Pezeshkian Urges Muslim Unity, Warns Division Fuels Crises Like Gaza
President Masoud Pezeshkian made the remarks on Wednesday evening while addressing the inaugural edition of the Imam Khomeini World Award in Tehran.
Referring to the consequences of disunity, Pezeshkian said the Islamic community would not face its current challenges if it acted as a single, united body. “If the Islamic ummah and the Islamic society become one hand and stand together, these oppressors and tyrants would never be able to bring Islamic countries to this point or impose such suffering on them,” he said.
He described the situation in Gaza as “the result of this very division and the loss of unity.”
The president sharply slammed the international response to ongoing humanitarian crises, saying the world is witnessing the killing of civilians while continuing to speak about human rights.
“The world sees women, men, children, the young and the elderly being brutally killed—by bombing, by hunger and disease, or by cold, rain and snow—and then speaks of human rights. This claim is shameful,” he said.
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Pezeshkian said unity was a central principle in Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) tradition. He noted that the Prophet, upon arriving in Medina, called on rival tribes that had fought for years to form bonds of brotherhood. He said this transformed divided groups into a single community.
He also recalled the Prophet’s words during the conquest of Mecca, saying the Prophet declared that superiority lies in piety, not ethnicity or race. “Arab and non-Arab, black and white, have no superiority over one another. All are equal, like the teeth of a comb,” he said.
Emphasising the need for collective action, Pezeshkian said Muslims across the world, both within Iran and in other Islamic countries, must act in unity.
He argued that if Muslims truly believed they stood together, “Israel would never be able to set Muslims against one another.”
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The president said external powers seek to deepen divisions within Muslim societies. “Their entire effort is to keep Muslims in conflict with each other, to have us fight over trivial matters, so they can come and plunder our resources and, through force and injustice, do whatever they wish to Muslims,” he said.
Pezeshkian also referred to the approach of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, describing him as firmly opposed to domination and aggression by powerful states in the region.
He said Imam Khomeini consistently supported the oppressed and stressed internal unity and cohesion. “What made us succeed was the people, and the unity and solidarity of the people,” he said.
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Reflecting on the current state of the Muslim world, Pezeshkian said that if Imam Khomeini were alive today, “it would truly be difficult for him to witness the condition of Muslim societies and the behaviours and divisions among them.”
He added that Muslim countries must demonstrate dignity, independence and resilience not only in words but in practice.
Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution, is widely remembered for promoting Muslim solidarity, including his initiative to designate the period between the birth anniversaries of the Prophet Muhammad in Sunni and Shia traditions as Islamic Unity Week, aimed at reducing sectarian divisions across the Muslim world.
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