—exalted is He—

“So set your face towards the religion, inclining to truth—the natural disposition Allah has instilled in mankind. There is no changing Allah’s creation. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know {30}, turning to Him. Be mindful of Him, establish prayer, and do not be among those who associate partners with Him {31}, those who have divided their religion and become sects, each party rejoicing in what it has {32}.” [al-Rūm 30-32]

This is why the hallmark of the saved group is the Sunnah and communal unity, rather than innovation and division. The foundation of the Sunnah is affirming Allah’s oneness and worshipping Him alone, without any partner, whereas the foundation of religious innovations is associating partners with Allah, whether through lesser or greater shirk.

These purveyors of confusion say, “He cannot be divided,” “He cannot be split into parts,” “He cannot be partitioned,” and similar expressions. Had they intended only what is true, they would have done well. But what their statements really mean is that there is nothing that could conceivably be united, let alone divided, and no existing entity distinct from anything else, let alone one capable of division. They have thus taken the terms “separation” and “division,” applied them to meanings other than their familiar ones, and used them to make a denial that entails negating the reality altogether. Others have done likewise in denying knowledge, power and similar attributes, or in denying names such as the Ever-Living, the All-Knowing and the All-Powerful. Denying the attributes entails denying the names, as we have explained elsewhere.