from them issued the Quran, the hadith corpus, jurisprudence, acts of worship, and all the other disciplines of Islam; yet from these very same cities there also arose fundamental innovations, with the single exception of the Prophetic City. From Kufa sprang Shiʿism and irjāʾ, which later spread elsewhere; from Basra came the denial of the divine decree (qadar), the Muʿtazilite doctrine, and corrupt forms of asceticism, and these too subsequently disseminated; in Syria there appeared nasb together with the denial of the decree. As for Jahmism, it first emerged in the region of Khurasan, and it is the worst of all innovations.

The appearance of innovations was in proportion to a land’s distance from the dwelling-place of the Prophet. When discord erupted after the assassination of ʿUthmān, the innovation of the Haruriyyah surfaced.

As for the Prophet’s City itself, it remained free of any open manifestation of these innovations. Even though individuals there might harbor them in secret, such people were held in contempt and reproached. A few adherents of the Qadariyyah and others were indeed present, but they were subdued and humiliated—unlike Shiʿism and irjāʾ in Kufa, the Muʿtazilites and other aberrations in Basra, or nasb in Syria, all of which were openly practiced. It is authentically reported from the Prophet ﷺ that the Antichrist will never enter it, and knowledge and faith continued to flourish there until the time of Mālik’s companions, who belonged to the fourth century ⦗1⦘. As for the three generations singled out for excellence, no manifest innovation at all appeared in the Prophetic City during their era, nor did any doctrinal innovation ever originate from it, as happened in the other great centers.”

Causes that led to the emergence of innovations:

There is no doubt that holding fast to the Book and the sunnah is a safeguard against falling into innovation and misguidance. Allah the Exalted says: “…a straight path; so follow it, and do not follow the other paths, for they will cause you to diverge from His path.” The Prophet ﷺ clarified this, as reported by Ibn Masʿūd: “The Messenger of Allah drew a line for us and said, ‘This is the path of Allah.’ Then he drew lines to its right and to its left…”