conditions that are not in the Book of Allah? Whoever stipulates a condition that is not in the Book of Allah, it is invalid, even if there are a hundred such conditions.”

“Why is it that some men scrupulously avoid things I allow myself to do? By Allah, I am the most mindful of Allah among you and know His limits best.”

“Why is it that some men say, ‘As for me, I fast and never break my fast,’ while another says, ‘As for me, I pray at night and never sleep,’ another says, ‘I do not marry women,’ and another says, ‘I do not eat meat’? Yet I fast and break my fast, pray at night and sleep, marry women, and eat meat. Whoever turns away from my sunnah is not of me.”

No one may base praise and blame, love and hatred, allegiance and enmity, or blessings and curses on designations other than those on which Allah has made them depend. Such other designations include the names of tribes and cities, schools and paths associated with imams and shaykhs, and similar labels intended for identification. As Allah Most High said:

“O mankind, We created you from a male and a female and made you peoples and tribes so that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most pious of you.”

Allah Most High also said:

“Indeed, the allies of Allah shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.”

“Those who believe and are mindful of Him.”

And He said:

“That is Paradise, which We grant as an inheritance to those of Our servants who are pious.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The family of Abū So-and-so are not my allies; my only allies are Allah and the righteous believers.”

He also said:

“Indeed, my allies are the pious, wherever they may be and whoever they may be.”

And he said:

“Allah has removed from you the arrogance of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance and its boasting of ancestry. People are of two kinds: a pious believer and a wretched evildoer.