And they were indeed the foremost, and word had reached them from their Prophet of the disagreements that would arise after the first three generations. If what you follow is guidance, then you have reached it before they did! And if you say that something new arose after them, it was introduced only by someone who followed a path other than theirs, disdained their way, and preferred what his own mind had fashioned to what they had received from their Prophet and what those who followed them faithfully had received from them.

They explained enough of these matters and spoke of them in a way that dispels doubt. Whoever falls short of them is remiss, and whoever goes beyond them is excessive. Some fell short of them and thus strayed away; others sought to go beyond them and thus went to excess. They, however, followed straight guidance between these two extremes.”