The Path of Ahl As-Sunnah Wal-Jama'ah
Chapter Five
The path of the people of the Sunnah and the Jama'ah is following the Prophet's Tradition both inwardly and outwardly, and following the foot- steps of the early Muslims, both the Muhajirun (Emigrants) and the Ansar (Helpers), and following the Prophet's recommendation:
"Hold on to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me. Hold on to it firmly. And beware of heretical innovations (bida') because each heretical innovation (bid'ah) is a falsehood and each false- hood is a deviation from the right path." (Reported by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi who said it is a good and sound hadith, and Ibn Majah)
The people of the Sunnah know that the most truthful words are Allah's Words over the words of all people, and they put the guidance of Muhammad 
ahead of the guidance of all people. Because of all this they are called the People of the Book and the Sunnah. They are called the People of the Community because community means unity and its opposite is disunity. The term Jama'ah became a name for the unified people themselves and al-Ijma' (consensus) is the third pillar on which people depend for 'ilm (knowledge) and din (faith).
By these three pillars (Qur'an, Sunnah, and Ijma') is measured all that people follow of inward or outward words and acts which have any relation to din (faith) and to the controlled ijma' of the righteous ancestors since after them the disagreement increased, and the 'Ummah dispersed.
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