Re: Sects in Islam: How do you explain this?
Dear Brother Saleem :salam2:
I thank you for the softness in your response – much appreciated.
You are so right brother when you said that: “if all had believed same, than world would have been easy place to live.”
First of all I want clear something very important.
We must understand the why the why this terminology ‘Ahlul Sunnah wal Jamma’ came about – as this was not used in the time of the Blessed Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
The following hadith attests that the first three generations are the ones to be followed in all matters of Din.
*“The best of mankind is my generation, then those that follow them and then those that follow them. Then there shall come a people after them who will become avaricious, who will love gluttony, and who will give witness before they are asked for it.” * [Tirmidhî, Sahîh]
As foretold by the Blessed Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) after the first three generation deviant beliefs started to infiltrate Islamic pristine beliefs and practices likes of Al-Mu’tazilah, Ahlul tashayyu (Shia), Al-Mushabbihah, Al-Jahmiyyah, Al-Jabriyyah, Al-Qadariyyah etc.
These were called Ahl al-Bid`a wa al-Dalala" = the people of innovation and misguidance
Thereafter the Ahlul Sunnah wal Jamaa’ was used to discriminate/ differentiate oneself from the deviant groups.
Barelvi, Ahle-Hadith, Hanafi, Shafi’. Hanbali, Maliki, Wahabi are schools of thought or doctrine within Ahlul Sunnah wal Jamaa’ which in Arabic would we called Madhhab and these are not sects.
Read the following:
Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah*(Arabic:*
And the following too. I am copy pasting the relevant paragraphs.
*“Al-Saffarini (d. 1188) notably gave the following definition in his Lawami al-Anwar: “Ahl al-Sunna consist of three groups: the textualists (al-Athariyya), whose Imam is Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the Asharis, whose Imam is Abu al-Hasan al-Ash’ari, and the Maturidis, whose Imam is Abu Mansur al-Maturidi…. and they are all one sect, the saved sect, and they are Ahl al-Hadith.”
Perhaps a more satisfactory expression of the Sunni self-definition of Ahl al-Sunna is given by the great Ash’ari Imam known in absolute terms as “the Ustadh”: Abu Mansur `Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. 429) in his Farq bayn al-Firaq (The Difference between the Sects). This entire book is in fact an elucidation of the hadith of the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, of which the central part says: “… and my Community shall divide into 73 sects…” At the end of the book he defines Ahl al-Sunna thus:
“Those that have completely mastered and codified the principles of belief =Ash`aris and Maturidis], the Mujtahid Scholars of the four Schools of Law and their followers, the Scholars of hadith that steered clear of deviation, the Scholars of Arabic grammar that steered clear of deviation, the Scholars of tafsir that steered clear of deviation, the Sufis, the people making jihad, and the general masses of the Muslims.”
Similarly al-Iji (d. 756) in the Mawaqif:
“The Saved Group which is excepted from the Prophet’s hadith ‘All of them are in the Fire except one: Those that adhere to what I and my Companions follow’ – these are the Ash’aris, the Salaf of the scholars of hadith, and [generally speaking] Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a.”
While al-Haytami, al-Baydawi, and al-Saharanfuri say: “When we use the term Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jamaa, what is meant are the Ash’aris and the Maturidis.” Imam Abd Allah ibn `Alawi al-Haddad (d. 1132) said:
“If you look with a sound understanding into those passages relating to the sciences of faith in the Book, the Sunna, and the sayings of the Salaf… you will know for certain that the truth is with the party called Ash’ari, named after the Shaykh Abu al-Hasan al-Ash’ari, Allah have mercy on him, who systematized the foundations of the creed of the people of the truth and recorded its earliest versions, these being the beliefs which the Companions and the best among the Successors agreed upon.… The Maturidis are the same as the Ash’aris in the above regard*.” by Hajj Gibril Haddad”
http://sunnahonline.com/library/beliefs-and-methodology/71-meaning-of-ahl-us-sunnah-wal-jamaat-the