Need for balance and moderation in religion

It is well-known occurence when people gather together on some matter, and that the group which becomes strong and has many followers. You will find among them the pure and the impure, the justly-balanced and the imbalanced, the extreme and the moderate.



And a well-established fact is that the extremists are more vocal and have greater acceptance, since the ones who are justly-balanced follow a middle course.



And those who seek this balanced approach are few in number, in every age and group. As for extremism, that is what most people thrive upon, and what the overwhelming majority incline towards - and this has been the path of the various sects and religions as well.



So the extremists try to monopolize their hold among people and seek to be single out in their Da’wah. Such people did not find any way to gain dominence over people except through extremism, which they achieve by degrading people and belittling them at every possible opportunity, either by their tongues, or in other ways.



And the first to open this door - the door of unleashing their tongues against those who oppose them - were the Khawarij.



This is the route through which they came to the masses, through the door of takfeer (declaring a Muslim to be an unbeliever), in order that the masses would flee from people other than them, so that they could then secure a following with the people for themselves.



Then this disease was transmitted to others, such that the extreme elements of each group started unjustly declaring Muslims to be either unbelievers, sinners, innovators or deviants ...”




1.Dealing with those who are in err or deviate


Ibn Taymiyah (d.728H) said: “The Imams of the Sunnah and the Jama’ah, and the people of knowledge and Iman (faith) have in them qualities of ‘adl (justice), ‘ilm (knowledge) and rahmah (mercy), and they know the truth which conforms to the Sunnah and which is free from innovations.


They do justice to those who deviate from the Sunnah and the Jama’ah, even if they have been wronged, just as Allah said:



“O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allâh and be just witnesses and let not the enmity and hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to piety, and fear Allâh. Verily, Allâh is Well­Acquainted with what you do.” (Qur’an, 5:8)




Likewise, they are merciful to Allah’s slaves, wishing for them good, Allah’s guidance and knowledge. They never intend for them any harm or evil. Rather, when they criticize them and explain to them their error, ignorance or wrong-doing, their purpose in doing so is only to clarify the truth, and to be merciful to Allah’s slaves, to enjoin the good and forbid the evil, and to make the word of Allah uppermost so that the way of life becomes purely for Allah.”



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