Can somebody explain these schools of thought? I thought having different fiqh madhhabs was strange enough, but now y'all have different aqeedah madhhabs?
What exactly does a Sunni believe? I am seriously getting confused with all these different "schools" that seemingly hate each other. Is Sunni just a generic word for "not Shia"?
The question is - "Who are Ahlul Sunnah?", or, "What is Sunnism?".
Sunnis - or "Ahlul Sunna wal Jama'a", are those that follow a certain path to acquiring the "Sunnah", which they do via
"Jama'a".
All of these groups that arose, and there were hundreds, were united on this very principle -
the principle of consensus (Jama'a). They all advanced their own way of thinking - and then sought to achieve a consensus in the community.
This is because the community as a whole should not ever be able to unite on a falsehood (when it comes to a fundemental belief).
Here are some ahadith to back that up:
Ibn 'Abbas narrated that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said:
يَدُ اللَّهِ مَعَ الْجَمَاعَةِ
"Allah's Hand is with the Jama'ah."Sunan al Tirmidhi hadith #2166Ibn 'Umar narrated that the Messenger of Allah(s.a.w) said:
" إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَجْمَعُ أُمَّتِي - أَوْ قَالَ أُمَّةَ مُحَمَّدٍ صلى الله عليه وسلم - عَلَى ضَلاَلَةٍ وَيَدُ اللَّهِ مَعَ الْجَمَاعَةِ وَمَنْ شَذَّ شَذَّ إِلَى النَّارِ "
'Indeed Allah will not gather my Ummah " - or - "[Muhammad's] Ummah upon deviation, and Allah's Hand is over the Jama'ah, and whoever deviates, he deviates to the Fire."
Sunan al Tirmidhi hadith #2167Both ahadith are apparently graded Sahih (wallahu a'lam).
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'Ali (RA) says in Nahjul Balagha sermon 126:
Certainly you are the most evil of all persons and are those whom Satan has put on his lines and thrown out into his wayless land. With regard to me, two categories of people will be ruined, namely he who loves me too much and the love takes him away from rightfulness, and he who hates me too much and the hatred takes him away from rightfulness. The best man with regard to me is he who is on the middle course. So be with him and be with the great majority (of Muslims) because Allah's hand (of protection) is on keeping unity. You should beware of division because the one isolated from the group is (a prey) to Satan just as the one isolated from the flock of sheep is (a prey) to the wolf.
This was delivered to the Khawarij, who had left the community, abandoned the principle of consensus, and adopted their own heretical beliefs.
So, basically, any group which deviates from the consensus of the majority is a heretic, or, a non-Sunni.
The Shias are one such group. Their origins attest to this fact - they abandoned the consensus of the Muslims, and adopted heretical beliefs. Some of those beliefs which the community reached a consesus on were:
- There was no successor chosen by the Prophet (Shias say 'Ali was selected).
- The companions were all righteous Muslims (Shias say they are mostly kaffir)
- 'Aisha (RA) was a chaste woman (Shias say she was an adulterer)
- The Qur'an was not, and cannot be, corrupted (Shias say verses were deleted, or added, or changed around)
You will find that most of the beliefs that Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama'a reached consensus on - atleast one group of Shias rejected it and adopted the opposite stance.