These two cases are but a sample of many that reveal to any fair-minded person the harm produced by the later scholars’ disagreements and their stubborn attachment to them—unlike the early generations, whose differences left no ill effect on the ummah. Hence the latter are safe from the Qur’anic verses that forbid splitting the religion, whereas the later generations are not. May Allah guide us all to His straight path.

If only the damage of those disagreements had been limited to the disputants themselves and had not reached others among the wider public invited to Islam, the calamity would have been somewhat lighter. Sadly, however, it has spilled over to the unbelievers in many lands, turning them away—because of these quarrels—from entering Allah’s religion in throngs.

In Darkness from the West by the esteemed Muhammad al-Ghazali (p. 200) we read:

“At a conference held at Princeton University in the United States, one of the speakers—voicing a question often heard in Orientalist circles and among those interested in Islamic affairs—asked:

With which set of teachings do Muslims approach the world so as to define the Islam they are inviting people to? Is it the Islam as understood by the Sunnis, or the teachings understood by the Shiʿah—whether Imāmiyyah or Zaydiyyah?

Furthermore, each of those camps is itself divided. One faction may think about a given issue in a narrowly progressive manner, while others adopt an archaic and rigid outlook.

In short, those who call people to Islam leave their audience bewildered.”