Surely, those who divide their religion into sects, have nothing to do with you (O Muhammad). (6:159)
You shall submit to God, you shall observe the contact prayers (Salat), and do not be idol-worshipers. Do not be among those who divide their religion into sects; each sect happy with what they have. (30:31-32)
Do not be like those who became divided and disputed after the clear signs have come to them; these will suffer a terrible retribution. (3:105)
This is My path; you shall follow it, and do not follow any other paths, lest they take you away from the path of God. Such is God’s advice to you, that you may attain salvation. (6:153)
God has decreed for you a religion that was enjoined upon Noah, as well as the one we inspired to you (Muhammad), and what we have given Abraham, Moses, and Jesus; that you shall uphold this one religion, and do not be divided… (42:13)
You shall obey God and His messenger, and do not dispute among yourselves lest you fail and become weak. You shall steadfastly persevere, for God is with the steadfast. (8:46)
As illustrated in the verses shown above, unity among Muslims is an obligatory duty upon all sincere believers. Any disobedience of such powerful commandments is a clear symptom of disbelief in Qur’an, and a blatant defiance of God and His messenger. The Muslim Ummah we witness today is undeniably divided, humiliated, and can no longer be in God’s grace. The Muslim Ummah of today does not meet the criteria of a truly Muslim Ummah as described in Qur’an 3:160, 22:40, 40:54, & 47:7. Obviously, someone is doing something wrong. Therefore, it behooves all Muslims, for their own good, to look around, examine their convictions carefully, and come up with the answers to two vital questions:
What are doing wrong? and
How can we correct our errors?
WHAT PRICE MUSLIM UNITY? Unity among Muslims is guaranteed if all Muslims obeyed God and His messenger by believing in one source of religious guidance; one source of jurisprudence. If all the Muslims believed in one book and one God, the inevitable result would be unity, strength, and guaranteed dignity (24:55). Unfortunately, the Muslims have adopted four sources of jurisprudence in addition to Qur’an, namely:
(1) Hadith: sayings falsely attributed to the Prophet.
(2) Sunna: actions falsely attributed to the Prophet.
(3) Unanimity (Ijmaa’) : an anti-Qur’anic principle which states that if the scholars unanimously agreed on something, it must be correct!!! This defies the Qur’anic statements in 6:116, 12:103 & 12:106 indicating that the majority of any people invariably follow the wrong path; even the majority of believers are destined to fall into idol-worship (see 12:106).
(4) Analogy (Qiyas): the principle of comparing new situations and circumstances with old established jurisprudence that is not based totally on Qur’an.
The fact that the Muslims of today have adopted five sources of jurisprudence is a loud declaration that the Muslims have rejected Qur’an, and refused to believe God. For the Qur’an states repeatedly that it is complete (6:115, 20:114), perfect (6:38), fully detailed (6:114), and that it shall be the only source of religious guidance and jurisprudence (6:19). Verse 19 of Sura 6 states that the adoption of any other sources besides Qur’an is tantamount to setting other gods besides God. Ironically, the Qur’an itself has prophecied such desertion of its teachings (see 25:30).
The immediate result of the Muslims rejection of God’s revelations is dismissal from God’s grace, and deprivation from understanding Qur’an. Verse 40 of Sura 7 states: Surely, those who reject our revelations and disregard them, the gates of heaven will never open up for them ( to accept their prayers), nor will they enter Paradise; their admission into Paradise is as impossible as having a camel pass through the eye of a needle. Such is our retribution for the wicked.
The principle reason for the existence of sects in today’s Islam, in total defiance of God and His Prophet, is the false doctrines known as Hadith & Sunna. Centuries after the Prophet’s death, the Shafe’i sect was created because Imam Shafe’i believed that the Prophet had behaved in a certain manner as he walked, talked, prayerd, bathed, etc. The same thing happened when Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malek, Imam Ibn Hanbal, and others came up with different opinions regarding the Prophet’s actions and way of life. With the initiation of these sects, the followers of each Imam bitterly accused all others of apostasy and paganism. Many of them invented Hadiths condemning the followers of rival sects. Today, these strong rivalries still exist among the Sunni sects, as well as between the Sunnis and the Shi’as.
The price of Muslim unity, dignity, victory, and guaranteed superiority in this world is to uphold Qur’an, the whole Qur’an, and nothing but Qur’an. The Muslims have to give up all innovations, superstitions, traditions, Hadith, Sunna, and all non-Quranic religious regulations.
In order to attain unity and God’s promise of sovereignty on earth, the Muslims have to abandon all excuses for setting up sources of religious guidance other than Qur’an: they have to believe God when He states that Qur’an is complete, perfect, fully detailed, and shall be the only source of religious guidance (see 6:19,38,114).
By: Rashad Khalifa as Editor of Muslim Perspective, July, 1986
See also: