This is part of a series of articles on disunity and division within the Muslim community and ummah at large. This follows on from Dr. Yasir Qadhi’s lecture on ‘Why Muslims divide?’

Why Muslims Divide: The psychology of why the people closest to you are the hardest to tolerate

Collective Action

Human beings are not islands and no matter what activity they undertake, it will entail some form of collective action. Family, work and activism (daw’ah) are all collective actions. Even if an Islamic activist starts off with a solitary blog or podcast, in time, as it grows more and more popular, more resources and people will be required to keep it going. Some forms of activism may only require financial support by contributing through Patreon. Other types such as working within the community, education and mosques requires a more hands on grass roots approach. If we think ummatically, where we are one ummah made up of multiple groups all working within their specialist fields for the betterment of the deen then this is healthy and productive and will contribute to the revival of the Islamic civilization. This is also the sunnah and the methodology of the early generations of Muslims.

Islamic Groups

The Qur’an clearly permits and praises cooperation and the establishment of groups.

وَتَعَاوَنُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلْبِرِّ وَٱلتَّقْوَىٰ

“Cooperate with one another in goodness and righteousness.”[1]

Healthy competition is also encouraged.

فَٱسْتَبِقُوا۟ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ

“So compete with one another in doing good.”[2]

This is similar to those working within a corporation. There are multiple teams all working on their own projects within their own departments, but all contributing towards the overall profit and progress of the company. People can transfer to different teams, and members of one corporation will be friends with people from another company. If someone leaves, then they still keep in touch with their former colleagues with no malice between them, as its simply business.

Compare this to how many of the totalist ‘Islamic’ groups conduct themselves. These totalist groups who in reality act like cults, end up disuniting the ummah in the name of unity because their dogmatism and intolerance becomes a source of hate and division as opposed to healthy competition.

Dangers of divisive groups or cults

In modern times we have groups, sects and cult-like entities who while espousing unity, revival and a return to the salaf (early generations), leave in their wake a trail of death, destruction, broken families, broken communities, mental illness, and many who when they leave these sects simply give up the religion altogether.

Margaret Singer explains the danger to society from such entities. “A further concern for our society is that cults are diverting some of society’s best minds away from education and rational thought. Numerous individuals are being prevented from contributing to humankind’s welfare through science, medicine, teaching, ecology, and other careers. Instead, they are being lured into cults, where they may end up spending years contributing only to the power and comfort of the cult leader. They lose some of the most important years of their lives, and when they emerge they may be unable to use their former abilities and talents because they will be behind in so many ways.”[6]

How to spot a cult

Many groups start out with good intentions and noble goals, but when the shocks of arrest, imprisonment, torture and boycott begin to hit the group, especially those revolutionary groups who are in opposition to the ruling class, then they inevitably start to close ranks and adopt totalitarian styles to protect the movement. This can lead the movement to transfer from a group to a cult.

A cult is broadly defined as a social group or system characterized by unquestioning devotion and dedication to a specific person, idea, or belief system. For the purposes of our discussion relating to division within the Muslim ummah, a cult is simply a group who says ‘if you don’t follow our way then you may go to hell‘. To put it another way, ‘our way or the highway’.

The Dangers of Religious Fanaticism

The primary source material for the next sections is Margaret Singer’s well-known book ‘Cults in our Midst’. In defining cults she says, “the label cult refers to three factors:

1. The origin of the group and role of the leader

2. The power structure, or relationship between the leader (or leaders) and the followers

3. The use of a coordinated program of persuasion (which is called thought reform, or, more commonly, brainwashing).[7]

“Cults are not uniform nor are they static. Cults exist on a continuum of degrees of influence, from more to less extreme.”[8] “Cults appear to be innovative and exclusive. Cult leaders claim to be breaking with tradition, offering something novel, and instituting the only viable system for change that will solve life’s problems or the world’s ills.”[9]

Cults do however share some similar characteristics:

“1. Cults are established by strong or charismatic leaders who control power hierarchies and material resources.

2. Cults possess some revealed “word” in the form of a book, manifesto, or doctrine…

3. Cults create fortified boundaries, confining their membership in various ways and attacking those who would leave as defectors, deserters, or traitors; they recruit new members with ruthless energy and raise enormous sums of money; and they tend to view the outside world with increasing hostility and distrust as the organization ossifies.”[10]

The leadership

“Cult leaders are self appointed, persuasive persons who claim to have a special mission in life or to have special knowledge.”

Cult leaders tend to be determined and domineering and are often described as charismatic. These leaders need to have enough personal drive, charm, or other pulling power to attract, control, and manage their flocks. They persuade devotees to drop their families, jobs, careers, and friends to follow them. Overtly or covertly, in most cases they eventually take over control of their followers’ possessions, money, and lives.”[11]

Authoritarian structure

“Cults are authoritarian in structure. The leader is regarded as the supreme authority although he may delegate certain power to a few subordinates for the purpose of seeing that members adhere to his wishes and rules. There is no appeal outside of the leader’s system to greater systems of justice. For example, if a schoolteacher feels unjustly treated by a principal, he or she can appeal to another authority. In a cult, the leader has the only and final ruling on all matters.”[12]

“Cults tend to be totalistic, or all-encompassing, in controlling their members’ behavior and also ideologically totalistic, exhibiting zealotry and extremism in their worldview. Eventually, and usually sooner rather than later, most cults expect members to devote increasing time, energy, and money or other resources to the professed goals of the group, stating or implying that a total commitment is required to reach some state such as ‘enlightenment.’”[13]

No accountability

The group is always right

“[Cults] Put forth a closed system of logic and an authoritarian structure that permits no feedback and refuses to be modified except by leadership approval or executive order. If you criticize or complain, the leader or peers allege that you are defective, not the organization. In this closed system of logic, you are not allowed to question or doubt a tenet or rule or to call attention to factual information that suggests some internal contradiction within the belief system or a contradiction with what you’ve been told. If you do make such observations, they may be turned around and argued to mean the opposite of what you intended. You are made to feel that you are wrong. In cultic groups, the individual member is always wrong, and the system is always right.”[14]

Get rid of troublemakers

“Most cults weed out ‘bad actors’ at the point of recruitment: the disobedient, the unruly, the delinquent, the hard to handle and difficult to influence are turned away. They take too much time and thus are not cost effective to change, and they break up the atmosphere the leader wants to keep in place, the ambience that by fitting in things will go better.”[15]

Control over communication

The ‘no nattering’ rule

Another famous psychiatrist – Robert Lifton (d.2025) in discussing the psychological themes of cults mentions, “Milieu control. This is total control of communication in the group. In many groups, there is a “no gossip” or “no nattering” rule that keeps people from expressing their doubts or misgivings about what is going on. This rule is usually rationalized by saying that gossip will tear apart the fabric of the group or destroy unity, when in reality the rule is a mechanism to keep members from communicating anything other than positive endorsements. Members are taught to report those who break the rule, a practice that also keeps members isolated from each other and increases dependence on the leadership.”[16]

Keeping members in the dark

“In addition, the cult’s dishonesty about many things keeps members from knowing what is really going on. Members are not only kept from sources of outside information but are also told lies and misrepresentations about the cult, the leader, and the group’s activities. The importance or influence of the cult’s actions is made larger than it really is; the leader’s reputation is embellished, if not fabricated; the number of members or followers is often exaggerated to make the group look larger and more popular; and world events are distorted, as are the outside world’s attitudes toward the cult. All these myths about the cult and the society at large are generally perpetuated not only by the leader but by his inner circle of leadership as well. The resulting lack of knowledge among most members helps prevent them from making a real assessment of the situation they are in.”[17]

Peer Pressure and Lack of Information

“Peer pressure is a critical factor in keeping people in cults. Former members have told me, “In my group we had doctors, lawyers, social workers, people with all kinds of advanced degrees, intelligent people. I would look around, and I’d think, Well, Joe’s still doing it. Mary’s still doing it. It must be me; it must be me. I just don’t get it. There is just something wrong with me; I just have to try harder.””[18]

Thought-Reform program

A gradual process

“A thought-reform program is not a one-shot event but a gradual process of breaking down and transformation. It can be likened to gaining weight, a few ounces, a half pound, a pound at a time. Before long, without even noticing the initial changes—we are confronted with a new physique. So, too, with brainwashing. A twist here, a tweak there—and there it is: a new psychic attitude, a new mental outlook. These systematic manipulations of social and psychological influences under particular conditions are called programs because the means by which change is brought about is coordinated. And it is because the changes cause the learning and adoption of a certain set of attitudes, usually accompanied by a certain set of behaviors, that the effort and the result are called thought reform.

Thus, thought reform is a concerted effort to change a person’s way of looking at the world, which will change his or her behavior. It is distinguished from other forms of social learning by the conditions under which it is conducted and by the techniques of environmental and interpersonal manipulation that are meant to suppress certain behavior and to elicit and train other behavior. And it does not consist of only one program—there are many ways and methods to accomplish it.”[19]

Using special language

“As members continue to formulate their ideas in the group’s jargon, this language serves the purpose of constricting members’ thinking and shutting down critical thinking abilities.”[20]

Love-bombing

“The newcomer is surrounded by long-term members. Not only are these more experienced members trained to love-bomb the potential recruit, but they are on their best behavior, proudly proclaiming the joys of membership, the advantages of the new belief system, and the uniqueness of the leader. Consciously or unconsciously, these members always speak and make their presentations in cult jargon, which they all seem to understand but which tends to make the newcomer feel out of sorts, a bit alienated, and undereducated by cult standards. The lonely visitor or seminar attendee begins to want some sense of connection to the rest of the group. With all the surrounding reinforcement, soon enough the newcomer realizes that, in order to be accepted and part of the group, she or he simply needs to mirror the behavior of other members and imitate their language.”

Training by older members

“Because many groups use this tactic of having older members train and watch over recruits and newer members, recruits are never alone and cannot talk freely with other recruits. Immediately, the cult’s training program and the thought-reform atmosphere (as described in Chapter Three), reinforced by the modeling behavior of older members, prevents recruits and new members from changing the system. There is no opportunity for doubts or negative feelings to be supported, corroborated, or validated. In one way or another, in every kind of cult, recruits are told that negativity is never to be expressed. Should they have any questions, hesitations, or bad feelings, they are told to consult with an upper-level person, or their trainer, helper, or guide. Isolated from others who have doubts and questions, recruits are left with the impression that everyone else agrees with what is going on.”[21]

Peer pressure

“The old maxim “When in Rome do as the Romans do” underlies much of our adaptation to new social groups. It is both convenient and congenial to adapt. We look around and see models, and we comport ourselves to be like them. Most cults train new members, either through overtly stated policies or by more implicit shaping, to act in ways desired by the group. To increase members’ recruiting potential, typically cults train members to smile, appear happy, be outgoing, and give attention to newcomers.

Peer pressure is an effective means to get people to fit their behavior to group norms. In cults, this works for new and old members alike, going far beyond what is generally seen in society at large. In an atmosphere that states or implies that there is only one way to be and this is it, it is most important to have models around to imitate. Robert Lifton speaks of the totalism of the person meeting the totalistic ideology of a group, an idea that suggests why adaptation filters down to the clothing, the smiles, the language— all the details of behavior that are either approved or shunned.”[36]

Leaving the cult

If someone wants to hand their notice in at work and leave the company then it’s a thoroughly normal process. Cults on the other hand do not want people leaving and for these groups it’s akin to treachery and fisq (transgression). Any such organisation operating in this way is a tell-tale sign that its in an imbalance and not in-line with the overall Islamic concept of wasatiyah (balance and moderation).

Why It’s Hard to Leave

“Sometimes people ask former cult members, “Why didn’t you just get up and walk out?” There is no simple answer to that question, for a variety of factors contribute to keeping a cult member bound to the group. In most cases, there is no physical restraint, although some groups do punish and imprison those who try to leave. But in all cases, there is a psychological bond that becomes most difficult to sever.”[22]

“When a person is taken in by the coercive psychological and social influence of a cult, she or he experiences what I call the five D’s.

1. Deception in the recruitment process and throughout membership

2. Debilitation, because of the hours, the degree of commitment, the psychological pressures, and the inner constriction and strife

3. Dependency, as a result of being cut off from the outside world in many ways

4. Dread, because of beliefs instilled by the cult that a person who leaves will find no real life on the outside

5. Desensitization, so that things that would once have troubled them no longer do (for example, learning that money collected from fundraising is supporting the leader’s lavish lifestyle rather than the cause for which it was given, or seeing children badly abused or even killed).”[23]

“Because of the powerful combination of belief, loyalty, dependency, guilt, fear, peer pressure, lack of information, and fatigue, all of which probably have equal psychological weight, members do not readily leave cults. Decent, honorable people do not easily give up on commitments, and the cult environment is such that it makes leaving practically impossible.”[24]

“In the cult milieu, the member can never discuss how bad she or he feels about deceptive fundraising or luring others into the group, how disenchanted she or he often feels, or nagging questions about certain activities, since cults condemn such concerns.”[25]

Islam is an intellectual religion

Professor Muhammad Al-Massari says, “Islam is an intellectual creed from which emanates a complete system. The Deen of Islam therefore, is not just a spiritual belief on which a moral system is based and with which ritual acts of worship are associated. It is not just a ‘religion’ in the Western sense of the term. Rather it is a ‘first principle’; a belief from which a system is derived; in English, it is called an ideology. Moreover, the Islamic ideology is a rational ideology because it is based on using reason and is built on the principle of sufficient reason.”[26]

Islam is far above the tactics used by other religions such as evangelical Christian preachers who use a variety of psychological tools of persuasion to manipulate their audiences and ‘convert’ them to their particular church. Its unfortunate that some Muslim groups involved in Islamic daw’ah adopt similar styles and the styles of cults to pass their message. While this emotional manipulation may achieve some immediate results, in the long-term it will backfire and actually lead to a rejection of the message as it wasn’t built on a sound intellectual basis.

Allah (Most High) says,

لَآ إِكْرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ

“There is no compulsion in religion”[27]

Ibn ‘Abbas said regarding this verse, “The woman of the Ansar whose boys never survived used to vow that if a boy of hers survived, she would raise him as a Jew. When the Banu’l-Nadir [Jewish tribe] were driven out of Medina they had among them children of the Ansar. The Ansar said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! Our Children!’ Allah, exalted is He, therefore revealed “There is no compulsion in religion”. Sa’id ibn Jubayr said: “Those who wished to leave with the Jews did leave, and those who wished to, embraced Islam”.[28]

كتب رسول الله ﷺ: إلى أهل اليمن

إنه من كان على يهوديته أو نصرانيته فإنه لا يفتن عنها، وعليه الجزية

رواه أبو عبيد

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ wrote to the people of Yemen: “Whoever is adamant upon Judaism or Christianity will not be enticed/tormented (يَفْتِن) for it, and on them (obliged to pay) is the jizya.”[29]

No one should blindly follow any group or fatwa

If something feels off then question it.

Imam Nawawi in his famous 40 hadith book quotes the following narration:

Wabisah b. Ma’bad said: I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who said to me: “Come close O Wabisah” So I drew closer to him until my knee was touching his knee. He said: “O Wabisah, shall I tell you what you have come to ask me about?” Wabisah said: “Tell me O Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” He said: “You want to question me on the subject of virtue and sin?” “Yes,” I replied, and he went on, “Question your heart. Virtue is that by which the soul enjoys repose and the heart tranquillity. Sin is what introduces trouble into the soul and tumult into man’s bosom, whatever fatwas people may give you.”[30]

This doesn’t mean the intellect (heart) determines what is husn (halal action) and what is qubh (haram action). Rather it means using the mind to research and assess any legal ruling to ensure it conforms to the Islamic texts. For the majority of people this will be by asking those who are knowledgeable and qualified in this field i.e. the scholars. This is even more vital when someone is issuing fatawa which results in treachery and the deaths of thousands of innocents. The Prophet ﷺ said, فَإِنَّمَا شِفَاءُ الْعِيِّ السُّؤَالُ “The cure for ignorance is asking questions.”[31]

War and Peace in Islam: Issuing Islamic edicts (fatawa)

The way forward

Allah (Most High) describes the Muslim ummah as One Ummah (أُمَّةًۭ وَٰحِدَةًۭ) and a brotherhood (إِخْوَةٌۭ). Allah (Most High) says in the Qur’an, وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌۭ which in one of its meanings is a command to “Be an ummah that calls for what is good.”[32] This means that while we may belong to a group, our principal bond is the ummatic bond. The world today is a global village which provides opportunities that were unavailable to our predecessors even just a few decades ago. It’s important to grab these opportunities and develop styles (uslub) and means (waseelah) which will bring radical change to the ummah’s situation.

Although the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “Islam began as something strange, and it would revert to being something strange, so glad tidings for the strangers,”[33] closer to revival and victory, Islam shouldn’t be strange anymore. There should be a blurring of the lines between Islamic revivalist movements and the ummah, as the ummah adopt the groups’ call as their own. Taqiuddin an-Nabhani says, “The party should perceive and sense that whole Ummah is the party, and at the same time, the Ummah should perceive and sense that the party is her party and she as a whole is the party, hence the Ummah would naturally become one single party and would proceed altogether.”[34]

While rhetoric and slogans have their place in stirring the emotions of the ummah, there needs to be serious intellectual work based on deep, enlightened thinking to move the ummah to the next level.

Ummatic cooperation coupled with healthy competition is an essential element in moving the ummah forward.

Notes

[1] Holy Qur’an, Surah al-Ma’ida, ayah 2

[2] Holy Qur’an, Surah al-Baqara, ayah 148

[3] Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-i-Iman, ayah 105

[4] https://tafsir.app/ibn-aashoor/3/104

[5] Sunan Ibn Majah 3992, https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:3992

[6] Margaret Thaler Singer with Janja Lalich, ‘Cults in our Midst: The Hidden menace in our everyday lives,’ Jossey-Bass, 1996, p.89

[7] Margaret Thaler Singer with Janja Lalich, ‘Cults in our Midst: The Hidden menace in our everyday lives,’ Jossey-Bass, 1996, p.19

[8] Ibid, p.22

[9] Ibid, p.20

[10] Ibid, p.48

[11] Ibid, p.19

[12] Ibid, p.20

[13] Ibid, p.21

[14] Ibid, p.70

[15] Ibid, p.173

[16] Ibid, p.72

[17] Ibid, p.288

[18] Ibid, p.287

[19] Ibid, p.65

[20] Ibid, p.72

[21] Ibid, p.116

[22] Ibid, p.284

[23] Ibid, p.284

[24] Ibid, p.293

[25] Ibid, p.305

[26] Muhammad Al-Massari, Kitab Al-Tawheed, Vol.1, Renascence Foundation, 2024, p.49

[27] Holy Qur’an, Surah al-Baqara, ayah 256

[28] Ali Ibn Ahmad, al-Wahidi; Translated by Mokrane Guezzou; Introduction by Yousef Meri (2008). Asbab al-Nuzul. Amman, Jordan: Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, p.25

[29] Abu ‘Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, ‘The Book of Revenue,’ Translation of Kitab al-Amwal, Garnet Publishing Ltd, p.25

[30] Al-Munziri said: Ahmad has narrated this hadith with a hasan chain. An-Nawawi said: the hadith is hasan and has been reported by Ahmad and ad-Daarimi in both their Musnads.

[31] Sunan Abi Dawud 336, https://sunnah.com/abudawud:336

[32] Holy Qur’an, Surah Ali ‘Imran, ayah 104

[33] Sahih Muslim 145, https://sunnah.com/muslim:145

[34] Taqiuddin an-Nabhani, ‘The Departure Point,’ Rabi’i Al-Thani 1373 – January 1954, Al-Quds

[36] Margaret Thaler Singer with Janja Lalich, ‘Cults in our Midst: The Hidden menace in our everyday lives,’ Jossey-Bass, 1996, p.173