Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
hi dear brother, I want to give a few words to help understand this matter, inshaAllah. I think it will be beneficial for us all. There are many misunderstandings and basically Ignorance about our Deen, and especially these days with popularity of "youtube imams".
Firstly, Allah the Most High revealed in the Qur'an that we are Muslims. There are many Ayaat in the Qur'án about how we should be as Muslíms .
And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allâh (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allâh's (Islâmic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."
[Al-Qur’an 41:33]
and
Allah said in the Glorious Qur’an:
And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allâh (i.e. this Qur'ân), and be not divided among yourselves
[Al-Qur’an 3:103]
So, we know that we have to be Muslims who stay united. There are other Ayaat that further define what it means to be a Muslim:
Allah, the Most High, said:
"Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger"
[Al-Qur’an 4:59]
So, this means to stick to all that is in teh Qur'an and all that which is in the Sunnah. This is our methodology. This is our way. It is very clear. We as Muslims are people who
have to Obey Allah and Obey the Messenger
And we know, from the authentic hadith, the Prophet
warned us against many things and encouraged us to many things. We are to gain our understanding, of the Quran and Sunnah from the early generation of Muslims. From the Sahaba, the Tabi'een and Atba' tabi'een. This is in accordance with the many Sahih Hadith.
We were also warned in famous Hadith that there will be 73 Sects, all of them in the hellfire, except one. when the Sahaba asked the Prophet
who they are, he replied that they are the ones who follow what he and his companions are upon.
The Prophet
said>
"Indeed those from before you from the People of the Book divided into seventy-two groups. And, indeed, this group (Muslims) will divide into seventy-three. Seventy-two groups will be in the Hellfire and one of them will be in Paradise. And it is the Jamaa'ah (group)."
And in another narration, he said: "Everyone of them in the Hellfire, except for one group that which I and my companions are upon."
Therefore, it is expressed by the Prophet
that the Muslims will be divided into groups. This is inevitable. * the People who say Sects and groups
"do not exist" are wrong* -- They over simplify things to the extent they make people unaware of their Duties to Allah and following the instructions of his Prophet
!!! Sects do Exist.. and they are wrong to be followed!
What we as Muslims do is make sure we are those who follow the original teachings and can be the ones who go to paradise. This is done simply by adhering to the original Islam. As Muslims we should always remain humble and try our best to be good Muslims. Those who only take from the Quran and Hadith. This automatically gives us the instructions on HOW to be part of the "saved Sect", "the Victorious group", "the Jama'ah", that is mentioned in the various authentic Hadith.
We can not make a new group, and call people to it. We can not assume ourselves to be part of the Saved Sect, and call to that. Rather, we call to the way, to the path that leads to salvation, to the Straight way, just as we ask Allah in our prayers, to "guide us to the Sirat al Mustaqeem", to the Straight Path. - That is because we as Muslims, wish to be upon Istiqamah, -- Straightness/ Uprightness.
Infact, being Muslim is very simple, and easy. It is simply to believe in Allah and worship Him alone, and to believe in the Prophet
.. This is the foundation. This is what makes a person a Muslim. - Other things, such as the obligatory duties follow on from that, such as the prayers, such as fasting in Ramadhan, giving charity and the Hajj.. and of course to develop Good Manners, Akhlaq and Adaab. To Nurture our HEarts and Souls ! And to have Love for the people around us, for the world that Allah put us on and most importantly to develop a great Love for our Creator, Allah the Most High. - this is Islam. these foundations beginning with Tawheed, are necessary to be a real Muslim.
Unfortunately, these days some people, who are new to learning and following the Deen, like a new "express" Islam, where they develop without taking care of their essentials. Without developing their real spirituality, which should be based upon good understanding of Tawheed, to gain good knowledge of our Lord, Allah subhana wa ta'ala. To know what really make a Muslim a Muslim who is close to Allah. To have the ambition and dream to be a "friend of Allah" through sincere worship, sticking to the Quran and Sunnah and having good manners and character.
So,, some look more to the outer appearances and have almost robotic like actions with their worship.. such as their prayer, or they always fall into argumentation with other Muslims, and judging based upon whether a person wears niqab, has a big beard, or has their trousers half way up.. then they make things worse by adding groups.. And a person falls within or outside those groups based upon how they look or even minor mistakes. This is wrong. Its not our Deen. Its a form of extremism.
This is not to say some of those things are not important or from our Deen, but, people have weak foundations and when things get difficult it can shake away their belief in Islam. Perhaps after a few months, or years, or even decades.
Verily, those who divide their religion and break up into sects (all kinds of religious sects), you (O Muhammad SAW) have no concern in them in the least. Their affair is only with Allâh, Who then will tell them what they used to do.
[Al-Qur’an 6:159]
The Companion of the PRophet Ibn Mas'ood (radhiyallahu Anhu) said: "The Messenger of Allaah drew a line for us and then said: 'This is the Straight Path of Allaah.' And he drew lines on the left and right of it, and then said: 'These are paths of which there is not one except that there is a devil upon it calling towards it.' Then he recited the statements of Allaah ( Surat-ul-Ana'aam [3:153]) : 'And verily, this is My Straight Path, so follow it, and do not follow (other) paths for they will separate you away from His path." An authentic hadeeth recorded by Ahmad and An-Nasaa'ee.
Sects do exist, and all of them are calling people to the wrong way. All of them divert a person away from the way that Allah (the most High) has set for the Muslims.
Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah, Ahlul Hadith, Ahlul Athar, Sunni, Da'wah Salafiyyah, all mean the same thing. These are
not sects or groups, but descriptions to the methodology that a Muslim must have, in order not to fall into the wrong ways and to be, inshaAllah part of the Saved Sect. We can not simply be Muslims who think themselves truly guided and perfect, at same time, we can not be sitting back and not wanting to be upon the Right Way. We have to want to be part of the Saved Sect. - So, if you understand the underlying principles of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah then it is just that, the way of the Saved sect.
We can use those labels as to describe our methodology, but not as a way to be calling to any sect. So, if we say we are Sunni, then this is merely addressing how we believe, in order to know we have not confuse ourselves with other sects that have beliefs contrary to the Quran and sunnah, such as the Shia. Similarly when we say that we stick to the scholars of Ahlul Hadith, Ahlus Sunnah or Da'wah Salafiyyah. These are strict clarified labels of
synonymous homogeneous methodologies. Meaning it is all the same. Leading us, humbly, inshaAllah to being the best obedient Slaves of Allah.
This is the way, that all the scholars of Islam understood it. This is how the early Scholars understood and the senior most of recent times who held strong to the Quran and Sunnah, such as Shaykh al-Albaani (rahimahullah) , Ibn Baz (rahimahullah), Ibn Uthaimeen (rahimahullah) and so forth.
But, names and labels will never mean anything, if the people are not upon the true teachings. - You have to be careful, because even the people of shirk and innovations often call themselves Sunni or Ahlul Sunnah.
Stick to the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah, with understanding of the Salaf (the pious predecessors), and those who followed upon their way, and this is what we unite upon.
For example, the Prophet
said:
"I urge you to follow my Sunnah and the way of the rightly-guided khaleefahs after me; adhere to it and cling to it firmly. Beware of newly-invented things, for every newly-invented thing is an innovation (bid’ah) and every innovation is a going-astray.”(Ahmad -sahih)
"My Ummah will not unite upon error." [Reported by at-Tirmidhee and Haakim - Sahih]
What is this Error?? This error are the people who do Shirk (associate partners with Allah), Kufr (disbelief), who do Bidah (bringing innovated matters into our perfect Islam).
The Prophet (May Allaah raise his rank and grant him Peace) said:
"Islaam began as something strange and it will revert to how it began as something strange. So glad tidings of Paradise (Tuba) to the strangers" The people asked, "Who are they, O Messenger of Allaah?" He answered, "Those who are pious and righteous when the people have become evil." [Ahmad, ibn Hibban and others, sahih due to supporting evidences, see Badr al-Badr's footnotes to Abu Bakr al-Ajari, Kitaab al-Ghurabaa. pp.16-18]
Islam began as something strange
Muslims Are Strange: Strangers Strangeness Imam Ibn Al Qayyim
In another narration, after the Prophet (May Allaah raise his rank and grant him Peace) gave the good tidings to the strangers and he was asked who they were, he answered,
"A small group of pious people among a large group of evil people. Those who disobey them [disobey the pious people] are more than those who obey them". [Ahmad, at-Tabarani, and others. Hasan Hadith, Al-Ghuraba al-Awaloon, al-Damam: Dar ibn al-Jawzi, 1989, pp.37-39]
And in another narration:
"So give glad tidings to the few, those who purify, correct what the people have corrupted of my Sunnah." [Al-Silsilah of Sheikh al-Albani - Sahih]
InshaAllah, I hope this can shed a little light on the subject, I ask Allah to forgive us for any mistakes, to unite our hearts, to make us close to Him and grant us all a place in Paradise. Amin.
assalamu alaykum
