Hence, if a statement is not found in the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger, the people are under no obligation to utter it, for obligation is taken only from the Lawgiver. Even if the statement is, in itself, true—or its proponent believes it to be true—he has no right to compel others to affirm what the Messenger never required them to say, neither by explicit text nor by inference. And if (1) this is the case, then one’s saying, “So-and-so must believe such-and-such, and must avoid such-and-such,” is tantamount to imposing that belief upon him and forbidding that action. Should they see no way for him to leave prison except by agreeing to this demand, they have deemed it lawful to punish and detain him until he obeys. Now, if what they command is not something Allah and His Messenger have commanded, and if what they forbid is not something Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, they are in the same position as those sects mentioned among the Khawarij (2), the Rawafid (3), and the Jahmites (4), who resemble the polytheists and the apostates.

It is well-known that nothing of what they claim exists in the words of Allah or His Messenger; nor have they shown that it does. Had it truly been found in the words of Allah and His Messenger, the burden would have been on them to make this clear, for punishments are not permissible until proof has been established. As the Exalted says:

“And We never punish until We have sent a messenger.” (5)

Thus, when they have failed to establish the proof of Allah (6) by which the one who opposes it becomes liable to punishment—indeed, what they assert is absent from Allah’s proof—and have even prohibited the conveyance of Allah’s and His Messenger’s proof, this constitutes one of the gravest matters, matching the condition described of the renegade Khawarij (7) who imitate the polytheists, the apostates, and the hypocrites.