I learnt something new today. People who try to split Muslims will go to hell. Apparently the Christians and Jews are split into something like 72 groups. It was foreseen that Muslims would split into 73 groups and only 1 group will go to paradise and the rest to hell.
So are you in the right group? Will you go to paradise?
Well what do you classify yourself as?
If you said Muslim then according to this scholar we should be going to paradise. However, if you class yourself as a hanifi, Sunni etc...First then you’re fractionating Muslims. The point the scholar was trying to make was that as long you followed Islam and carried out your duties it doesn't matter.
Unfortunately in the community that I live in there is too much politics and a lack of knowledge of Islam. Groups are forming and splitting away due to slight differences. I no expert, but my view is "Shouldn't we just be happy that we are all reading our prays in the mosque".
Christianity really lost it with the idea of a personal god. Thus god became whatever a person wanted Him to be.
Occupation: The term of control of a territory by foreign military forces: Iraq 2003-2005 Liberation:when something or someone is freed: Operation Telic 2003
If you said Muslim then according to this scholar we should be going to paradise. However, if you class yourself as a hanifi, Sunni etc...First then you’re fractionating Muslims. The point the scholar was trying to make was that as long you followed Islam and carried out your duties it doesn't matter.
That is slightly misguided or perhaps misinformed. You may have misunderstood the scholar, or the scholar speaking might be under-educated on the matter.
Generally you need to say indeed that you are first and foremost a muslim, however being on the path of Ahlu Sunnah Wal-JamaAAa is what the prophet described those who will enter paradise and they were classified as such by him, the companions and the rest of the salaf to distinguish them from other innovated groups and deviant sects. So the act of classification itself is NOT an act of fractioning, and it is something that knowledgable scholars of salaf and khalaf have been doing.
What he may have (or should have) explained is that taking yourself out of the Sunnah group and choosing a sect with some affiliation (shia, ashAAari, etc.), THAT is fractioning muslims and will entail that you fall into one of the 72 groups.
As for Hanafi or Hanbali, these are methodologies of fiqh that many students of knowledge subscribe to, especially in the beginning of their path for Islamic knowledge, so sometimes yes they do refer to themselves in knowledge discussions as on this methodology or that methodology. That is not a sect or division. However, there are groups that call themselves by such names, and claim that muslims HAVE To choose and divide themselves across one of the four known schools of methodology (Hanafi, Hanbali, ShafeAAi, and Maliki). If that is what the scholar was referring to then yes indeed, it is silly and wrong to attribute yourself to one of those groups of people as it sort of becomes a sect.
But in general a muslim IS INDEED required to distinguish what is adhering to correct Islam, and what is not, and learning about the deviant sects is a regular part of Aqida education. This is also important in matters of marriage for example, for you may not accept people belonging to misguided sects as suitors for your daughter. You are therefore expected as a muslim to clarify that you are Sunni, and further say you are on the path of Ahlu Sunnah, that you adhere to the Sunnah of the prophet Mohammad -s.a.a.w.-, because there are grave worshippers and renegades and other deviant sects that claim to be Sunni, and you should distinguish yourself.
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