Partisanship in The Garbs of Orthodoxy
"…and do not be of the Polytheists. From those who split up their religion and were sects. Each faction at what is with them rejoicing." The Qur'an 30:31-2
In The Name of God, The Vastly Merciful, The Merciful
God, The Exalted, said,
وَلَا تَكُونُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ
“…and do not be of the Polytheists.”
مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا۟ دِينَهُمْ وَكَانُوا۟ شِيَعًا كُلُّ حِزْبٍۭ بِمَا لَدَيْهِمْ فَرِحُونَ
“From those who split up their religion and were sects. Each faction at what is with them rejoicing.”
The Qur’an 30:31-2
God, The Exalted, has prohibited us from splitting up our religion and becoming sects, each party with what is with them rejoicing.
What is obligatory upon us is to be from The Jama’ah, The Main Body of Muslims which it’s narrated that The Messenger, ﷺ, commanded us many times to be from and to not split away from.
And this is the correct allegiance which God has commanded us with in His Saying, The Exalted,
لَّا تَجِدُ قَوْمًا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْءَاخِرِ يُوَآدُّونَ مَنْ حَآدَّ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَلَوْ كَانُوٓا۟ ءَابَآءَهُمْ أَوْ أَبْنَآءَهُمْ أَوْ إِخْوَٰنَهُمْ أَوْ عَشِيرَتَهُمْ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ كَتَبَ فِى قُلُوبِهِمُ ٱلْإِيمَٰنَ وَأَيَّدَهُم بِرُوحٍ مِّنْهُ وَيُدْخِلُهُمْ جَنَّٰتٍ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا رَضِىَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا۟ عَنْهُ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ حِزْبُ ٱللَّهِ أَلَآ إِنَّ حِزْبَ ٱللَّهِ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
“You will not find a people who believe in God and The Last Day having affection for those who oppose God and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred. Those - He has written within their hearts faith and supported them with spirit from Him. And He will enter them to gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding forever therein. God is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. Those are the Party of God. Are not indeed the Party of God the successful?”
The Qur’an 58:22
Yet today there are those who ascribe to The Jama’ah who have taken things besides The Qur’an and The Sunnah (principles, people, etc) over which they form loyalty and disavowal. If someone holds these new positions as they hold them - they associate with them, and if they don’t - they turn away from them; which is no doubt from the splitting up we have been prohibited from.
More dangerous still is that these individuals resemble The Jama’ah, in their dress, their quoting of Verses of God’s Book, their taking knowledge from knowledgeable ones from The Jama’ah (who actually refute the new principles they have taken), and other than this.
However, in reality, they have formed partisanships around principles and people after The Messenger of God, ﷺ, and they have with them their doubts which oppose God’s Book and The Way of His Messenger which they call to that one should be aware of.
Following
God, The Exalted, said,
ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُم مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ مِن دُونِهِۦٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ
“Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord and do not follow besides Him allies. Little do you remember.”
The Qur’an 7:3
And He said,
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ أَطِيعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ ٱلرَّسُولَ وَأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ فَإِن تَنَٰزَعْتُمْ فِى شَىْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَٱلرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْءَاخِرِ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًا
“O you who have believed, obey God and obey The Messenger and those in authority over you. And if you disagree among yourselves in anything then return it back to God and The Messenger if you truly believe in God and The Last Day. That is better and the most excellent outcome.”
The Qur’an 4:59
God has commanded us that when we differ, to return it back to Him and His Messenger, ﷺ. And this Verse was sent down among the Sahabah, who were the most knowledgeable of this nation after The Messenger, ﷺ. So when we disagree, the knowledgeable of us and the less knowledgeable of us, we return it back to God and His Messenger.
However, you will find today those who ascribe to The Jama’ah who will say, “When we differ, we refer it to our ‘Ulama (knowledgeable).” This is in clear contradiction to The Command of God and it is partisanship to certain knowledgeable ones and their statements besides what God has sent down.
God, The Exalted, said,
ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُم مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ مِن دُونِهِۦٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ
“Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord and do not follow besides Him allies. Little do you remember.”
The Qur’an 7:3
So we follow what God sent down and we do not follow besides Him any one; and this is The Way of The Messenger, ﷺ, and his Companions.
What these of today have fallen into is not unlike the way of The People of The Book before us who,
اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَالْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا إِلَٰهًا وَاحِدًا ۖ لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
“They took their learned ones and their monks lords besides God, and The Messiah son of Mary (they also took as a lord). And they were not commanded except to worship One God, there is no god except Him. Free is He from what they associate.”
And it is narrated that The Messenger of God, ﷺ, said about this Verse,
أَمَا إِنَّهُمْ لَمْ يَكُونُوا يَعْبُدُونَهُمْ وَلَكِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا إِذَا أَحَلُّوا لَهُمْ شَيْئًا اسْتَحَلُّوهُ وَإِذَا حَرَّمُوا عَلَيْهِمْ شَيْئًا حَرَّمُوهُ
“Indeed, they did not worship them. Rather, when they made something permissible for them they would make it permissible and when they would make something impermissible for them they would make it impermissible.”
Reported by Al-Tirmidhi (3095) and Considered Hasan by Al-Albani
And this is the main deviation of some from which come many of their other principles such as their saying, “We are with the (our) ‘Ulama.”
What’s correct, as we have seen, is that we are with The Qur’an and The Sunnah and those who follow them - and they are The Party of God and The Jama’ah. If someone is with them, we are with them and if someone leaves them, we leave them - no matter their amount of knowledge.
And from their doubts is their saying also, “When we don’t know, we follow the ‘Ulama,” and they recite falsely in attempt to support their doubt - The Noble Sayings of God, Free is He from what they associate,
وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُّوحِىٓ إِلَيْهِمْ فَسْـَٔلُوٓا۟ أَهْلَ ٱلذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
“And We did not send before you except men to whom We inspired. So ask the People of The Remembrance if you do not know.”
The Qur’an 16:43
وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُّوحِىٓ إِلَيْهِمْ فَسْـَٔلُوٓا۟ أَهْلَ ٱلذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
“And We did not send before you except men to whom We inspired. So ask the People of The Remembrance if you do not know.”
The Qur’an 21:7
Not realising, or not wanting to realise that this These Noble Ayat are proofs against them. For in these, God, The Exalted, has commanded those addressed that if they do not know, to ask the People of The Remembrance about The Revelation past.
So if they knew, they were to act upon their knowledge of The Revelation. And if they didn’t know their were to ask the People of The Remembrance and then act upon The Revelation.
God did not command them to follow the People of The Remembrance besides what He sent down, which He, The Exalted, clearly prohibited in His Sayings,
ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُم مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ مِن دُونِهِۦٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ
“Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord and do not follow besides Him allies. Little do you remember.”
And His Saying,
اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَالْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا إِلَٰهًا وَاحِدًا ۖ لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
“They took their learned ones and their monks lords besides God, and The Messiah son of Mary (they also took as a lord). And they were not commanded except to worship One God, there is no god except Him. Free is He from what they associate.”
And from their doubts is their saying also, "We call the people to the 'Ulama."
Rather, God has commanded us to call to Him, The Exalted, in His Noble Saying,
قُلْ هَٰذِهِۦ سَبِيلِىٓ أَدْعُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَا۠ وَمَنِ ٱتَّبَعَنِى وَسُبْحَٰنَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَآ أَنَا۠ مِنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ
“Say (Muhammad), ‘This is my way, I invite to God upon insight; I and those who follow me. And exalted is God; and I am not from the Polytheists.’”
The Qur’an 12:108
So we invite to God, and that is the way of God’s Messenger, ﷺ.
And these people have not understood, or have forgotten, that there is not an innovated, false religion or sect except that there are knowledgeable ones with them who declare permissible to its adherents what they are upon that opposes what God sent down.
Rather, it was the Way of The Messengers that they would call their people back to what God sent down to to abandon the following of anything besides.
God, The Exalted, said,
وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولًا أَنِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱجْتَنِبُوا۟ ٱلطَّٰغُوتَ فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ هَدَى ٱللَّهُ وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ ٱلضَّلَٰلَةُ فَسِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَٱنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُكَذِّبِينَ
“And We certainly have sent among every nation a messenger, ‘Worship God and avoid the false deities.’ And from them are those whom God guided, and from them are those whom the straying was justified upon. So proceed through the Earth and see how was the end of the deniers.”
The Qur’an 16:36
And He said,
قُلْ يَٰٓأَهْلَ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ تَعَالَوْا۟ إِلَىٰ كَلِمَةٍ سَوَآءٍۭ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلَّا نَعْبُدَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهَ وَلَا نُشْرِكَ بِهِۦ شَيْـًٔا وَلَا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا۟ فَقُولُوا۟ ٱشْهَدُوا۟ بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ
“Say (Muhammad): ‘O People of The Book, come to a word equal between us and you: That we not worship except God and that we do not associate with Him a thing and some of us do not take others as lords besides God.’ So if they turn away then say: ‘Bear witness that we are Muslims (submitters to God).’”
The Qur’an 3:64
And He said,
وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِىٓ إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُۥ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنَا۠ فَٱعْبُدُونِ
“And We did not send before you from a Messenger except that We inspired to him that there is no god except Me so worship Me.”
The Qur’an 21:25
So where are you going People of This Book which God has preserved, that you read and narrate amongst yourselves? Why did you try to set up some of you as others as lords besides God?
To Conclude
The Messenger of God, ﷺ, and the Sahabah were united upon following what God sent down. They would learn The Narrations from God and His Messenger, ﷺ, and act upon them.
In reality, this group today have taken to innovated, prohibited blind-following and they have their doubts, bringing false interpretation of God's Verses as was done by the innovated Madhhabs before them, who fell into these same deviations and from which some of these doubts may have been taken.
And many are, as God, The Exalted, has said,
هُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مِنْهُ ءَايَٰتٌ مُّحْكَمَٰتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَٰبِهَٰتٌ فَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَٰبَهَ مِنْهُ ٱبْتِغَآءَ ٱلْفِتْنَةِ وَٱبْتِغَآءَ تَأْوِيلِهِۦ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ وَٱلرَّٰسِخُونَ فِى ٱلْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ ءَامَنَّا بِهِۦ كُلٌّ مِّنْ عِندِ رَبِّنَا وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّآ أُو۟لُوا۟ ٱلْأَلْبَٰبِ
“It is He who has sent down to you (Muhammad) The Book; in it are verses decisive- they are The Mother of The Book - and others ambiguous. So as for those who in their hearts is a deviation, they follow what is ambiguous from it, seeking tribulation and seeking its interpretation. And no one knows its interpretation except God. And those firm in knowledge (they) say, "We believe in it. All are from our Lord." And none will be reminded except those of understanding.”
The Qur’an 3:7
The Way of The Sahabah in this regard is something well-known, that they followed what God sent down and did not take besides Him lords or allies. True Salafiyyah (Orthodoxy) is in being from The Jama’ah that is upon their way and these issues (following besides what God sent down lords or allies) are from the most fundamental of issues in which they have opposed what The Messenger, ﷺ, and the Sahabah were upon.
As for the sincere ones among them, we ask God to guide them. As for our actions, then we stay away from them until they engage in speech about God's Verses other than what they are in now - as God said,
وَإِذَا رَأَيْتَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَخُوضُونَ فِىٓ ءَايَٰتِنَا فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَخُوضُوا۟ فِى حَدِيثٍ غَيْرِهِۦ وَإِمَّا يُنسِيَنَّكَ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ فَلَا تَقْعُدْ بَعْدَ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰ مَعَ ٱلْقَوْمِ
“And when you see those who engage in (false) discourse concerning Our Verses, then stay away from them until they engage in speech other than it. And if The Devil causes you to forget, then do not sit after the remembrance with the wrongdoing people.”
The Qur’an 6:68
So when we hear The Verses of God being engaged in false discourse we stay away from them. And in this is blessing from God upon us, that He has granted us a method by way of which He protects The Jama’ah and a way that whose who have have strayed might realise that they have left what the Sahabah were upon that they might return.