Understanding Doctrinal Conflicts in Islam

The question of how creed is acquired

This is a very, very long disagreement

that has resulted in the problems and hardships we see today.

Look, consider, for example, the Chechnya Conference and what happened there.

Brothers, isn't it time for this, for this matter, to stop?

Isn't it time for what happened over the

many, many centuries of disputes that led to bloodshed

and to the destruction and depopulation of cities

because of doctrinal issues and differences? Isn't it time for it to stop?

So how do we stop this disagreement? By returning to the Prophetic biography.

It is the decisive judgment. How did the Prophet, may God bless him

and his family and grant them peace, teach his companions the creed?

So we teach people as he taught, may my father and mother be sacrificed for him, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace.

and stop the prolonged disputes that preoccupied Muslims

so much, divided their ranks, and sowed hatred among them

resentment and the desire of every group

to prevail over the other. Look at history.

We are in a place of hope and in a context of hope, otherwise

I would bring you astonishing sayings, circumstances, and deeds of the utmost

strangeness. You would marvel at them. Today's events pale by comparison.

Ahead of it. And why? Straying from the Prophetic methodology.

We do not want to triumph now. To say, by God, the methodology of so-and-so, or the methodology of the Salaf

and the methodology of the Khalaf. We do not want that at all. We mean the methodology

of the Prophet, to which we return. We may have said the methodology

of the Salaf, or the methodology of the Khalaf, or some such methodology. No, everyone championed his own group, and it never

ends. Victories in books over centuries, a thousand years

over the course of

a thousand years, everyone championing his own group. We do not want that. We want

to return to the Prophetic methodology. And we have a very wonderful experience in the modern

era, the experience of Yemen's wise men. And the Prophet,

peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned that wisdom is Yemeni.

What did the people of Yemen do after their blessed revolution against

the Imamate? What did they do? A group of

their wise men came, and how many they are, and their sensible men, and how

many they are. They came and thought about what to do with reality.

The reality was that the mountain people were Zaydis and the people of Tihamah were

Shafi'is. All right, what should we do with these mountain people? They are people of

resolve,

strength, toughness, difficulty,

sacrifice, giving, and strength, as is well known.

They came up with a brilliant idea: the Prophetic methodology.

The Prophetic methodology. They created a curriculum on

creed, from beginning to end. It contains no

“The Salaf said,” or “So-and-so said.” “No imam said this.” Never. Never.

Never. It was all, “God said,

the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said.” Who could reject what God and His

Messenger said? All sects agree on this. They created

a magnificent, wonderful methodology, truly. I examined it. It was extremely

beautiful and powerful. “God said such-and-such.” “His Messenger, peace be upon him, said such-and-such.”

That’s all. That’s it. Naturally, this was before,

approximately 40 years ago, a few years after the revolution.

Naturally, the young children

in schools and institutes who were raised on this methodology

became Sunni automatically. Today, most

mountain people are Sunni, after

the overwhelming vast majority were

Zaydi Shiites. Today, most mountain people are Sunni,

by the grace of God Almighty. How could Zaydi families for a thousand years and a thousand

years change through this wonderful method?

Serene, far removed from disputes and problems,

wise, venerable, great, and wonderful.

A fact I greatly admire, so young people grew up on "God said"

and "His Messenger said," no longer on "the predecessors said" or "the successors said" or "Imam So-and-So said"

or "Imam Such-and-Such said." We emerged from the crucible of disagreement

that was distressing and bothersome, which lasted for a thousand years

in the الأمة. So we say this is also an issue to consider.

The biography gives us a wonderful method in this matter.