The fear of religious schools of thought

The response will be casual, and the duration will be short. Now, thirty days later on December 1st, tell the same cleric that one of your friends has left the sect. Note their reaction and its duration as well.

We present our sect’s viewpoint regarding religion so that it reaches others and they may adopt it, but why do we demean other sects? We do so to create an aversion to them among our followers, keeping them away. We also arrange for religious edicts (fatwas) to further solidify this setup. The sad part of this situation is that some go as far as to declare others as infidels (takfir), but even those who don’t engage in takfir create an environment where it seems like adopting another sect is akin to approaching disbelief.

Among these fearful elements, those who are most afraid make it their primary mission to abandon the call to religion and instead focus on degrading the opposing sect. Such people often carry fancy titles, whereas genuine preachers like Dr. Zakir Naik, Tariq Jameel, and Saqib Raza Mustafai have no heavy titles. You will always hear them referred to by the names given by their parents. However, if a cleric has an agenda of insulting another sect, you’ll notice the pompous titles they carry.

What does this indicate? It shows that service to the sect is considered more important than service to religion. When you abandon the service of God and His Prophet and begin to serve the sect, you are rewarded with grandiose titles.

Now, I ask you a question that may shake your soul the moment you hear it, but you must not panic. Do not give me an answer. I don’t need a response. All I want is for you to ponder this question in solitude, repeatedly. If you reflect on it in light of the teachings of God and His Prophet, you will inevitably conclude that you are a victim of unnecessary fear. But if you contemplate it under the teachings of your sect’s elders, you will live in fear for the rest of your life. The question is:

“If someone leaves our sect, what harm does it cause to that person or our sect?”

Does that person leave the fold of Islam? Do they become hell-bound? Does God and His angels start hating them? And the most important follow-up question: Was that person guaranteed heaven while staying in your sect? Is there anything in the Quran or the Hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ that mentions a system of sects in Islam, where you must attach yourself to one and avoid the others?

People often refer to the hadith about the 72 sects, but even there, it’s not clearly stated what the beliefs and signs of the true sect would be. However, both God and the Prophet ﷺ are known for clearly distinguishing right from wrong. For example, when God speaks briefly, He says:

“Those who believe and do good deeds are the people of Paradise.”

Did you notice how God describes the signs of the people of Paradise? Similarly, the Prophet ﷺ has made many statements about the signs of a believer. He also clarified who is “not from us.” If sects had any religious basis, would God and His Prophet ﷺ have left us without clear guidance regarding them?

Now let’s get to the main point. What you have read so far does not mean that sects are meaningless or should not exist. It would be absurd to think that the existence of sects is unnecessary. However, there is a need to understand how sects come into existence. Let me explain it to you in simple terms.

In a household, a question arises: what should be cooked for dinner? Two children suggest making karahi, while two others suggest vegetables. Both sides give their reasons in support of their preference. These become two opinions. As soon as two opinions are formed, two sects are created, even if only for a few minutes.

Similarly, when the question arises of which political party is best for running the country, 72 opinions emerge, forming 72 political sects. Even those parties that have never won a single seat still believe they are the best for the country.

For simplicity’s sake, I referred to political parties as sects. In reality, political ideologies like socialism, liberalism, etc., also exist. Those who object to the presence of religious sects are themselves part of some political sect. You won’t find them asking, “Why are there so many ‘isms’? Let’s abolish them.” No! They are fiercely loyal to their political sects and will fight for them.

Religious sects came into existence in a similar way. Some new religious questions arose, and a group of scholars answered them according to their understanding. Another group of scholars presented a different answer, with their own reasoning. These became two opinions, and the people who were not scholars but ordinary citizens, waiting for an answer to their questions, sided with one of these opinions. Thus, two sects were born.

If you examine this closely, you’ll notice that every jurist has a certain “intellectual temperament.” They approach issues based on that temperament. Some jurists tend to be more rigid in their opinions, while others are more lenient. As a result, people with a softer disposition follow the opinions of a more lenient jurist, while those with a stricter mindset follow the stricter scholars.

So, differences in opinion are natural. It is impossible for two people, even if they live together, to agree on every matter. The mistake in our times is that sects have become so afraid of losing members that they’ve caused division within the Muslim community of the Prophet ﷺ. If you ask a Hanafi what happens if someone becomes a Shafi’i, Maliki, or Hanbali, they’ll say: “No problem, all four are right.”

But ask them the same question about a local sect, like Deobandi or Barelvi, and you’ll see their reaction change. Do you know why a follower of the Hanafi school can so easily claim that adopting the Shafi’i, Maliki, or Hanbali school is fine? Because they know these schools don’t exist in Pakistan, so there’s no threat of anyone switching to them. Without that threat, they can acknowledge the truth.

We guarantee you that if you were to establish three mosques in Pakistan—one for the Maliki school, one for the Shafi’i school, and one for the Hanbali school—and start distributing literature inviting people to these schools, you would soon see someone from the Hanafi school rise up and “set things straight.”

Finally, let me leave you with this thought: the promotion of hatred is pure commercialism. These sects are no longer just sects—they’ve become “brands.” But their behavior is substandard. They don’t even realize that companies like Mercedes don’t market themselves by spreading hate against BMW. Nor does BMW engage in propaganda against Mercedes. Each brand highlights its own strengths. So why are you wasting your time demeaning other brands instead of promoting the strengths of your own?