What is your response to those who say that calling to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), the correct creed, and the methodology of the Salaf divides people?

The questioner: May Allah preserve you, O honorable father, what is your response to those who say that calling to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), the correct creed, and the methodology of the Salaf divides people? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar! And does anyone in this time say that calling to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), calling to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, and the methodology of the righteous Salaf divides the Ummah (the Muslim community)?! Subhan Allah! That statement is far from the truth, it is misguidance. This question reminds me of a hadith narrated by Imam al-Bukhari in his Sahih, a hadith whose exact wording I do not recall at this moment, but it states that among the names of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is al-Mufarriq (the Divider). You may find this strange, but among the names of the Prophet are Ahmad, Muhammad, al-Mahiy, and others mentioned in authentic hadiths. However, a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari states that among his names (peace and blessings be upon him) is al-Mufarriq. Do you know why this name is one of his names (peace and blessings be upon him)? It is because he separates between truth and falsehood. The Qur'an is named al-Furqan; it separates those who hold fast to it and are guided by it between truth and falsehood. It guides to the straight path, and whoever calls to it is also a divider. So the Messenger of Allah is truly a divider. Furthermore, a consequence of this name, or one of its implications, is that the result of calling to truth and separating it from falsehood is division; division is certainly one of the outcomes of that. Early history confirms this: it separates a man from his son, a wife from her husband. Why? Because the wife embraced Islam and her husband remained in disbelief, so Islam obligated her to leave him. The son embraced Islam and left his father, and perhaps even killed him if he met him in battle, and so on. So where are those who say that calling to the Book and the Sunnah, following the methodology of the righteous Salaf, divides the Ummah? Subhan Allah! It is as if they are ignoring the hadith we mentioned before the Maghrib prayer, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): to the end of the hadith. So division exists and is present; what is its solution? What is the escape from it? What is the salvation from this division? Is it not what Allah said and what the Messenger of Allah said?! Is it not following the path of the believers, as the Lord of the Worlds said in the noble Qur'an: .
This is a clear matter that does not need further explanation, but I say, by way of argument: if we were to leave the Book and the Sunnah, and the methodology of the righteous Salaf, because in their claim it divides the Ummah, then what would unite the Ummah? I wish I knew! What would unite it if we left the Book and the Sunnah? And when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent to his Arab people, we all know that they were enslaved by the Persians and the Romans. What made them noble and dominant over nations that were materially stronger than them? Was it not that Allah united them upon a common word, which is: La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadun rasul Allah (There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah)? So Allah helped them because of that. How can these people say that this call divides? What is the evidence? I do not believe they want anything other than what they display; they want to abolish the correct call to Islam and establish an Islam that is either European, or American, or of the Khalaf (the later generations). All of this does not bring us closer to Allah except as you heard in the previous verse: . And among these paths is the one who says this false word, which is disbelief itself. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) testified about people like these in an authentic hadith narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahihs, from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with them both). He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So these people who issue fatwas to people with such words are the ones the Messenger (peace be upon him) referred to in his saying: .
We ask Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to inspire us with beneficial knowledge, which is nothing but knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah, following the methodology of the righteous Salaf, and then to strengthen us and help us to act upon it; indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the Responsive.
Yes.