Who Are ASWJ

The term Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah (People of the Sunnah and the mainstream) can be traced back to the famous companions of the Prophet صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم, Abdullaah ibn Mas’ood and Abdullaah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them). Ibn Mas’ood commenting on the verse in the Qur’an in surah A’-Imraan (which means);

“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah, and be not divided among yourselves.” (3:103)

explained that the rope mentioned in the verse was the Jama’ah. The derivation of Ahlus Sunnah can be made from the following verse, also in Al’ Imraan:

“On the Day (of Resurrection) when some faces will become white and some faces will become black.” (3:106)

Ibn Abbas commented on this verse thus forth, ‘followers of the Sunnah and the Jama`ah will radiate with whiteness’.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen summarized Ahlus-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa’ah as ‘those who adhere to the Sunnah and who unite upon it, not turning to anything else, whether that be in matters of belief or matters of actions which are subject to Islamic rulings. Hence they are called Ahlus Sunnah because they adhere to it (the Sunnah), and they called al-Jamaa’ah because they are united in following it.’