Surah Al-Baqara (2) — Ayah 213

(Ayah 213) ➊ In this verse, it has been revealed as a historical fact that the beginning of humanity was not with disbelief, polytheism, and the worship of magnificent creations such as the sun, moon, fire, air, water, angels, and righteous humans, etc., but rather with pure monotheism. In the beginning, all humans had only one religion of monotheism and belonged to one community. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "Between Adam and Noah (peace be upon them) there were ten generations (one thousand years). All of them were upon the true Shariah (monotheism), then (due to the deception of Satan, polytheism entered among them and) differences arose among them, so Allah sent (Noah, peace be upon him, and other) prophets." [ طبری و حاکم 442/2، ح : ۳۶۵۴، بسند صحیح] Then prophets continued to come, and books were revealed to them, so that they could bring people out of differences and towards divine guidance. In this verse, {”فَبَعَثَ اللّٰهُ“} is connected to an omitted phrase, that is, {”فَاخْتَلَفُوْا فَبَعَثَ اللّٰہُ“} "So they differed, then Allah sent prophets." (Kabir, Ibn Jarir) See also Surah Yunus (21).
➋ {فَهَدَى اللّٰهُ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا لِمَا اخْتَلَفُوْا فِيْهِ مِنَ الْحَقِّ بِاِذْنِهٖ :} That is, the differences in the previous communities did not arise due to ignorance, but because of mutual jealousy, stubbornness, and rebellion, which caused them to split into sects and thus they went astray. Now Allah, by sending His last Prophet and revealing His last Book to him, has decided all differences, and by His special grace {”بِاِذْنِهٖ“} has guided the believers to the straight path. (Baydawi, Fath al-Bayan) It should be clear that in the Ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him), in the beginning, there was no difference in religion either; all the righteous predecessors acted directly upon the Quran and Hadith instead of following any individual. Among them, there was no division of Shia and Sunni, nor was there any Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Naqshbandi, Qadiri, Suhrawardi, or Chishti. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "You will surely follow the ways of those before you, just as one span matches another, and one cubit matches another, so much so that if they entered the hole of a lizard, you would follow them." It was asked: "O Messenger of Allah! Do you mean the Jews and Christians?" He said: "Then who else?" [ بخاری، أحادیث الأنبیاء، باب ما ذکر عن بنی إسرائیل : ۳۴۵۶۔ مسلم : ۲۶۶۹] According to this statement of his, when in this Ummah too, like the People of the Book, blind following of personal opinions and undue support for one's own group became rigid, and people began to consider the sayings of men as religion instead of the Quran and Hadith, the Ummah split into various sects and was destroyed. Only those remained safe who adhered directly to the Quran and Sunnah and did not become part of any new group. [ وَلِلّٰہِ الْحَمْدُ]
➌ When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would get up at night, he would begin his night prayer with this supplication: [ اَللّٰھُمَّ رَبَّ جِبْرَائِیْلَ وَ مِیْکَائِیْلَ وَ اِسْرَافِیْلَ، فَاطِرَ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَالْاَرْضِ، عَالِمَ الْغَیْبِ وَالشَّہَادَۃِ أَنْتَ تَحْکُمُ بَیْنَ عِبَادِکَ فِیْمَا کَانُوْا فِیْہِ یَخْتَلِفُوْنَ، اہْدِنِیْ لِمَا اخْتُلِفَ فِیْہِ مِنَ الْحَقِّ بِاِذْنِکَ اِنَّکَ تَہْدِیْ مَنْ تَشَاءُ إِلٰی صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِیْمٍ] [ مسلم، صلٰوۃ المسافرین، باب صلوۃ النبی صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم ودعاء ہ باللیل : ۷۷۰]