[ In the Name of Allaah, the All-Merciful… ]

QUESTIONER: All praise is due to Allaah, may His Salaah and Salaam be upon His trustworthy Messenger, and upon all of his family and companions, to proceed:

SHAYKH AL-ALBAANEE: We have made a great number of statements surrounding the answer to this question, so now let us bring forth something further about it.

We say: It is not hidden from any Muslim who knows the Book, the Sunnah, and what our righteous predecessors were upon (may Allaah be pleased with them all) that the division into parties and the gathering of the people upon their various ideas, firstly, and their various methodologies and styles, secondly [1], is not part of Islaam in any way. Rather this is from the things that our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, has prohibited us from, in more than one verse in the Noble Qur’aan, like the statement of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic [2]:

( And do not be from the polytheists, from those who split up their religion and became sects, every sect rejoicing about what was with them )

And our Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, says [3]:

( And if your Lord so willed, He would have made the people into one nation, but they will go on differing, except those on whom your Lord has Mercy )

Allaah, the Glorified and Exalted, made an exception to this differing, this differing that we are going to see in reality, even though it is prohibited by the Sharee’ah. He exempted At-Taa’ifatul-Marhoomah (the group that will receive Mercy) from this differing, when He said:

( …except those on whom Allaah has Mercy )

And there is no uncertainty and no doubt that any group that wants to be truly sincere to Allaah, then they will try to become from the nation that receives Allaah’s Mercy, those exempted from this differing that is going to exist. Verily this differing is not going to be something to help them reach their goals and they will not accomplish anything practical within the Muslim societies except by returning to the Book of Allaah, the Sunnah of the Messenger (sallallaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam), and what our righteous predecessors (may Allaah be pleased with them all) were upon.

The Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) clarified the flawless methodology in more than one authentic hadeeth. The Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) drew a straight line on the ground one day. Then he drew short lines all around the straight line, on both sides of it. Then he recited Allaah’s Statement, Blessed and Exalted [4]:

( And verily this is My Straight Path – follow it! And do not follow the other paths, as they will cause you to break away from My Path! )

After the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) read the verse, he ran his finger along the straight path and said:

“This is the Path of Allaah, and these paths on its sides, the sides of the straight path, there is a Shaytaan at the head of every path, calling the people to it.” [5]

There is no doubt that these short lines were made to represent the numerous sects and groups. Therefore it is obligatory on every Muslim who sincerely longs to be part of the saved sect, that he sets out to follow this Straight Path and does not turn right or left. There will be no successful sect other than Allaah’s Sect, Blessed and Exalted, the one that He told us about in the Noble Qur’aan [6]:

( Verily it is the sect of Allaah that will be uppermost )

Therefore, every sect other than Allaah’s Sect, is only one of Shaytaan’s sects, and not the Sect of Ar-Rahmaan. And there is no uncertainty and no doubt that taking the Straight Path requires one to be firmly aware of what this Straight Path really is. This could never occur with blind partisanship or by blindly gathering the people together upon a statement, even a statement based on the Truth – Islaam, for they understand very little of Islaam. So this act of becoming a group will not be correct or successful unless it is coupled with awareness of Islaam – the same Islaam that Allaah revealed upon the heart of Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam)…

Translated by: Moosaa Richardson [7]

[ Read Part 2 ]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Look at how Al-Albaanee re-organizes the question here. The questioner blended together issues of belief and methodology, so before responding, the Shaykh distinguishes between then two, giving priority to the first, may Allaah have Mercy on him and benefit the Muslims by his knowledge and wisdom.

[2] The meaning of Soorah Ar-Room (30):31-32

[3] The meaning of Soorah Hood (11):118-119

[4] The meaning of Soorah Al-An’aam (6):153

[5] An authentic hadeeth collected by Ahmad and Ad-Daarimee.

[6] The meaning of Soorah Al-Maa’idah (5):56

[7] Source: Recording no. 602 of the Silsilah al-Hudaa wan-Noor series.