Ethics of Islam

6– HERETICAL BELIEFS (BID’ATS)
Sixth of the maladies of the heart is to hold a bid’at, which
means to hold a heretical, wrong or aberrant belief. Most
Muslims suffer from this disastrous malady. The reason which
leads one into this malady is one’s attempt to rationalize or
reason in the matters which cannot be sensed through sense
organs and which cannot be reached or comprehended through
calculations and believing in matters wherein reason errs and
makes mistakes. Every Muslim should follow the teachings of
either one of the two Madhhabs with respect to faith, i.e.,
“Mâturîdî” or “Ash’arî”. Following the teachings of any one of
them will protect or save a person from the malady of heresies.
For, in matters beyond the reach of mind, the scholars of (the
medial and therefore the only correct path called) Ahl as-sunnat
followed only the Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i-sherîfs, thus
utilizing their mental capacities in delving into these two sources
and trying to understand their meanings. They wrote, in their
books, what they learned from the Ashâb-i-kirâm, who in turn
had acquired their religious learnings from the Messenger of
Allah.
[A person will become a disbeliever if he denies or doubts
about something which is taught clearly in the Qur’ân al-kerîm or
in hadîth-i-sherîfs. Giving wrong meanings to commandments
that are not taught clearly and are therefore doubtful would be
“bid’at.” A person becomes an ahl al-bid’at if he believes in his
wrong interpretation or understanding. However, if a person
rejects the commandments by saying, for instance, “How could
this happen! This could not be! My mind does not accept that!”,
he will become a disbeliever. If a person asserts that a prohibited
(harâm) thing is permissible (halâl) and if his statement is based
on an âyat of the Qur’ân or on a hadîth, he does not become a
disbeliever but he becomes an “ahl al-bid’at.” Stating that the
election of hadrat Abû Bakr and Hadrat ’Umar to the post of
Caliphate was not right constitutes a bid’at. On the other hand,
going further and stating that they did not have rights to the post
of Caliphate constitutes disbelief (kufr).
Muhammad Shihristânî ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’ says in his
book Milal wa Nihal that the scholars of the Hanafî Madhhab
followed the teachings of imâm Abû Mansûr al-Mâturîdî
‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’ with respect to faith (i’tiqad). For, Abû
Mansûr al-Mâturîdî applied the methodology (“usûl” and
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