Approaches to Proximity among the Islamic Sects

The problem of proximity among the Islamic sects has become a central issue among the Muslim thinkers and religionists for almost one century. A great many Muslim thinkers have called for proximity out of compassion and prudence, while some others have adopted such an attitude out of political expediency. On the other hand, the majority of the opponents of the proximity are religiously motivated; however, a small number of the opponents are politically motivated. Also, one can classify the thoughts and the works concerned with proximity into several general approaches. This may help us to adopt an approach which can make proximity enduring. Having reviewed the works on proximity, the present writing sets to work to study the movements associated with the proximity among the Islamic denominations. Thus, it first considers the criterion of a proximity-seeking movement, and then five approaches to proximity which are as follows: 1. opposition to proximity; 2. emphasis upon the social and political unity; 3. highlighting the shared characteristics and regarding the disagreements as excusable; 4. offering a particular interpretation of Imamate; 5. and, emphasis upon the common characteristics and the revision of the differences. The most important works and thinkers of every movement, whether Shiite or Sunni, are also taken into consideration.