Since Allah Most High sent Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, people have fallen into three categories: an avowed disbeliever, a concealed hypocrite, or a believer whose inward and outward states are in accord, as Allah Most High mentions these three categories at the beginning of Sūrat al-Baqarah. A person must therefore stand with the believers, inwardly and outwardly. Whatever statement or deed people dispute, he must refer it to the Quran and Sunnah.

It is not permissible to establish a particular faction, allying oneself with its allies and opposing its enemies—whether a group narrower than the believers, or one bearing names used merely for identification, such as the Mālikīs, Shāfi‘īs, Hanbalīs, and others; nor may it be a broader grouping that includes both Muslims and disbelievers, such as the category of inquiry and reason, or worship in general, and the like. Love and hatred, allegiance and enmity may be made contingent only upon designations established by revelation. As for identifying designations, such as lineage and tribal affiliation, these may be used to identify those whom they denote; their conformity to or departure from revealed law must then be considered.

That being so, the first person known to have used this term in Islam was ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd, the leader of