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Are We Helping Create A New Sect In Islam By Calling People Quranists?
I have read a question or two in this forum calling other people Quranites to those Muslims who overwhelmingly rely on Quran for guidance. This is not the name that these people who rely on Quran came up with, nor they associate themselves with any sect except calling themselves Muslims. Instead it is other Muslims who believe in Quran, Sunnah and Hadith created this name and associating others who rely on Quran exclusively.
To my understanding it is a great sin to create or associate people with any sect. My belief is that it may be a great sin just to say a sect’s name or associate others with a sect…basically promoting division and secteraianism between Muslims.
What is Ghamidi Sahib’s opinion about creating sects by calling others with a specific name?
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6 Replies
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Are We Helping Create A New Sect In Islam By Calling People Quranists?
updated 3 years, 3 months ago
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6
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There’s a difference between labeling people, and using a term to describe an underlying philosophy of a certain group. It’s not possible to explain a doctrine every time in a discussion when referring to that doctrine, hence it’s inevitable to use some terminology in order to communicate a point. Unfortunately there’s no practical way around it. What must be kept in mind though is that despite differences of opinion, the entire humanity and more specifically all Muslims are our brothers and sisters.
That said, I am not aware of any posts on Ask Ghamidi that uses these terms in derogatory or a negative manner. If you ever come across any such posts, please don’t hesitate to report them to any moderator.
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Thsnk you for your answer Faisal. I still believe saying the name of a sect creates a separation and perpetuates a difference that eventually turns into animosity. Rather than giving a name to a certain group of people and contributing in creating a sect…a great sin… Instead of calling people with a group name, I would rather say those people who overwhelmingly rely on Quran or those who excessively rely on Hadith or those who lement death of Hussain pbuh….just to be careful I do not commit any sin. I would encourage others to do so too.
For example, we divided Pakistan into provinces for better governance, such as each province is named and now people of that province are called by province name. Now there is animosity and division amongst Pakistanis at certain level based on the province they live…when we are all Muslims and citizens of the same country….such is the nature of humans!
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In your example do you think that things would have been any better if we referred to people with names such as “those who live in Balochistan” or “those who live in Punjab”?
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I agree the bottom line issue is hate, not grouping people. But Islam has allowed tribal system for recognition. The names can’t be based on faith or based on key differences.
Aside this, I am talking about human psychology. Normally to perpetuate difference, instill hate and instill feeling of being others, a name is given to a group. Without a specific name it is difficult for humans to create separation.
Example. Human communities are drawn or growth is limited by natural boindaries, such as rivers or hills, etc. Even when there is a bridge on the river or a road through the hill communities don’t easily expand beyond those minor inconveniences of crossing the river or driving through a hill.
Similarly, just the inconvenience of describing the main difference in another group helps avoid creating a sect and focuses on the difference, rather than blanket statement of “Others”.
Now to your example of province. If there was no province of Blochistan, how would prople differenciate or hate other group. I agree, the bottom line issue is hate of others, not the name by itself, but the name helps facilitate the sence of others.
What if we rotate the names of each province every 4 years with the name of another province, what will people say…for example, If they hate Sindhi and then their provine name changes to Sindh…it would take a while for people to adjust and they will no longer be able to say “I hate Sindhis” as that would be their own province name.
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Just by changing words, the underlying act of categorization doesn’t change. Instead of saying Quranists we can say “those people who overwhelmingly rely on Quran” as per your suggestion, however, all that achieves is using more words to express the same idea. Materially, there’s no difference between the two.
It is the intent of the categorization that makes the difference. If the categorization is done in order to communicate or even object to an ideology then there’s no harm. However, if the same categorization is done to create a sense of otherness then it’s definitely objectionable. Also if the group of people referred to object on a certain name, or that name is derogatory in any manner, then of course it should not be used even to communicate an ideology.
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Thanks for angreat discussion. This thread is getting long. I will start a new thread by asking a question. How new sects are created? Could there be a new one called Ghamidi?
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