Documents of the Right Word

and do not criticize each other, they can be said to be the same.
On the other hand, the Madh-hab of Ahl as-sunna parted into
four Madh-habs in matters pertaining to worships and deeds. All
these four Madh-habs hold the same belief; in actual fact, they are
one Madh-hab. These four Madh-habs disagreed with one
another in their interpretation of matters that are not explained
clearly in âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs. All of them
performed ijtihâd to understand these matters, exerted
themselves, and arrived at different conclusions. They do not
disagree in matters that are explained clearly in Qur’ân al-kerîm
and hadîth-i-sherîfs. Ijtihâd is not performed in âyats and hadîths
with clear definite meanings. If a person errs in his ijtihâd of
principles of belief that are not stated clearly (in âyats and
hadîths), he will not be pardoned. The seventy-two groups who
have deviated from the right way as a result of erroneous ijtihâd
are called holders of Bid’at or people of Dalâlat (aberration) or
Heretics. However, these people are not to be called disbelievers.
If a person denies only one of the tenets of belief stated clearly by
Islam, he loses his îmân and becomes a disbeliever. People who
lose their îmân as a result of erroneous ijtihâd are called Mulhid.
It is written in the books Radd-ul-muhtâr and Ni’mat-i-Islâm that,
of the seventy-two aberrant groups, some members of the groups
called Batinî, Mujassima, Mushabbiha and Wahhâbîs, and the
group called Ibâhîs are mulhids.
The hadîth-i-sherîf quoted above shows that a person is either
a Muslim or a disbeliever. And a Muslim is either in the Madh-hab
of Ahl as-sunna or a holder of bid’at, that is, a heretic. This means
to say that a person who is not in the Madh-hab of Ahl as-sunna,
that is, who is without a certain Madh-hab, is either a heretic or a
disbeliever.
Îmân means to be fearless and Islâm means submission and
salvation. Yet îmân and Islâm are the same in Islam. The heart’s
believing all the information which Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’
brought from Allâhu ta’âlâ through Wahy, is called Îmân and
Islâm. All this information has been summarized in six tenets. A
person who believes in these six tenets will have believed all the
information. These six tenets are expressed in the credo termed
Âmentu. Every Muslim has to memorize the Âmentu and have his
children memorize it, teaching them the meanings it purports. To
this end, he should send his children to authorized courses of Qur’ân
al-kerîm. The meaning of Âmentu is explained in detail in the book
Belief and Islam. A person who believes these tenets is called a
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