Third: The stance of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah toward the innovators and their method of refuting them
The position of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah regarding the innovators
The People of the Sunnah have always countered the innovators, disapproved of their heresies, and prevented them from practising them. Below are a few examples:
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Umm al-Dardāʾ related: “Abū al-Dardāʾ entered my house in anger. I asked, ‘What is the matter?’ He replied, ‘By Allah, I do not recognise anything of Muhammad’s affair among them except that they all perform the prayer together.’” 1
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ʿAmr b. Yaḥyā said: I heard my father report from his father: “We used to sit at the door of ʿAbd-Allāh b. Masʿūd before the dawn prayer. When he came out, we would walk with him to the mosque. Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī came to us and asked, ‘Has Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān come out yet?’ We replied, ‘No.’ So he sat with us until he emerged. When he came out, we all rose and went to him. Abū Mūsā said, ‘Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, just now I witnessed something in the mosque that I found objectionable, though—praise be to Allah—I saw nothing but good …’”