Advice for the Muslim

this path are called Ahl as-Sunnat wa ’l-Jamâ’a. It should not
confuse us that many heretical groups appeared after the time of
the as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. Al-Imâm al-Baihakî said, ‘When
Muslims go astray, you should follow the right path of those who
came before them! You should not give up that path even if you
are left alone on that path!’ Najm ad-dîn al-Ghazzî wrote: ‘Ahl as-
Sunnat wa ’l-Jamâ’a are those ’ulamâ’ who keep on the right path
of Rasûlullâh and as-Sahâbat al-kiram. As-siwâd al-a’zam, that is,
the majority of the Islamic ’ulamâ’, have followed this right path.
The Firqat an-nâjiyya which was defined to be the group of
salvation among the seventy-three groups is this true jamâ’a.’ The
Qur’ân al-karîm declares, ‘Do not disunite!’ This âyat karîma
means ‘Do not disunite in i’tiqâd, in the teachings of belief!’ Most
’ulamâ’, for example, ’Abdullâh ibn Mas’ûd, interpreted this âyat
karîma as above and said that it meant ‘Do not deviate from the
right path by following your nafses and corrupt ideas.’ This âyat
karîma does not mean that there should be no disagreement in the
knowledge of fiqh. It forbids separation which causes discord and
dissension in the knowledge of i’tiqâd. The disagreement in the
knowledge [of fiqh] derived through ijtihâd in the field of
practices (a’mâl) is not a discord, because such disagreement has
brought to sight the rights, the fards and the subtle teachings in
a’mâl and ’ibâdât. As-Sahâbat al-kirâm, too, differed from one
another in those teachings that explained daily life, but there was
no disagreement among them in the knowledge of i’tiqâd. A
hadîth sharîf declares, ‘Disagreement among my umma is
[Allah’s] compassion.’ The disagreement in the teachings of
a’mâl, among the four madhhabs is of this kind. Their existence
[in the present age] is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s guidance and mercy. They
have all attained thawâb. The same amount of thawâb attained by
the followers of each of these four madhhabs is given to the imâm
of that madhhab until the Resurrection. The different
specialization of ’ulamâ’ in various branches of knowledge on
a’mâl is another example [of what the hadîth ash-sharîf refers to];
thus, many ’ulamâ’ have specialized in separate sciences of hadîth,
tafsîr, fiqh and Arabic. It is compatible with this hadîth sharîf, too,
that mutasawwifs have followed different methods in undertaking
riyâda and in training the students, that various tarîqas have
formed. Najm ad-dîn al-Kubrâ [1]
(rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih) said,
[1] He was martyred by the soldiers of Jenghiz in Harezm in 618 A.H.
(1221).
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