from Allah; and he forbade them to make any distinction between the messengers. In the Book he brought, the Almighty says:
“Say, ‘We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus, and to all the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we submit.
If they believe in the same as you have believed, they are rightly guided; but if they turn away, they are only mired in hostility. Allah will suffice you against them, for He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.’” (Qur’an 2:136–137)
He also says:
“The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. Each of them believes in Allah, His angels, His books and His messengers. ‘We make no distinction between any of His messengers.’ They say, ‘We hear and we obey. Your forgiveness, our Lord; to You is the journey’s end.’
Allah does not burden any soul beyond its capacity; it will have whatever [good] it has earned, and it will bear whatever [evil] it has incurred…” (Qur’an 2:285–286)
His community—peace and blessings be upon him—do not hold it lawful to take anything of the religion except what he brought. They do not introduce innovations for which Allah has sent down no authority, nor do they legislate any part of the religion without His permission. Rather, the reports he related to them about the prophets and their nations they take as admonition; whatever the People of the Book narrate that accords with what they possess, they affirm; whatever they cannot verify as true or false they refrain from judging; and whatever they recognize as false they declare false. Anyone who brings into the religion something that does not belong to it—whether the philosophical opinions of the Indians, Persians, Greeks, or others—is, in their view, among the atheists and innovators.
This is the religion upon which the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and the Successors after them, stood. It is the path followed by the leading Imams whose good repute endures in the community, and by the great majority of Muslims. Whoever departs from it is censured and rejected by the community. This is the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah, the manifest group that will remain triumphant until the Day of Resurrection, concerning whom the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“A group of my community will continue to be manifest upon the truth, unharmed by those who oppose them or forsake them, until the Hour is established.”
Some Muslims may dispute among themselves, yet all agree on this foundational principle, which is the religion of all the messengers in general and of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, in particular. Whoever rejects this principle is, in their sight, an impious atheist. They are not like the Christians, who invented a religion that was embraced by their eminent scholars and ascetics, fought for by their kings, and adopted by the masses, though it is an innovated creed, neither the religion of Christ nor of any other prophet.
Allah, exalted is He, sent His messengers with beneficial knowledge and righteous action. Whoever follows the messengers attains happiness in this world and the next. Innovation only entered among those who were deficient in following the prophets in knowledge and in deed. When Allah sent Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, with guidance and the religion of truth, his community received that from him. Every beneficial knowledge and righteous action they possess they took from their Prophet. Thus every rational person sees that his community surpasses all nations in every virtue, intellectual and practical. It is evident that whatever perfection exists in the learned disciple must exist more fully in the original teacher, which necessitates that he, peace and blessings be upon him, was the most perfect of people in knowledge and in religion.