If You Are a Sunni or Shia Muslim, Then You’ve Violated Islamic Law

Many Muslims choose to be either Sunni or Shia or be part of some other group. However, the Quran makes it clear that dividing into or joining a sect is forbidden. Some of the names of these divisions and subdivisions are

  • Sunni (e.g. Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, Shafi, Barelvi, Wahabi, Deobandi)
  • Shia (e.g. Twelver, Ismaili, Jafri, Zaidiyya, Khwarij)
  • Sufi (e.g. Chishti, Naqshbandi, Mawlawi, Qariyyah)
  • Alawi
  • Druze
  • Salafi
  • Etc

According to verse 6:159, dividing into or joining religious sects is forbidden.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا دِينَهُمْ وَكَانُوا شِيَعًا لَّسْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ ۚ إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ
Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects – you, [O Muhammad], are not [associated] with them in anything. Their affair is only [left] to Allah; then He will inform them about what they used to do. (6:159)

According to verse 3:103, God instructs Muslims to not be divided.

وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا…
And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. … (3:103)

According to verse 41:133, the only acceptable label is “I am of those who submit to the one God, i.e. Muslim”)

وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِّمَّن دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
And who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah and does righteousness and says, “Indeed, I am of the Muslims.” (41:133)

The word “Muslim” is not only used to describe followers of prophet Muhammad. In the Quran, it is used to describe everyone who submits and surrenders to the will of the one God, e.g.

  • Pharaoh’s magicians submit to God after witnessing Prophet Moses’s (pbuh) sign from his Lord and are ready to die as those who submit to God (Muslimeen) [7:126]
  • Prophet Noah (pbuh) asks for no reward from his people. He only submits to God (Muslimeen) [10:72]
  • Prophet Moses (pbuh) speaks to his people to put their trust in God if they submit to Him (Muslimeen) [10:84]
  • Prophet Solomon’s (pbuh) letter to Sheba (Saba) requesting her in the name of the Lord to abandon her blasphemy and to surrender herself to God (Muslimeen) [27:31]
  • Prophet Solomon (pbuh) acknowledges his own surrender to his Lord (Muslimeen) [27:42]
  • Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is instructed to say that he has been commanded to be of those that submit to God (Muslimeen) [27:91]
  • Those who have persevered with the truth from the People of the Book and when it is recited to them, acknowledge that they have already been from those that have submitted to God (Muslimeen) [28:53]
  • All but one house belonging to Lot (pbuh) (from his community) had submitted to God (Muslimeen) [51:36]
  • Disciples of Prophet Jesus (pbuh) confirm that they submit to God (Muslimoon) [3:52]
  • Prophet Abraham (pbuh) was one who submitted to His Lord (Musliman) [3:67]
  • Prophet Joseph (pbuh) prays to his Lord to die as one who submits to his Lord (Musliman) [12:101]
  • Prophet Jacob’s (pbuh) children at the point of their father’s death profess that they submit to God (Muslimoon) [2:133]

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