and His Messenger have made obligatory, nor to forbid them anything save what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden. Whoever declares obligatory that which Allah and His Messenger have not declared obligatory, or forbids what Allah and His Messenger have not forbidden, has legislated in the religion something for which Allah has granted no permission. Such conduct is precisely what Allah condemned in His Book concerning the polytheists and the People of the Scripture who fashioned for themselves a religion that Allah had not ordained and prohibited what Allah had never made unlawful. Allah laid this out clearly in Sûrat al-Anʿâm, al-Aʿrâf, Barâʾah, and other chapters.

Hence, one of the hallmarks of the people of innovation is that they devise a new opinion or practice, then oblige the people to adopt it, coerce them into it, or grant loyalty on its basis and show enmity toward those who abandon it. The Khârijites invented their doctrine, imposed it on the people, and loved or hated others over it; the Râfiḍites did the same; and the Jahmites likewise introduced their creed, compelled the people to accept it, and formed alliances and hostilities upon it—especially when they wielded power during the rule of the three caliphs in whose days the leading scholars were put to trial to make them conform to the teaching of Jahm, whose starting point was the claim that the Qur’an is created. They even punished those who refused to concur with them.

It is self-evident, by the necessary knowledge of the Muslim faith, that such behavior is among the prohibited abominations, for punishment is only permissible for neglecting an obligation or committing a forbidden act, and coercion is allowed solely in those two cases. Declaring something obligatory or forbidden belongs exclusively to Allah and to His Messenger. Whoever punishes for an action or an omission without a command from Allah and His Messenger and then establishes that as part of the religion has set up a rival to Allah and a peer to His Messenger, resembling the polytheists who ascribe partners to Allah and the apostates who believed in Musaylimah the Liar. Concerning such a person it was said:

“Or do they have partners who have prescribed for them in religion that for which Allah has given no leave?” (1)

For this reason the leading scholars of the Sunnah and the mainstream community never compelled the people to follow their own conclusions in matters of ijtihâd, nor did they force anyone to adopt them. When Hârûn al-Rashîd consulted Mâlik ibn Anas about obliging the populace to follow his Muwaṭṭaʾ, Mâlik said to him:

“Do not do that, O Commander of the Faithful. The Companions of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—dispersed to distant lands, and each people took knowledge from those who were among them. What I have collected is only the learning of the scholars of my own city,” or words to that effect. Mâlik also said, “I am but a human being: I may be right and I may be wrong. Therefore, weigh my words against the Book and the Sunnah.”