The Meaning of the Saying of Allah the Exalted: "That you uphold the religion and do not divide in it."

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The Shaykh : Allah Mighty and Majestic said:

He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus - to establish the religion and not be divided therein

شرع لكم من الدين ما وصى به نوحاً والذي أوحينا إليك وما وصّينا به إبراهيم وموسى وعيسى أن أقيموا الدين ولا تتفرقوا فيه

[Ash-Shuraa 42:13]

This is the prescribed upholding of the religion, the upholding of the Shari'ah. It is obligatory for the Muslim community to uphold the Shari'ah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

and not be divided therein

ولا تتفرقوا فيه

[Ash-Shuraa 42:13]

In what? In the religion. It is obligatory for the community to unite and agree upon the religion of Allah Mighty and Majestic, and it is not permissible for the community to divide, because division is the path of the non-Muslims. Allah the Exalted said:

And do not be like the ones who became divided and differed after the clear proofs had come to them. And those will have a great punishment.

ولا تكونوا كالذين تفرقوا واختلفوا من بعد ما جاءهم البينات وأولئك لهم عذاب عظيم

[Ali 'Imran 3:105]

If someone were to ask, did division occur among the community? And is disagreement a mercy or a calamity? The answer is yes, division occurred among the community,

The Jews divided into seventy-one sects, and the Christians divided into seventy-two sects, and this community will divide, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire except one.

افترقت اليهود على إحدى وسبعين فرقة، وافترقت النصارى على ثنتين وسبعين فرقة وستفترق هذه الأمة كما قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة كلها في النار إلا واحدة

and it is the one who was upon what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions were upon. So, unfortunately, division has occurred.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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