—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—that he said:

“Allah has, for my sake, pardoned my community for mistakes and forgetfulness.”

This is a sound hadith narrated by Ibn Mājah and others. The Companions and all the other imams of the Muslims unanimously agreed that not everyone who makes an erroneous statement thereby becomes an unbeliever, even if his statement contradicts the Sunnah. Declaring everyone who errs an unbeliever therefore contradicts scholarly consensus. There are, however, disagreements concerning questions of declaring people unbelievers, which have been discussed at length elsewhere.

And (the point here is that no group affiliated with a particular shaykh or imam is entitled to declare those outside its ranks unbelievers. Rather, it is authentically reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“If a man says to his brother, ‘You unbeliever,’ one of them has incurred that charge.”

He also said:

“A Muslim is a Muslim’s brother: he neither wrongs him nor abandons him. Everything belonging to a Muslim is inviolable to another Muslim: his blood, his property, and his honour.”

And he said:

“Do not sever ties with one another, turn your backs on one another, hate one another, or envy one another. Be brothers, O servants of Allah.”

And he said:

“The believers, in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion, are like a single body: when one part suffers, the rest of the body responds with fever and sleeplessness.”

Those affiliated with Ibn Marzūq are not entitled to prohibit intermarriage with those affiliated with al-Awfī on the grounds that they consider them unsuitable matches. Rather, the most honoured people in Allah’s sight are those most mindful of Him, whatever group they belong to, whether these groups or others. As the Exalted says:

“O mankind, indeed We created you from