Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Does the Quran allow Islam to be divided into sects and creeds?

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Answer:

Does the Quran allow Islam to be divided into sects and creeds?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 32 Surah Rum aayat 31-32: "This (Islam) is the right and true faith, but most people do not know. (Be steadfast on this) turning wholly and sincerely towards Allah Alone, and fear Him, and establish the Salat, and do not be like the mushriks, who have set up their separate creeds and divided themselves into sects, each sect rejoicing in what it has."

Allahs says in Chapter 42 Surah Ash-Shura aayat 13: "He has appointed for you the same Way of Life, which He had ordained for Noah, and which (O Mohamed (saws)) We have now revealed to you, and which We had already enjoined on Abraham and Moses and Jesus, stressing this: " Establish this way and be not divided in it"."

Allah says in Chapter 45 Surah Al-Jathiyah aayat 17: "Then they differed amongst themselves after the knowledge (of Islam) had come to them, only because they wanted to wrong one another. Your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning the matters in which they have been differing."

There are many other aayats in the Quran, in which Allah states unequivocally, that Islam in one ummah and those who make their owns sects and creeds will be severely accountable to Allah on the Day of Judgement. There were no sects at the time of the Prophet (saws) and many many years after him. Then on small differences, muslims sets up their own sects and divisions and fought and killed one another. This has been the history of Islam!!!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Al-Mu’minun verse 52: And this ‘Ummah’ of yours is one ‘Ummah’, and I (Allah) am your Lord, so fear Me alone!

The Quran invites to one deen and that is the deen of Islam. There is absolutely no room for sects and creeds. If some ignorant people ask you what sect you belong to or what creed you follow, or what madhab you follow ... our answer should always be.... ‘We follow the deen of Mohamed (saws)’. If he (saws) was a sunni, we are sunnis. If he (saws) was a shia, we are shias. If he (saws) was a Hanafi, we are Hanafis. If he (saws) was a Wahhabi, we are Wahhabis.

And no muslim who has any knowledge worth talking about, can claim that Mohamed (saws) was a sunni, or a shia, or a Hanafi, or a Malki, or Hanbali, or Wahhabi. He (saws) was a pure Muslim worshipping the One and Only Allah, Lord of the Worlds. And that is exactly what we should follow.

May Allah guide you and us all to the Straight Path of Islam and save us from these differing sects and creeds and the fitnah they create amongst Muslims. May Allah guide all the Muslims worldwide to come back to the religion and deen brought by Mohamed (saws). May Allah protect us and keep us all far away from the people who worship PERSONALITIES rather than the One True God, and unite us all to worship the One and Only Allah, Creator, Sustainer and Lord of the Heavens and the Earth and everything in between.

May Allah guide you and us all to the Straight Path of Islam.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan