and submit fully.”

Allah Most High also said:

“And this is My straight path, so follow it, and do not follow other paths, for they will lead you away from His path.”

Allah Most High also said:

“Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects—you have nothing to do with them. Their affair rests only with Allah; then He will inform them of what they used to do.”

Allah Most High also said:

“So set your face toward the religion, inclining to truth—the natural disposition upon which Allah created mankind. There is no changing Allah’s creation. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know.”

“Turn to Him in repentance, fear Him, establish prayer, and do not be among those who associate partners with Him.”

“Among those who divided their religion and became sects, each faction rejoicing in what it has.”

He also said:

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

These texts and others make clear that Allah sent the messengers and revealed the scriptures to distinguish truth from falsehood and clarify the matters over which people differed. They show that people must follow what has been sent down to them from their Lord and refer their disputes to the Quran and the Sunnah; that whoever does not follow this is a hypocrite; that whoever follows the guidance brought by the messengers will neither go astray nor suffer misery; and that whoever turns away from it will be gathered blind, astray, wretched, and subjected to punishment. They also show that Allah and His Messenger have disavowed those who divided their religion.

Thus, Imam Ahmad followed the way of his predecessors among the imams of the Sunnah and the community, who held fast