grew up were hanafi so all my friends are Hanafi also.

As far as greetings i salam any person i see on street who appears to be a muslim. but most times i get no reply.

You know sometimes it not even an issue of madhab/sect it boils down to racism. if bengalis have a mosque and pakistanis another one they will each tell others dont go to that mosque, sad but i've experienced it growing up. in fact we shared mosque with pakistani kids. even though we were learning to read Quran we were separated with curtain. so bengalis on one side and pakistanis on other. if thats not racism what is it, oh unity its just a dream.

Hajjar wrote:

even though we were learning to read Quran we were separated with curtain. so bengalis on one side and pakistanis on other. if thats not racism what is it, oh unity its just a dream.

!!!

Although my local mosque is dominated by pakistanis, it also has afghanis and samalians as regualr attenders, im pretty sure i had somalian girls in my class at mosque and we weren't separated by curtains!!