A Response to Those Who Call for Not Raising Issues of Scholarly Disagreement on the Ground That It Divides the Muslims

The Shaykh : Unfortunately, there are today in some parties those who see, and explicitly state, not just see but explicitly state and call for, that issues of scholarly disagreement among Muslims should not be raised. They claim that this raising of issues divides the Muslims. Glory be to Allah! They are ignorant, and perhaps some of them are willfully ignorant, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated the division of the Muslims and described the disease, then he did not stop there but mentioned the cure. He said, regarding all the sects, as you know, . They said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said (peace be upon him) — in the authentic narration: . And in another narration, which I have strengthened with its corroborating narrations: , .
Shuqara : .

The Shaykh: Yes.
Shuqara : .

The Shaykh : Yes, today, these people turn away from the guidance of the Messenger (peace be upon him) under the claim that calling to the guidance of the Messenger divides. And I say, yes, it divides between the truth and falsehood.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : And for that reason, one of his names (peace be upon him) is al-Fariq (the Distinguisher), because he distinguished between the truth and falsehood. Indeed, the Qur'an is called al-Furqan (the Criterion) because it distinguishes between the truth and falsehood. Therefore, we also advise these people to return to studying Islamic jurisprudence and studying the Book and the Sunnah, following the methodology of our righteous predecessors, whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) referred to in the previous hadith when he mentioned his Companions (peace be upon him) and associated them with his Sunnah; he associated them with his Sunnah.