✍ Written by: Abu al-Qasim Naveed Shaukat
Some individuals continuously strive to spread innovations and baseless practices. When they fail to provide any solid evidence for their actions, they often try to mislead the common people by saying things like:
“We are the majority,”
or
“Can so many people all be wrong?”
However, the standard for judging any matter as truth or falsehood is the Qur'an and Sunnah. If a matter does not meet the criterion of the Qur'an and Sunnah, it is deemed false – regardless of how many people adhere to it.
From the study of the Qur'an and Hadith, it becomes evident that the group adhering to the truth has always been small in number. As Allah Almighty states:
وَإِن تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَن فِي الْأَرْضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
❖ (Surah al-An‘ām: 116)
“And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you from the way of Allah.”
It is narrated from Sayyidunā ʿAwf bin Mālik رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
افترقت اليهود على إحدى وسبعين فرقة فواحدة في الجنة وسبعون في النار، وافترقت النصارى على اثنتين وسبعين فرقة، فإحدى وسبعون في النار وواحدة في الجنة، والذي نفس محمد بيده! لتفترقن أمتي على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة، واحدة في الجنة واثنتان وسبعون في النار
قيل: يا رسول الله! من هم؟
قال: الجماعة
❖ (Sunan Ibn Mājah: 3992 – This ḥadīth is ḥasan)
“The Jews split into seventy-one sects – one will be in Paradise and seventy in Hell. The Christians split into seventy-two sects – one in Paradise and seventy-one in Hell. By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad! My Ummah will surely split into seventy-three sects – one in Paradise and seventy-two in Hell.”
It was asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Who are they?”
He ﷺ replied: ‘The Jama‘ah (the group that adheres to the truth).’
Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh bin Masʿūd رضي الله عنه said:
إن الجماعة ما وافق طاعة الله
❖ (Musnad al-Shāmiyyīn by al-Ṭabarānī, p. 138, ḥadīth 220 – Chain is ḥasan)
“The Jama‘ah is that which conforms to the obedience of Allah.”
Imām Abū ʿUthmān Ismāʿīl bin ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣābūnī (d. 449 AH) stated:
وأَنا بفضل الله عز وجل متبع لآثارهم، مستضيء بأنوارهم، ناصح إخواني وأصحابي ألا يزيغوا عن منارهم ولا يتبعوا غير أقوالهم، ولا يشتغلوا بهذا المحدثات من البدع التي اشتهرت فيما بين المسلمين، وظهرت وانتشرت، ولو جرت واحدة منها على لسان واحد في عصر أولئك الأئمة لهجروه، ويدعوه، وكذبوه، وأصابوه بكل سوء ومكروه...
ولا يغرنّ إخواني -حفظهم الله- كثرة أهل البدع ووفور عددهم، فإن ذلك من أمارات اقتراب الساعة...
إذ الرسول المصطفى ﷺ قال:
"إن من علامات الساعة واقترابها أن يقل العلم ويكثر الجهل"
والعلم هو السنة، والجهل هو البدعة.
❖ (ʿAqīdat al-Salaf wa Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth, p. 316)
“I, by the grace of Allah Almighty, follow the traces of the Salaf and benefit from their light. I advise my brothers and companions not to deviate from their signs, not to follow opinions other than theirs, and not to engage in these newly-invented innovations that have spread among the Muslims. If even one of these innovations had been spoken during the time of those Imams, they would have shunned him, abandoned him, declared him a liar, and treated him harshly.
My brothers – may Allah protect them – must not be deceived by the large number of people involved in innovations. This abundance is one of the signs of the Hour approaching, as the Messenger ﷺ said:
‘Among the signs of the Hour and its closeness is that knowledge will decrease and ignorance will increase.’
Knowledge is the Sunnah, and ignorance is innovation.”
Imām Abū Shāmah (d. 665 AH) said:
وحيث جاء الأمر بلزوم الجماعة فالمراد به لزوم الحق واتباعه، وإن كان المتمسك بالحق قليلاً والمخالف له كثيراً، لأن الحق هو الذي كانت عليه الجماعة الأولى من النبي ﷺ وأصحابه رضي الله عنهم، ولا نظر إلى كثرة أهل الباطل بعدهم
❖ (al-Bāʿith ʿalā Inkār al-Bidaʿ wa al-Ḥawādith, p. 20; alt. print p. 24)
“Wherever the command to stick to the Jama‘ah has been given, it means clinging to the truth and following it, even if the one adhering to the truth is few and the opposition is many. Because the truth is that upon which the first Jama‘ah of the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions رضي الله عنهم were. One must not look toward the large number of people upon falsehood after them.”
Imām Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said:
واعلم أن الإجماع والحجة والسواد الأعظم هو العالم صاحب الحق، وإن كان وحده، وإن خالفه أهل الأرض
❖ (Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn, vol. 3, p. 358)
“Know that the consensus, the proof, and the real ‘great majority’ (sawād al-aʿẓam) is the knowledgeable person who adheres to the truth, even if he is alone and the rest of the world opposes him.”
From all the above evidences, it is clear that if a practice is followed by the majority but has no support in Qur’an and Sunnah, it remains a rejected innovation, and not something acceptable merely due to majority consensus.
◈ Majority is not a criterion for truth.
◈ Truth is what conforms to the Qur’an and Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salaf al-Ṣāliḥīn.
May Allah protect us from all innovations and superstitions, and grant us the ability to understand and implement Qur’an and Sunnah according to the methodology of the righteous predecessors. Āmīn.
❖ Is Majority a Proof of Being on the Truth?
Some individuals continuously strive to spread innovations and baseless practices. When they fail to provide any solid evidence for their actions, they often try to mislead the common people by saying things like:
“We are the majority,”
or
“Can so many people all be wrong?”
However, the standard for judging any matter as truth or falsehood is the Qur'an and Sunnah. If a matter does not meet the criterion of the Qur'an and Sunnah, it is deemed false – regardless of how many people adhere to it.
From the study of the Qur'an and Hadith, it becomes evident that the group adhering to the truth has always been small in number. As Allah Almighty states:
وَإِن تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَن فِي الْأَرْضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
❖ (Surah al-An‘ām: 116)
“And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you from the way of Allah.”
❖ The Ummah Will Be Divided – Only One Group Will Be Saved
It is narrated from Sayyidunā ʿAwf bin Mālik رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
افترقت اليهود على إحدى وسبعين فرقة فواحدة في الجنة وسبعون في النار، وافترقت النصارى على اثنتين وسبعين فرقة، فإحدى وسبعون في النار وواحدة في الجنة، والذي نفس محمد بيده! لتفترقن أمتي على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة، واحدة في الجنة واثنتان وسبعون في النار
قيل: يا رسول الله! من هم؟
قال: الجماعة
❖ (Sunan Ibn Mājah: 3992 – This ḥadīth is ḥasan)
“The Jews split into seventy-one sects – one will be in Paradise and seventy in Hell. The Christians split into seventy-two sects – one in Paradise and seventy-one in Hell. By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad! My Ummah will surely split into seventy-three sects – one in Paradise and seventy-two in Hell.”
It was asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Who are they?”
He ﷺ replied: ‘The Jama‘ah (the group that adheres to the truth).’
❖ Who Is the Jama‘ah?
Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh bin Masʿūd رضي الله عنه said:
إن الجماعة ما وافق طاعة الله
❖ (Musnad al-Shāmiyyīn by al-Ṭabarānī, p. 138, ḥadīth 220 – Chain is ḥasan)
“The Jama‘ah is that which conforms to the obedience of Allah.”
❖ Warning from the Imams of the Salaf
Imām Abū ʿUthmān Ismāʿīl bin ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣābūnī (d. 449 AH) stated:
وأَنا بفضل الله عز وجل متبع لآثارهم، مستضيء بأنوارهم، ناصح إخواني وأصحابي ألا يزيغوا عن منارهم ولا يتبعوا غير أقوالهم، ولا يشتغلوا بهذا المحدثات من البدع التي اشتهرت فيما بين المسلمين، وظهرت وانتشرت، ولو جرت واحدة منها على لسان واحد في عصر أولئك الأئمة لهجروه، ويدعوه، وكذبوه، وأصابوه بكل سوء ومكروه...
ولا يغرنّ إخواني -حفظهم الله- كثرة أهل البدع ووفور عددهم، فإن ذلك من أمارات اقتراب الساعة...
إذ الرسول المصطفى ﷺ قال:
"إن من علامات الساعة واقترابها أن يقل العلم ويكثر الجهل"
والعلم هو السنة، والجهل هو البدعة.
❖ (ʿAqīdat al-Salaf wa Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth, p. 316)
“I, by the grace of Allah Almighty, follow the traces of the Salaf and benefit from their light. I advise my brothers and companions not to deviate from their signs, not to follow opinions other than theirs, and not to engage in these newly-invented innovations that have spread among the Muslims. If even one of these innovations had been spoken during the time of those Imams, they would have shunned him, abandoned him, declared him a liar, and treated him harshly.
My brothers – may Allah protect them – must not be deceived by the large number of people involved in innovations. This abundance is one of the signs of the Hour approaching, as the Messenger ﷺ said:
‘Among the signs of the Hour and its closeness is that knowledge will decrease and ignorance will increase.’
Knowledge is the Sunnah, and ignorance is innovation.”
❖ True Adherence to the Jama‘ah Means Clinging to the Truth
Imām Abū Shāmah (d. 665 AH) said:
وحيث جاء الأمر بلزوم الجماعة فالمراد به لزوم الحق واتباعه، وإن كان المتمسك بالحق قليلاً والمخالف له كثيراً، لأن الحق هو الذي كانت عليه الجماعة الأولى من النبي ﷺ وأصحابه رضي الله عنهم، ولا نظر إلى كثرة أهل الباطل بعدهم
❖ (al-Bāʿith ʿalā Inkār al-Bidaʿ wa al-Ḥawādith, p. 20; alt. print p. 24)
“Wherever the command to stick to the Jama‘ah has been given, it means clinging to the truth and following it, even if the one adhering to the truth is few and the opposition is many. Because the truth is that upon which the first Jama‘ah of the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions رضي الله عنهم were. One must not look toward the large number of people upon falsehood after them.”
❖ True Majority Is the One Upon Truth
Imām Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said:
واعلم أن الإجماع والحجة والسواد الأعظم هو العالم صاحب الحق، وإن كان وحده، وإن خالفه أهل الأرض
❖ (Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn, vol. 3, p. 358)
“Know that the consensus, the proof, and the real ‘great majority’ (sawād al-aʿẓam) is the knowledgeable person who adheres to the truth, even if he is alone and the rest of the world opposes him.”
❖ Conclusion
From all the above evidences, it is clear that if a practice is followed by the majority but has no support in Qur’an and Sunnah, it remains a rejected innovation, and not something acceptable merely due to majority consensus.
◈ Majority is not a criterion for truth.
◈ Truth is what conforms to the Qur’an and Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salaf al-Ṣāliḥīn.
May Allah protect us from all innovations and superstitions, and grant us the ability to understand and implement Qur’an and Sunnah according to the methodology of the righteous predecessors. Āmīn.