to follow this view and subject them to this ruling, which contradicts the Quran, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus? How can it be declared that the view supported by the Quran, the Sunnah, and the statements of the early generations must neither be expressed nor made the basis of a fatwa? Instead, those who issue fatwas according to it, those who voice it, and others besides are punished and harmed. Muslims suffer harm to their persons, families, and property because they have followed what they know of the religion of Islam, even if others remain unaware of it. Yet they excuse those who are unaware of it, neither compel them to follow them nor transgress against them.
How, then, can those who do not know the truth be supported, while judgment is passed in ignorance and injustice, and those who possess knowledge of the Messenger’s law be compelled, for this reason, to abandon what they know of his law—may Allah bless him and grant him peace? There is no doubt that this is a grave matter before Allah Most High, His angels, His prophets, and His servants. Allah is not heedless of such things. Nor is the right at issue here the personal right of any created being. Those who have followed what they know of the Messenger’s law—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—have wronged no one in life, property, or honour, and no one has any claim against them.
Rather, they have said: “We follow what we know of the religion of Islam and what the Quran and the Sunnah have brought concerning Allah’s oneness and the worship of Him without any partner. We worship Allah alone, and we worship Him through what His Messenger commanded and prescribed as religion. Whatever Allah’s Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—calls us to and commands us to do, we obey him in it. Whatever the Messenger has established as religion, a means of drawing near to Allah, obedience, a good deed, righteous action, and goodness, we hear and obey Allah and His Messenger concerning it. We believe it to be a means of drawing near to Allah and an act of obedience; we practise it, love those who act upon it, and call others to it. And whatever we have been forbidden