and it is “Allah’s universal religion,” besides which He accepts no other religion from anyone, and with which He sent all the messengers. As He, Most High, said:

“We certainly sent a messenger to every nation, saying, ‘Worship Allah and shun false gods.’”

He, Most High, also said:

“We never sent a messenger before you without revealing to him: ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Me, so worship Me.’”

And He, Most High, said:

“Ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before you: Have We appointed gods besides the Most Merciful to be worshipped?”

And He, Most High, said:

“He has ordained for you the same religion He enjoined upon Noah, and that which We have revealed to you, and what We enjoined upon Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: uphold the religion and do not divide within it.”

He, Most High, said to all the children of Adam:

“When guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray nor suffer misery.”

“But whoever turns away from My remembrance will have a life of hardship, and We will raise him blind on the Day of Resurrection.”

In the other passage, He said:

“Whoever follows My guidance will have no fear, nor will they grieve.”

“But those who disbelieve and deny Our signs will be the inhabitants of the Fire, remaining there forever.”

Among the earliest innovations and divisions to arise within this community was “the innovation of the Khawārij,” who declared people unbelievers on account of sin. They discussed the status of the sinful member of the Muslim community. The Khawārij and the Muʿtazilah claimed that major sins—and, according to some of them, minor sins as well—can never coexist with faith. Rather, they contradict and invalidate it, just as eating and drinking invalidate fasting. They argued: “Faith consists in fulfilling what is commanded and refraining from what is forbidden. Whenever any part of it is invalidated, the whole is invalidated, as with all other composite wholes.”