arising from an interpretation of the Quran entailed no liability.” They treated those involved as people in a state of pre-Islamic ignorance. Mālik narrated through his reliable chain of transmission that ‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, used to say: “People have abandoned acting upon this verse,” meaning the words of Allah Most High:

“And if two groups of believers fight, make peace between them.”

When the Muslims fought one another, the duty was to reconcile them, as Allah Most High had commanded. When this was not done, civil strife and a state of pre-Islamic ignorance ensued.

The same applies to disputed questions over which the Muslim community has differed, whether concerning fundamentals or subsidiary matters. Unless these are referred back to Allah and the Messenger, the truth concerning them will not become clear. Instead, those disputing them will lack clear guidance concerning their affairs. If Allah has mercy on them, they will allow one another to hold their respective views without wronging one another. Such was the conduct of the Companions during the caliphates of ‘Umar and ‘Uthmān: they differed over certain questions open to independent scholarly judgment, yet allowed one another to hold their views without transgressing against one another.

If they are not shown mercy, however, blameworthy discord arises among them, and they wrong one another, either through words—such as declaring one another unbelievers or defiantly sinful—or through actions, such as imprisonment, beating, and killing. This is the condition of people of religious innovation and injustice, such as the Khawārij and their like: they wrong the Muslim community and transgress against its members when they dispute with them over certain religious questions.

The same applies to all the other followers of desires: they introduce an innovation and declare anyone who disagrees with them about it an unbeliever, as do the Rāfidah, the Mu‘tazilah, the Jahmiyyah, and others. Those who subjected people to an inquisition over the createdness of the Quran belonged to this category: they introduced an innovation and declared those who disagreed with them about it unbelievers