Belief and Practice of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah

Canada is home to roughly 1.2 million Muslims — an ethnically diverse demographic that started arriving in sizeable numbers from the early 1970s, mainly as economic migrants seeking a better future for themselves and their families.

Practice (Fiqh)

The majority of Muslims who migrated received their basic Islamic education at an early age which was enough to allow them to practice their faith. Whether they were aware of it or not, the overwhelming majority practiced Islam according to one of the four schools of Islamic Jurisprudence, or madhab. Those from Albania, India, Pakistan or Turkey followed the Hanafi madhab; those from North and West Africa, the Maliki madhab; those from the Middle East or East Africa, the Shafi madhab. They were taught to follow one of the four madhabs of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah which is the best way to actualize the Holy Quran and Sunnah in their daily lives. These Muslims refer to themselves as Sunni Muslims.

The madhabs were formulated by the mujtahid Imams — Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man (699–767 CE / 80–148 AH), Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767–820 CE / 150–204 AH), Imam Malik ibn Anas (711–795 CE / 93–179 AH) and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780–855 CE / 164–241 AH), who belonged to the first three generations (salaf) and all followed Quran and Sunnah. These madhabs are concerned with the specific details of Islamic practice. Whereas other forms of knowledge can be understood directly from Quran and hadith, the understanding of this knowledge has a special name, fiqh, meaning literally "understanding". While the Quran and the Sunnah are ma'sum ("divinely protected from error"), the understanding of them is not. Someone who derives rulings from the Quran and Hadith without training in ijtihad will be responsible for it on the Day of Judgment, just as an unqualified doctor who performs an operation on someone and that person dies.

"Not all of the believers should go to fight. Of every section of them, why does not one part alone go forth, that the rest may gain understanding of the religion, and to admonish their people when they return, that perhaps they may take warning." (Quran 9:122)

This Quranic verse establishes that there should be a category of people who have learned the religion so as to be qualified in turn to teach it.

Belief ('Aqida)

One of the achievements of Sunni Islam is that regardless of which madhab one adheres to, Sunni Muslims share a common belief ('aqida). This is the most important kind of knowledge: knowledge of Allah and His attributes, the messengership of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), the Last Day, and so on. Every Muslim must acquire this knowledge from the Quran and the Sunnah.

Two scholars in particular stand out in expounding the theological principles of Islamic Belief: Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (874–936 CE) and Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (853–944 CE). They are known as the two Imams of 'Aqida amongst the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah. Their work responded to the third-century introduction of misguided concepts into Islamic Belief.

Some of the early 'Abbasid Caliphs began to patronize Mu'tazilite rationalism. Under the influence of Greek philosophy, the Mu'tazilites embraced the idea that belief is purely speculative and absolutely unfettered. They made reason the sole basis of truth, identifying philosophy with religion. In their zeal to judge everything by reason alone, they destroyed the personality of God and reduced Him to a bare indefinable universality or to an abstract unity. This idea of an abstract, impersonal, absolute God could not appeal to ordinary Muslims.

Both Imams wrote many classical texts which were able to dispel doubts caused by these movements. They defended the transmitted beliefs of the Quran and Sunnah, as understood by mainstream Sunni Islam, between the extremes of excessive literalism and excessive rationalism. Many scholars later codified their works — one being Imam al-Tahawi, whose work is known as Aqidah al-Tahawiyya. The 'Ash'ari school is widely accepted amongst followers of the Shafi'i madhab while the Maturidi school spread far and wide amongst followers of the Hanafi madhab during the reign of the Uthmani Khilafa (Ottoman Empire 1517–1924).

Spirituality (Tasawwuf)

Throughout history the scholars of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah such as Imams Razi (250–313 AH), Baqillani (338–403 AH), Qurtubi (610–671 AH), Nawawi (631–676 AH), Asqalani (773–852 AH), Zakariyyah Ansari (823–926 AH) and Haytami (908–973 AH) have written about Tasawwuf — the spiritual or inner dimension of Islam. From their writings and teachings we accept that:

1. Tasawwuf (Sufism) is a noble discipline within Islam and is of high merit. Its nobility stems from its subject, al-Ihsan, which is the highest of the three levels of Islam mentioned in Hadith Jibril.
2. This discipline has been known by this name since the second century of the Hijra; it has also been called ilm as-Suluk, ilm al-Ihsan, ilm at-Tarbiyah or ilm at-Tazkiyah.
3. The source of Tasawwuf is Quran and Sunnah, which are its proofs of origin and the basis of its large body of literature.
4. Tasawwuf is the essence of the Sharia; without it all acts of worship would be imperfect. Imam Malik said: "Whoever acquires tasawwuf without fiqh is a heretic, whoever studies fiqh without tasawwuf is unrighteous, and whoever combines both has the reality (haq)."
5. The fruit of Tasawwuf is purification of the heart and knowing the Master of the worlds, Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ.

The coherency found in the Belief, Practice and Spirituality of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah is one of the greatest achievements of Islam. This has been the stabilizing force which held the majority of the Ummah (as-Sawad al-A'zam) together throughout history — a Blessing from Allah who wanted to preserve The Religion of Truth (ad-Din ul-Haq) through the brilliance of a continuous chain of Sunni scholars consisting of renewers, revivers and saints of the religion. Such an intellectual triumph is not present in any other religion.