How a Young Man Can Stay Clear of Partisan Groups and Factions سلامة الشاب من الجماعات والأحزاب

Questioner: May Allah be good to you, O Shaykh: nowadays there are many currents, groups, and parties on the scene, and you find among the youth someone who is drawn into one of these currents without realising it, so that when you speak to him he does not think he is in error. So how can a young man stay safe from these things?

First: a person follows the Book and the Sunnah and builds his knowledge, words, and deeds on the Book and the Sunnah, and is not drawn into groups and partisanship. For to the degree that you are drawn into a group, to that degree you move away from the unity of the Muslims. Allah, Majestic and Exalted, says: "He named you Muslims," and the Prophet ﷺ said: "Call them servants of Allah, Muslims" — as in al-Tirmidhi with an authentic chain, from the hadith of al-Ash'ari.

So people are called by [the name] Muslims; they are not called to groups. Because this breeds partisanship and breeds rancour; and because with the people of groups, to the degree that you affiliate with them, to that degree they show you loyalty, and to the degree that you distance yourself from them, to that degree they show you enmity.

So loyalty has come to be for the group, no longer for the religion or the creed. Allah, Majestic and Exalted, wants the Muslims to be one Ummah under the canopy of "there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah," tawhid, and establishing the law of Allah, Majestic and Exalted, in His earth. This is what Allah, Majestic and Exalted, wants from His servants.

As for a person wanting to establish this group, and the legitimacy of that one, being partisan to one faction and showing enmity to another — here he is not working for the religion; he is working for his group. He may even reinterpret it, saying: "I intend that the group establish the religion." This is of no use.

So a person does not affiliate with groups at all; rather he affiliates with the Book and the Sunnah, because affiliating with groups divides the word and unity of the Muslims.

People today do not need a multitude of groups, partisanship, rancour, and grudges. Allah, Majestic and Exalted, says: "And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided" [Al 'Imran: 103]. Is there any greater name? A Shari'ah term: the Muhajirun — the term Muhajirun is a term in the Book; the term Ansar is a term in the Book. Allah, Majestic and Exalted, said: "And the first forerunners among the Muhajirun and the Ansar" [al-Tawbah: 100]. Yet when one Companion said, "O Muhajirun!" and the other Companion said, "O Ansar!", the Prophet ﷺ said: "Is it the call of Jahiliyyah while I am among you?" Because they put the term in the wrong place: he called on the Muhajirun out of partisanship; he did not call on the Muhajirun for the sake of supporting this religion.

So now they show loyalty for the sake of the group and enmity for the sake of that group; they love whoever affiliates with the group and support whoever affiliates with the group, and the one who does not affiliate with the group they may not help as they help the one who does.

So a person helps the Muslims, assists the Muslims, and gives himself for the Muslims, despite their differing orientations, so long as they are Muslims and so long as they are working for this religion. That is why you love whoever obeys Allah even if he is far, and you hate whoever disobeys Allah even if he is near.

Modern geographical borders do not come between you and the Muslims. Whoever is in the East and is a Muslim, you are obliged to love him; and whoever lives among you and is an enemy of Allah, you are obliged to hate him. We do not divide the Muslims with a multitude of groups; rather we call with a word… And Allah, Majestic and Exalted, says: "Say: O People of the Book, come to a word that is equitable between us and you — that we worship none but Allah and associate nothing with Him, and that we do not take one another as lords besides Allah. But if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims" [Al 'Imran: 64].

So [it is] those who call these people to Islam and to "there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah" — this is what the Companions were upon. That is why there were no groups in the era of the Companions, nor in the era of the Tabi'in. The Prophet ﷺ always commanded the unity of the Muslims: "The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim." And Allah says: "Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you" [al-Hujurat: 13].

And in the hadith of Mu'awiyah and 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As: "The Jews split into seventy-one sects, the Christians split into seventy-two sects, and this Ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire except one." It was said: "Which is it, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "The Jama'ah."

And the Prophet ﷺ, in the hadith of al-'Irbad narrated by the four [compilers of the Sunan], said: "Hold to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided Caliphs after me; cling to it and bite onto it with your molars, and beware of newly invented matters." Founding these groups is among the newly invented matters that divide the word of the Muslims. Why did 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) burn all the copies of the Qur'an and keep a single copy? Was it not because he saw dispute? Was it not for the sake of unifying the word of the Muslims? He burned the copies even though the Prophet and the Companions used to recite from them; but he burned them and kept a single copy to gather the word of the Muslims and unify their ranks, so that Shaytan would not creep in and get at them through partisanship and groups. He kept the Companions on a single copy that they recited from, so that their word would not differ. And Allah, Majestic and Exalted, said: "And obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not dispute, lest you fail and your strength [lit. wind] depart" [al-Anfal: 46].

So dispute leads to failure, and failure leads to the departure of the "wind," which is strength — "and your wind depart" means your strength departs. And in the hadith of Thawban narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawud: "The nations are about to call one another against you as diners call one another to their dish." They said: "Will it be because of our small number that day, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "No, you will be many, but you will be scum like the scum of the flood. Allah will remove awe of you from the hearts of your enemy, and Allah will cast into your hearts love of this world and dislike of death." So when these people inclined to this world, the enemy did not hold them in awe, while they at the same time were seeking this world and its pleasures. So they turned on one another and disputed, and became sects, each party rejoicing in what it has.

When will the Muslims be victorious over the enemy while they are factions, sects, and groups? If they are not one rank facing the enemy, the enemy can dominate them. That is why one of the things the West is now doing with the Muslims is creating groups among them to divide their word and scatter their efforts and ideas; because to the degree that groups exist, you busy yourself with refuting these groups, and this distracts you from the greater enemy.

This is what the enemy is now doing: it manufactures groups in the lands of the Muslims and sows this seed to divide the word of the Muslims. Then these groups vary: some are close to the Book and the Sunnah, and some are very far — closer to the West than to Islam, and closer to disbelief than to tawhid. The West exploits this, and may use them as tools to strike others. This is because of the existence of groups.

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