The Quran teaches us not to be extremist in our religion. Its exact words are: ‘People of the Book! Do not go to extremes in your religion.’ (4: 171)

We also learn from a saying of Prophet Muhammad that extremist tendencies have always been the chief reason for religious groups going astray. That is why the Prophet once observed:

‘’Sedulously refrain from extremism, for previous communities were destroyed only because of their extremist tendencies in religious matters.”

Although there are many actions which in form appear to be morally acceptable, it is to the spirit of these acts rather than their external form that Islam attaches real importance.

Ghulu, meaning extremism, is engendered in a religious community when it goes into a state of decline, and this, in fact, is a sign of its degeneration. There is a tradition of Prophet Muhammad that forewarns his followers of the rot that has set in. He said that all those evils which had arisen in previous communities would also arise in his own community on a greater scale. To make his meaning clear, he said:

“Where previous communities were divided into 72 sects Muslims will be divided into 73 sects.” (Abu Dawud, Hadith No. 4597)

There are innumerable cases of ideological extremism in Islamic history. But we also find among Muslims another kind of extremism that probably never existed in previous communities. When the Prophet said that while the previous communities were divided into seventy-two sects and the Muslims would be divided into seventy-three sects, he was giving an example of this other kind of ghulu (extremism) which can be described as political extremism. No previous community had ever been crowned by such political glory as was enjoyed by the Muslims for almost a thousand years after the emergence of Islam. Political glory was not, however, a part of the Islamic creed, but a part of history. But Muslims stressed this fact of political glory to such an extent that, for all intents and purposes, it became incorporated into their religious creed. The result of this political extremism is the violent jihad we experience in the Muslim world of today.

Source: Spirit of Islam April 2016