Page 199 - The Importance of the Ahl Al-Sunnah

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from the beginning.
Avoiding Extremism in Religion
All throughout history, there have been some who went to
the extremes among some of the peoples who received Allah’s
(swt) revelation. Allah (swt) created Muslims to be a moderate
people so that they would be a model to others. Muslims should
comply with this and avoid all kinds of extremism:
Say: “O People of the Book, do not go to extremes in
your religion, asserting other than the truth. And do
not follow the whims and desires of people who were
misguided previously, have misguided many others,
and are far from the right way.” (Surat al-Ma’ida, 77)
In the later years of the Prophet’s (saas) life as well as during
the period of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Kharijite
sect emerged. Although committed to their prayers, its mem-
bers became extremists and thus strayed from the Prophet’s
(saas) Sunnah. The Prophet (saas) told the Muslims to contend
with the false ideas of such people.
The Messenger of Allah (saas) did not tolerate those who
tried to portray some of their deeds, which were not part of
Islam, as part of it under the guise of fearing and respecting
Allah (taqwa). His sayings contain warnings against excess in
religion. For example:
“There is enthusiasm in every deed, and there comes a
time when that enthusiasm ends. If people feel that
enthusiasm in their deeds, they act in a moderate way. If
they carry on in this moderate manner, hope that they
succeed. If one has gone to the extremes and attracted
attention in this manner, do not consider them as one of

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