Hizbiyyah is partisanship, it is to unite and side with an individual, groups or a particular ideology that is in opposition with Kitaab and Sunnah.
It is not compulsory that a person registers himself with a particular organization, once he believes in their ideologies and he makes use of those ideologies, he has become a Hizbee, a partisan.
The path of Hizbiyyah is a path to hell. Hizbiyyah divides the religion, and bring doubts and confusion upon people. It is important that a Muslim runs away from all sort of alliance that is opposite to Kitaab and Sunnah, whether to a man, a group of people or a particular ideology. Hizbiyyah is a blazing fire!
Recently, we have seen some people tagging brothers upon Salafiyyah to be Hizbees because the believed those brothers are limiting Salafiyyah to some individuals and once they realised that the person doesn’t love those individuals, they suspect him to be an innovator. They tag this action to be an action of Hizbiyyah under the guise of Salafiyyah, is the action truly an action of Hizbiyyah? Let us measure that with what tells us whether an action is right or wrong, Kitaab and Sunnah!
The prophet ﷺ said “Love for the Ansaar is a sign of eemaan and hatred for the Ansaar is a sign of hypocrisy.”¹
For the prophet ﷺ to say loving the Ansar is a sign of belief didn’t mean he is limiting Eemaan and Islam to Ansar, as the Muhaajiroon are also Muslims, infact, it is part of the creed of Ahlu Sunnah that the Muhaajiroon has more virtue than the Ansar, yet the prophet ﷺ mentioned the love of Ansar to be a sign of Islam because no true believer will claim to hate them.
Not loving the people of goodness as being a common trait of evil people, Aboo Haatim ar-Raazee said as reported in Sharhu Usoolul-I’tiqaad (1/179) of al-Laalikaa‘ee that: “The distinguishing sign of the people of innovation is revilement of Ahlul-Athar.” The Kuffaar will hate the people of Islam. The people of Bidi’ah will hate the people of Sunnah. The people of Extremism and people of Laxity will hate the people of Moderation.
If hating people of Sunnah is a clear trait of people of Bidi’ah, then we can know the people of Bidi’ah by their hatred for people of Sunnah.
The Salaf do test people with scholars of Hadith who are harsh upon people of Bidi’ah. Ahmad Ibn ’Abdullaah Ibn Yoonus said, ‘Test the people of al-Mawsil with Mu’aafaa Ibn ’Imraan. So if they love him, then they are Ahlus-Sunnah, and if they hate him, then they are people of innovation. Likewise, the people of al-Koofah are to be tested with Yahyaa.”²
Aboo Ja’far Muhammad Ibn Haaroon al-Mukhrimee al-Fallaas said, “When you see a man speaking ill of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, then know that he is a misguided innovator.”³
The Salaf who test people with scholars didn’t limit Sunnah to those scholars, but they do so because they know that people of Bidi’ah would hate scholars who are harsh upon them. If you see a man testing other people with Shaykh Rabee’, that doesn’t mean that he is limiting Salafiyyah to Shaykh Rabee’, but he is doing so because he knows that the beloved Shaykh to known to severest against the people of Bidi’ah and have cut the root of innovation and as well as the backs of deviants and misguided Innovators, the people of Sunnah love him for this and the people of Bidi’ah.
You would not see a person hating Shaykh Rabee’ this era except that he is either an Innovator or an ignorant, teach him if he is an ignorant and run away from him if he is an Innovator.
The affair with testing people with scholars is clear now, and it should not be regarded as limiting Salafiyyah to certain personalities. We ask Allah to ease our affairs.
Abu Muhannadil Maslool
1. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3572, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 75.
2. Sharh Usoolul-I’tiqaad (no. 58) of al-Laalikaa‘ee.
3. al-Jarh wat-Ta’deel (p. 308-309) of ar-Raazee and Taareekh Dimashq (5/294) of Ibn ’Asaakir.
