—as for those whose faces turn black, they will be told: ‘Did you disbelieve after having believed? Then taste the punishment for your disbelief.’”

“As for those whose faces turn white, they will be within Allah’s mercy, abiding therein forever.”

Ibn ‘Abbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: “The faces of the people of the Sunnah will turn white, and the faces of the people of innovation will turn black.” Consider, then—may Allah have mercy upon you—how Allah called for unity and forbade division. In another verse, He said:

“Indeed, those who divided their religion and became sects—you have nothing to do with them.”

Thus He dissociated His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, from those who divided their religion and became sects. Likewise, He forbade us to divide and differ, saying:

“Do not be like those who became divided and differed after clear proofs had come to them.”

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, disapproved of disputation that leads to disagreement and division. He came out to a group of his Companions who were disputing about divine decree. His face looked as though pomegranate seeds had been crushed upon it, and he said:

“Is this what you were commanded to do? Is this what you were called to—to set one part of Allah’s Book against another? Those before you were destroyed for this very reason: they set one part of Allah’s Book against another.”

‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: “I have never felt more fortunate than I did for not having been present at that gathering.” Abū Dāwūd related this hadith in his Sunan, as did others, and the core of the account is found in the two Sahīh collections.

The well-known hadith reported from him, peace and blessings be upon him, in the Sunan collections and elsewhere states that he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “My community will split into seventy-three sects