An interjection by Abu Malik in which he explains that partisanship is a primary cause of division within the Muslim community.

Abu Malik: In response to your words, which require no further response.

The Shaykh: Please, go ahead.
Abu Malik: In response to your words, which require no further response. The brother’s question was about establishing associations that work for the Islamic call, and your answer is truly a cure for what might come to a person’s mind. However, I would like to add two or three points. The first point is that the experiences Muslims have undergone today, despite their differences in ideological, creedal, and methodological approaches, provide the Muslim with a comprehensive practical answer such that he cannot keep the answer hidden in his heart, or hold it back from his tongue, or say anything other than what he sees. He must ultimately say that these associations or institutions that have appeared in the Muslim world in all parts of the world have not borne fruit; rather, their fruit has been an increase in division, a deepening of disagreement, and, as it is said, an enrichment of the spirit of contention, even if that is an error. There is no clearer proof of this than what is happening now, even among some of our brothers who claim affiliation with the Salafi call. In some Islamic countries, we have found that the hostility between them has reached a point where it can be said that they have despaired of reform and have turned away from reform itself out of despair of reform. Therefore, I say that the experiences practically indicate that if there is any thought about increasing such associations or working on them now, one should completely distance oneself from it and cut off the thought of it, because the matter does not stop at the ends whose vile effects we have seen in our lives. The second point: you mentioned some matters; if they are present in such groups or associations, there is no harm in working on them or forming them to organize Islamic work. I say, in truth, and also to complete the first point, there is the legal principle that is not hidden from any of us, which is the principle of blocking the means to harm. This great principle requires us to think, even if the work itself or its origin is prescribed, as Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said, that the existence of a group of believers in a certain place for enjoining good and forbidding evil, or for achieving a reform matter for the Muslims, if this work aims at such a goal, there is no harm. But we have seen now in the lands of the Muslims that the souls of Muslims have changed and transformed, and love of the world, love of desire, and the desire for superiority of some people over others have entered them. Therefore, I say this principle provides relief, especially since we mentioned, or it became clear to us from reality, what is distressing rather than what is pleasing. In truth, there is another matter: the unity of the Islamic groups existing in our Islamic world today cannot be achieved on one methodology or one way, and even if they adopt the name we mentioned, they must return to the original name, which is the Salaf al-Salih (the Pious Predecessors). But this also calls us to think about ourselves: have we remained standing at this name in meaning, wording, limit, and form, or have we exceeded it in error, meaning not standing at the minimum of correctness in it? This is what we want to ask ourselves before we seek to expand the circle of Islamic work to include these existing groups that you mentioned there is no objection to if such groups exist, according to the one who says this is a Shafi'i, this is a Maliki, and so on. But these designations that were for the schools of jurisprudence produced what they produced and distorted what they distorted of the religion. However, the groups existing in our Islamic world today have actually gone beyond the scope of the circle of knowledge and exceeded it to the circle of politics. And when they entered these boundaries, whether out of greed, hope, imitation, or other intentions that drive to such work, it has become clear to me from the work of these groups what we must guard against in ourselves and keep ourselves away from being like them or following the path they have drawn, which has been abandoned for a long time, and now they are thinking of returning to what we call people to in these days. This is what I wanted to say, and may Allah bless you.