Well-thought plan divides Muslim world into 40 pieces: Diyanet

WASHINGTON – Anadolu Agency

The head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has called on the Muslim world to reunite, lamenting the race and denominations-based divisions of recent years.

“The Muslim world was united under a single banner a hundred years ago. However, after a well-thought and well-known plan, it was divided into 40 pieces,” Diyanet head Ali Erbaş said in a meeting with the leaders of the American Muslim community at the Diyanet Center of America (DCA) in Maryland.

“We should all be aware of this as history has shown us how this exploitative system was created,” he added.

Highlighting that Muslims had been provoked to fight each other over ethnic differences for centuries, he said they were now being set against each other through terrorist organizations.

Erbaş said diverse ethnic backgrounds only supplement Islam’s richness, as mentioned in the holy Quran.

“We want you to spread the truth and messages for which Turkey stands,” Erbaş said, responding to a question about what American Muslims can do for Turkey. Recalling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s proverbial remark, he said “the world is greater than five.”

Erbaş is scheduled to deliver a sermon at the Diyanet Center, which Erdoğan opened in late 2015, before heading to New York.