Islamic Unitarianism

Verily, the Religion with Allah is Islam, nor did the People of the Book differ after the knowledge came to them except out of envy, and anyone who denies the signs of Allah, Allah is swift to call them to account. Surah Al-Imran, 3:19


Just as there is only one God, Allah SWT, there is only one deen, one religion.  That religion is Islam.  When Allah SWT sent down this religion of Islam to our beloved Prophet, Muhammad SAW, He revealed only one religion.  However, over time, we have come to differ. 

Ikhtilaf or difference can be a blessing. Imam Suyuti remarked in his, Jazil al-mawahib fi ikhtilaf al-madhahib, that ikhtilaf is a rahmah. Islam is a path, not a narrow line.  The Hudud Allah or Limits set by Allah SWT,  define the path.  This wide path provides us with the flexibility necessary to address every situation.  The Hudud provide "wake up strips" that warn us when flexibility has stayed into ego-driven whims and fancies.  If we go any further we will fall off the road and into the nar.

One way we can fall off the road is to make legitimate ikhtilaf a cause of fitnah.  Fitnah is worse than qatl. Al-Baqara, 2:191.  Ikhtilaf only becomes a source of fitnah if we allow our egos to drag us into arrogance or kibriyyah.  We fall into fitnah when we seek to be better than our fellow human beings, our fellow Muslims. 

The purpose of this blog is to explore early events in the history of Islam that led to the division of Islam into different branches, especially the Sunni and Shia branches.  Today, these two branches seem to be worlds apart, but the divide between them has not always been so wide.  Moreover, throughout Islamic history there have been attempts to create a basis for unity.  Some people today refer to "Ahl al Sunna wa al Jama."  In fact, this term was used to refer to one of these early attempts to create unity between the Sunni and Shia mudhaahibs.

In our attempt to explore the sources and reasons behind the early divisions of our community, we must take an honest look at all the events and all the people involved in them.  In doing so, it is not our place to judge anyone.  First of all, the sources of our early history are rife with sectarian bias and constructing an exact picture of events may well be impossible.  Certainly, constructing an individual's intentions is even more impossible.  So we will look at facts and acts, but no one but Allah SWT can see into a person's heart.  We leave any judgments to Allah SWT and we will assume the best of intentions of all.