Aslam

Praise be to Allah.Know, may Allaah guide us and you to the truth and

enable us to follow it, that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of

Allaah be upon him) did not die before he had shown the way clearly to his

ummah [nation]. There was no

major or minor matter but he gave us knowledge about it from Allaah. At

the end of the last Hajj [pilgrimage] performed by the Prophet

(peace

and blessings of Allaah be upon him) there was revealed the aayah

[verse] (interpretation of the meaning):

“This

day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you,

and have chosen for you Islâm as your religion” [al-Maa’idah 5:3]

The

Sahaabah [Companions of the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be

upon him] (may Allaah be pleased with them) adhered very closely to this

path, and thus Allaah protected the followers of Islam from splitting in

this blameworthy manner.

They were

followed in that by the Taabi’een [the generation that followed the

generation of the Sahaabah] (may Allaah have mercy on them), but some

internal and external factors led to the emergence of some reprehensible

divisions following the three best generations. Among the external causes

of that were:

Mixing with

other, non-Muslim nations, such as the Persians, Romans, Indians and

Greeks, and contact with other religious groups such as Jews, Christians,

Sabians, Magians, Indian religions and others.

Among the

internal causes were:

Following whims

and desires, giving room to doubts, turning away from learning the

religion and sharee’ah of Allaah, ignorance, extremism, and imitation of

non-Muslims… etc.

All of

these reasons, and others, led to some small groups splitting from the

right path which the majority of the Muslims followed, so there emerged

some groups, innovations and opinions that differed from the path of the

Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his

Companions, and the Taabi’een and those who followed their path.

But we

may note that these groups and factions were in fact a discordant note

that differed from the majority of Muslims, and their followers were

shunned and opposed by the scholars, khulafaa’ [khaleefahs or Muslim

rulers] and majority of Muslims, which meant that they were contained and

their influence was prevented from becoming widespread during most periods

of Islamic history.

The

majority of Muslims remained on the Sunni path – in general – and when

forms of bid’ah emerged among them, the scholars of truth have always

hastened to oppose them and point out their falsehood. Our Prophet

Muhammad

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us that

these divisions would emerge; he warned us about them and commanded us to

adhere to the jamaa’ah

[main body] of the Muslims. He said: “The Jews and the Christians split

into seventy-two sects, all of which are in Hell; this ummah [nation] will split into seventy-three sects, all of

which will be in Hell apart from one.” They asked, “Which one is that,

O Messenger of Allaah?” He said, “Those who follow the path which I

and my Companions are on today.”He

said,“A group of my ummah will remain following the truth and will prevail, and

those who oppose them will not harm them, until the Day of Judgement

begins.”

There are

many reasons why the Muslims have always felt a sense of unity, some of

which we have mentioned above. But the most obvious reason is that this

religion comes from Allaah and it is protected by Allaah. If any other

religion had been exposed to the wars, conspiracies and plots that Islam

has been exposed to, it would have vanished a long time ago (as we see in

the case of other religions). Every rational person will see that a belief

which for more than 1400 years has stayed exactly the same as it was at

the time of the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),

and is still renewing itself in the hearts of its followers (in love and

adherence) like the renweing of a flower in spring – this is the

strongest evidence that the religion of Allaah is the true religion. And

Allaah is the Guide to the Straight Path.