In the Name of Allah, most Compassionate, most Merciful

There should be no sects and divisions in the ummah.  Every Muslim must have the same belief and aqeedah.  There are no controversies in the deen on any matter as this web page clears it up.  So why are Muslims calling themselves with different names?  Different aqeedah and beliefs?  People following different scholars, different fatawas, different leaders?  People even forming different "Madhabs" according to different teachers?  In this article I will explain why being a hanafi, sha'fi, maliki, sufyani, salafi, hanbali, shi'ite, ismaili, tablighi and on and on is an innovation and destruction!

"This day have I perfected your religion for you completed my favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion." Quran 5:3

"And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day. See and hear them on the Day they come unto Us! Yet the evil-doers are today in error manifest." Quran 19:36-38

Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: There will befall my Ummah exactly (all those) evils which befell the people of Isra'il, so much so that if there was one amongst them who openly committed fornication with his mother there will be among my Ummah one who will do that, and if the people of Isra'il were fragmented into seventy-two sects my Ummah will be fragmented into seventy-three sects. All of them will be in Hell Fire except one sect. They (the Companions) said: Allah's Messenger, which is that? Whereupon he said: It is one to which I and my companions belong.
Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 171 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr

Firstly, the evil that arrises from following the Madhab is that, people stop following Quran and Sunnah and only what their teacher has told him/her.  This is called blind following and the person becomes just as bad as a disbeliever. Even some scholars who insist that blind following is wrong, insist they themselves be followed without question.  How can every able Muslim not be well versed in Quran and Sunnah when it is obligatory for a believer to learn the deen?

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 244 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah
Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: Learn the obligatory acts and the Qur'an and teach them to the people, for I am a mortal.  

So if this is what a Sahabah was instructed to do and teach then where do all these Madhabs stand.  Also, the people who claim to follow the Madhabs and sects, do they know what is obligatory and do they know the tafsir of the whole Quran?  If so then why is there no single land on earth with Shariah of Prophet Muhammad (S).  Why do disbelievers rule all the Muslim lands today?  Why only USA's words cause action in any country of the world?  

Secondly, If there is a khaleefah then he is the sole person whose fatawa is to be applied world-wide because he is the one in authority.  So no division, sect and madhab would exist as evident from Quran.

O ye who believe! obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those charged with authority among you. Quran 4:59

Thirdly do the Madhabs and sects achieve what Prophet (S) instructed to all the teachers of this Ummah?

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 279 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said to me: Acquire the knowledge and impart it to the people. Acquire the knowledge of Fara'id  and teach it to the people, learn the Qur'an and teach it to the people; for I am a person who has to depart this world and the knowledge will be taken away and turmoil will appear to such an extent that two people will not agree in regard to a case of inheritance distribution and find none who would decide between them.

Lastly what was the Madhab of Imam Abu Hanifah, or Maliki or Sha'fi, hanbali?  Amazingly, all these 4 and other imams of that time use to learn from each other!  So those people who are the followers of "one" of these Madhabs have gone astray and formed one of the 72 hell-bound sect.  So what is obligatory on every Muslim is learn the Quran and Sunnah and the fara'id.  If a person does this, then there is no need for Madhabs.  If any need for Fatawa arrises then the khaleefah can issue fatawas, and if no khaleefah and the believer lives alone then he himself can issue a Fatawa as evident from the hadith. 

Some companions of Mu'adh ibn Jabal said: When the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) intended to send Mu'adh ibn Jabal to the Yemen, he asked: How will you judge when the occasion of deciding a case arises? He replied: I shall judge in accordance with Allah's Book. He asked: (What will you do) if you do not find any guidance in Allah's Book? He replied: (I shall act) in accordance with the Sunnah of the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). He asked: (What will you do) if you do not find any guidance in the Sunnah of the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) and in Allah's Book? He replied: I shall do my best to form an opinion and I shall spare no effort. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then patted him on the breast and said: Praise be to Allah Who has helped the messenger of the Apostle of Allah to find something which pleases the Apostle of Allah. Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 3585 Narrated by Mu'adh ibn Jabal