Roots of Dissension in the Ummah (Part 1)

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والصلاة والسلام على خاتم النبيين

Among the most devious conspiracies of Satan to capture souls for Hell is using the garb of religion to deviate from the Path of Allah. In the history of this Ummah the various false teachings of antinomianism, omnism, materialism, rationalism, modernism, secularism, liberalism, nationalism, humanism and feminism are often the root of a false religious movement or tendency that seeks to impress upon the hearts and minds of the Muslims. At the very moment of the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم natural death in the year 632 CE most of the Bedouin tribes to the east became apostate. Some of them reasoned that if Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was a true Prophet he should not have died the death of a mere mortal. Thus their flawed conception of what a human Prophet is led them totally astray. These Bedouin tribes had reluctantly converted to Islam during the latter part of the Prophet’s ministry, and Allah addressed them in the Quran with the following words:

وَلَمَّا یَدۡخُلِ الۡاِیۡمَانُ فِیۡ قُلُوۡبِکُمۡ

The Faith has not yet entered into your hearts

(Surah 49:14)

Due to their lack of true Faith, but merely having outwardly embraced Islam, after the natural death of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم these desert Arabs were especially vulnerable to the Apostasy. Some of them reverted to idolatry while others were duped by the false prophets Musailimah bin Habib, al-Aswad al-Ansi and others. In particular, their failure to understand that the institution of Prophesy had formally ceased after Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and that the Shari’ah or divine Law which he was sent with contained within the Quran and the Sunnah is complete, perfect and unalterable, resulted in these unfortunate souls (those among them that did not repent) being led astray into Hell by the antinomian false prophets. During the time of the Prophet’s third successor Uthman رضى الله عنه there was the origin of a false religious movement arising from within the Ummah revolving around the activity of one Ibn Saba. He taught a novel doctrine that Ali bin Abi Talib رضى الله عنه was the divinely appointed successor of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم as the Prophet Joshua son of Nun was the divinely appointed successor of the Prophet Moses son of Amram على نبينا وعليهما السلام

Thus Ibn Saba sowed the seed that sprouted into the stinking plant of Shi’ism. The evil of this false religious tendency lies in its indictment of the Prophet’s Companions رضى الله عنهم who, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, acknowledged and pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr رضى الله عنه as the Prophet’s first successor or caliph. For this reason it is an unavoidable feature of Shi’ism to bear some level of enmity toward the Prophet’s Companions and the vast majority of the early Muslims, to the extent that many if not most of the Shi’ah till this day view them as apostates from Islam (God forbid) merely for not having recognized, allegedly, the Prophet’s true successor. But Allah جلّ جلاله says about the Prophet’s Companions and those who follow them in goodness:

وَالسّٰبِقُوۡنَ الۡاَوَّلُوۡنَ مِنَ الۡمُہٰجِرِیۡنَ وَالۡاَنۡصَارِ وَالَّذِیۡنَ اتَّبَعُوۡہُمۡ بِاِحۡسَانٍ ۙ رَّضِیَ اللّٰہُ عَنۡہُمۡ وَرَضُوۡا عَنۡہُ وَاَعَدَّ لَہُمۡ جَنّٰتٍ تَجۡرِیۡ تَحۡتَہَا الۡاَنۡہٰرُ خٰلِدِیۡنَ فِیۡہَاۤ اَبَدًا

And as for the foremost, the first of the Emigrants and the Helpers, and those who followed them in the best possible manner, Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him; and He has prepared for them Gardens beneath which flow rivers. They will abide therein for ever

(Surah 9:100)

The Quran itself demolishes the Satanic narrative that the majority of the Prophet’s Companions, the foremost and first community of Believers of this dispensation, committed mass apostasy and turned away from the Faith simply by acknowledging Abu Bakr and Umar رضى الله عنهما as the Prophet’s first two successors. As a matter of fact, the Quran also demolishes the idea that the Caliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar رضى الله عنهما were usurpations and therefore not blessed but illegitimate, when Allah says:

وَعَدَ اللّٰہُ الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا مِنۡکُمۡ وَعَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ لَیَسۡتَخۡلِفَنَّہُمۡ فِی الۡاَرۡضِ کَمَا اسۡتَخۡلَفَ الَّذِیۡنَ مِنۡ قَبۡلِہِمۡ ۪ وَلَیُمَکِّنَنَّ لَہُمۡ دِیۡنَہُمُ الَّذِی ارۡتَضٰی لَہُمۡ وَلَیُبَدِّلَنَّہُمۡ مِّنۡۢ بَعۡدِ خَوۡفِہِمۡ اَمۡنًا

Allah has promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely make them Successors in the earth, as He made Successors from among those who were before them; and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them; and that He will surely give them in exchange security and peace after their fear

(Surah 24:55)

The promise of Allah was that He would grant the Believers succession or khilâfah in the land and establish for them their Religion. To reject the legitimacy of the caliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar رضى الله عنهما is to belie this divine promise, it is tantamount to accusing the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم of having made a false prophecy (God forbid). But history bears testimony to the veracity of the divine promise found in both the Quran and from the utterances of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that during the caliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar رضى الله عنهما Islam triumphed, the Faith spread far and wide, there was peace and justice for the Believers, and tribulations like the Great Apostasy were overcome.