Are We Helping Create A New Sect In Islam By Calling People Quranists?
Thsnk you for your answer Faisal. I still believe saying the name of a sect creates a separation and perpetuates a difference that eventually turns into animosity. Rather than giving a name to a certain group of people and contributing in creating a sect…a great sin… Instead of calling people with a group name, I would rather say those people who overwhelmingly rely on Quran or those who excessively rely on Hadith or those who lement death of Hussain pbuh….just to be careful I do not commit any sin. I would encourage others to do so too. For example, we divided Pakistan into provinces for better governance, such as each province is named and now people of that province are called by province name. Now there is animosity and division amongst Pakistanis at certain level based on the province they live…when we are all Muslims and citizens of the same country….such is the nature of humans!
I agree the bottom line issue is hate, not grouping people. But Islam has allowed tribal system for recognition. The names can’t be based on faith or based on key differences. Aside this, I am talking about human psychology. Normally to perpetuate difference, instill hate and instill feeling of being others, a name is given to a group. Without a specific name it is difficult for humans to create separation. Example. Human communities are drawn or growth is limited by natural boindaries, such as rivers or hills, etc. Even when there is a bridge on the river or a road through the hill communities don’t easily expand beyond those minor inconveniences of crossing the river or driving through a hill. Similarly, just the inconvenience of describing the main difference in another group helps avoid creating a sect and focuses on the difference, rather than blanket statement of “Others”. Now to your example of province. If there was no province of Blochistan, how would prople differenciate or hate other group. I agree, the bottom line issue is hate of others, not the name by itself, but the name helps facilitate the sence of others. What if we rotate the names of each province every 4 years with the name of another province, what will people say…for example, If they hate Sindhi and then their provine name changes to Sindh…it would take a while for people to adjust and they will no longer be able to say “I hate Sindhis” as that would be their own province name.