WE DO NOT SAY THERE SHOULD BE NO JAMAA'AH

By

Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

As some people have wrongly interpreted, we do not preach that there should be no jamaa'ah or jamaa'aat in Islaam. There is room for creation of jamaa'aat (groups) for the purpose of running the affairs of Muslims effectively. We need jamaa'aat to spring up from different localities calling to goodness and forbidding evils. Allaah says:

And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful. (Q3:104)

So, we need jamaa'aat who call to uniform Islaam as practised by the Prophet  صلى الله عليه وسلم and his Companions رضي الله عنهم. All of the groups created must be under one jamaa'ah with uniform 'aqeedah and manhaj that is based on Sunnah and the ways of the Companions رضي الله عنهم.

What we condemn is forming jamaa'at (groups) with different kinds of ideologies that contravene any aspect of the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. It is on this basis that we condemn and criticise the activities of the Khawaarij, Shi'as, Sufis, Murj'as, Mu'tazilites, Tableeghees, Ikhwaanees and so on. Our unity as Muslims is predicated on our strict adherence to the aqeedah and manhaj of the pious predecessors. We do not unite Muslim upon wrong and dissenting ideologies.

The example I gave to a lawyer colleague recently is the establishment of a Court. It can assist us to understand the matter under discuss. We do not have anything against any individual, the protection of deen is our objective. 

A Court is one. But the Court can have judicial divisions in different places for administrative purposes. All the Courts in those places are still the same as the one Court, they are one, and there is no difference whatsoever in their mode of operation. If any judicial division of a Court begins to use a different law to guide it's affairs, would that not lead to a big problem? I just used this example because I think it can be helpful for us to understand.  

So, in any situation where a group of Muslim begins to apply the shari'ah in a way different from what we know from the salaf (the best three generations) with concrete evidence, that group will be pulling itself out of the main group of Muslims. But if a group of Muslim is conscious of Sunnah and manhaj salaf, it has no difference with the group founded by Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his Companions رضي الله عنهم. This is what we preach.  We need to understand ourselves very well. 

So, a Masjid that applies the Sunnah correctly in a locality at Ogbomoso, Southwest-Nigeria is the same as its counterpart in a place in the suburb of Dallas, United States of America. What they say, especially on matters of 'aqeedah will never be different. The name given to such masaajid doesn't not really matter. The most important thing is their 'aqeedah and manhaj. 

May Allaah guide us aright.