What The Quran Says About Sects

Allah swt tells us in the Quran to hold firmly to the rope of Allah and not become divided.

"And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you — when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided."

Yet we have much division in Islam. There are different sects such as Sunni and Shia. Then you have sects within sects, such as within the Shia sect: Twelver Shia, Isma'ilism, and Zaydism. Then you have the Sunni sect with four different schools of thought, etc.

But let's see what Allah swt told Muhammad about sects.

"Verily, those who divide their religion and break up into sects, you (O Muhammad) are not with them in anything. Their affair is only with Allah, Who then will tell them what they used to do."

Allah swt told Muhammad that when it comes to those who divide their religion and become sects, he has nothing to do with them. So if being in a sect, like Sunni or Shia, was the right thing to do, then why would Allah tell Muhammad that he has nothing to do with them?

Clearly, this is something that must be avoided. Yet people fight for these sects and try to convince others to join them as if it is not blatantly disobeying Allah swt. Neither Allah nor Muhammad commanded anyone to be Sunni or Shia. That is their own wrongdoing.

Allah swt tells us that being in a sect is nothing but confusion.

"Say, "He is the [one] Able to send upon you affliction from above you or from beneath your feet or to confuse you [so you become] sects and make you taste the violence of one another." Look how We Explain the signs that they might understand."

Allah is telling us that He is able to confuse us into sects and make us taste each other's violence. If people would just take a step back and pay attention, they would see that this warning Allah gave us in this verse has already become a reality.

Allah has already allowed people to divide themselves into sects, Sunni and Shia, and they have been tasting each other's violence ever since, going to war with each other and killing each other. Allah makes it clear in 6:65 where it says, "He is the [one] Able to send upon you affliction..." that dividing into sects and tasting each other's violence is a punishment from Allah.

Another verse where Allah says being in a sect is confusion is:

"But the people divided their religion among them into sects — each faction, in what it has, rejoicing."

"So leave them in their confusion for a time."

Allah is saying that people divided their religion and became sects, all of them rejoicing in what they have. Then Allah says, "LEAVE THEM in their CONFUSION for a Time."

If you are in a sect, you are considered someone who is confused and lost. Yet sectarians accuse us, those who are not a part of a sect and those who only follow divine guidance, of being the misguided ones. Either they do not know what the Quran says about their division, or they know and simply do not care.

Allah also tells us that they will have a great punishment.

"And do not be like the ones who became divided and differed after the clear proofs had come to them. And those will have a great punishment."

Muhammad came with the Quran for his people and for all of mankind. It was clear proof. During Muhammad's time, these sects, Sunni and Shia, did not exist. They followed only the guidance of Allah.

These sects did not come into existence until after Muhammad passed away, after the clear proofs came to them. The Hadith collections themselves did not even exist until about 200 years after the Prophet's passing.

So Allah told them not to be like those people who became divided after the clear proofs came to them, but that is exactly what happened.

Allah also connects being in a sect with being a Mushrik, someone who associates partners with Allah swt.

"...and do not be of those who associate others with Allah, of those who have DIVIDED their religion and become SECTS, EVERY FRACTION rejoicing in what it has."

And that is exactly what they are doing, because they have associated man made doctrine with Allah swt's divine laws and rulings.

They rely on those fabricated Hadiths as if they can tell them something Allah cannot. They trust these Hadiths as much as they trust the words of Allah. This means they trust these narrators of the Hadith as much as they trust Allah. Giving people the same level of trust and authority that belongs only to Allah is itself an act of association (Shirk).

These Hadith narrations are the reason for much of this division. Once you choose which Hadith collections you follow, it automatically places you into a sect, which is the very thing Allah swt warns against.

And if you notice, the Sunni Hadith and Shia Hadith were not created to complement each other or be followed together. They were created as two separate authorities, keeping people divided and on opposing sides.

That is why when sectarians fight for Hadith narrations, they are not fighting for the concept of Hadith as a whole. They are constantly fighting for their own collections, with each sect or faction claiming their way is correct without any real evidence. Because neither side has any. Their devotion to their sect is based on assumptions and guesses.

"And they have thereof no knowledge. They follow not except assumption, and indeed, assumption avails not against the truth at all."

An assumption avails nothing against the truth.

Then you have many people wanting to drop the sect name because they are seeing what Allah says in the Quran about them. Yet no one is willing to drop the reason those names exist in the first place: their Hadith books.

And as long as one continues to follow them, they will remain trapped within a sect.