Sticking to the Jamāʿah Can Make or Break Your Islām
Shaykh Abū Khadījah
Allāh mentions in Sūrah Āl ʿImrān (3:103),
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا ۚ وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ ﴿١٠٣﴾
“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allāh (Qurʾān and the Sunnah), and be not divided among yourselves. And remember Allāh’s favour upon you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together. So by that, by His Grace, you become brothers (in Islamic Faith). And you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allāh makes His Āyāt. (proof, evidences, verses, lessons, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, so that you may be guided.
In addition, the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “I have left you upon clear proof, its night is like its day. None strays from it except that he is destroyed.”
We are not like the Jews. We do not take some of the Book and leave off some of the Book. We do not take some of the Ḥadīths and leave of some of the Ḥadīths. There are deviants such as Ḥasan Ṭurābī (one of the heads of Ikhwān al-Muslimīn) who put modern science over the statement of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ). Rejecting one ayāh in the Qurʿān is like rejecting all of the Qurʿān. Rejecting one ḥadīth is like rejecting all of them. Imām Aḥmad said, “From the binding and necessary proof in the Sunnah, is that whosoever rejects one part of the Sunnah, it is like he rejected all of it”. Also, If Abū Ḥanīfah (raḥimahullāh) was alive today, he would reject the aʿqīdah of those who claim they are Ḥanafi. The Muslims are united upon a singular creed. The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said, “The likeness of the true believers is like a single body (in love, mercy, and compassion). So if one part of the body feels pain, then the whole body suffers from sleeplessness and fever.” Hold on to the Sunnah, and watch how the blessings of Allāh will descend upon you in this life and the hereafter.