The Way of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah

Where is Allah? That is a question that is asked of so many, and many readers may be asked it. The normal answer, which is not the correct answer, it should be said, is that Allah is everywhere. And immediately: "Is Allah in this cup? Is Allah in the toilet?" And the person just reels back. He is not able to reconcile immediately what he is saying with what is being said. And then, immediately: "Brother, you have to believe that Allah is over the throne; Allah is on the throne; Allah is above." All of this is discussed in detail in later chapters. Because to say that Allah is everywhere, just like that, does insinuate this idea of pantheism: of Allah inhabiting each object in this strange way. That is not gone into right now, so as not to treat it prematurely. But these are some of the questions that arise today. And that is why it becomes important to study these things: to know what the way of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah is.

This is where the term Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah came from. The term Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah was not there at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in that sense, or used in that sense. The Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned it in this hadith, the hadith of al-Tirmidhī quoted above. When they asked him which one would be al-nājiyah, the group that will be saved, he said: those who are on my way and that of my Companions. Ahl al-Sunnah: the people of the Sunnah, the people of the way of the Prophet (peace be upon him); wa al-Jamāʿah: jamāʿah means the group; the group of Companions, primarily, and then the mainstream Muslims of every generation after that.

So Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah became the dominant name to describe the mainstream Muslims: those who are on the way of the Sunnah and of the Ṣaḥābah, away from the sectarians who had these various different, divergent ideas off to the side. That is where the term Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah came from: the people of the Sunnah and community, the people of the Sunnah and group. There are various different translations; there is no one official translation.