Qur’an-Alone Sunday Study Group establishes a framework of sincerity, humility, and evidence-based reflection devoted entirely to Allah and the Qur’an. Every participant approaches the discussion as a seeker rather than an authority, with all interpretations grounded strictly in the Qur’an through language, context, and internal consistency, excluding Hadith or sectarian sources.
Speech must stem from sincerity, guided by Qur’an 16:125 and 39:18, aiming for understanding rather than argument. Each member speaks without interruption, with attentive listening and pauses for reflection, while any contradiction must be followed by the right of response to preserve fairness. All reasoning must be supported by Qur’anic citation, linguistic analysis, contextual study, logic, and concordance-based evidence.
Equality governs all voices—no hierarchy or reputation grants interpretive weight.
Disagreements are handled through mutual summarization, written reflection, and deferred judgment until further study, allowing coexistence of perspectives rooted in Qur’anic ethics and monotheism.
Conduct remains calm, respectful, and free from mockery or ridicule, maintaining confidentiality and unity as commanded in 3:103.
Sessions are orderly, free from distractions, and end with gratitude and prayer. True growth, as taught in 25:63, comes through humility—refining understanding without fracturing fellowship.
Per Allah’s commands in His Qur’an, we should not follow sects.
Behold, the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man’s] self-surrender unto Him; and those who were vouchsafed revelation aforetime took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views [on this point] only after knowledge [thereof] had come unto them. But as for him who denies the truth of God’s messages – behold, God is swift in reckoning! – al-Imran 3:19
And hold firmly to the rope of Allah and do not be divided. Remember Allah’s favour upon you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts, so you—by His grace—became brothers. And you were at the brink of a fiery pit and He saved you from it. This is how Allah makes His revelations clear to you, so that you may be ˹rightly˺ guided. – al-Imran 3:103
And be not like those who have drawn apart from one another and have taken to conflicting views after all evidence of the truth has come unto them: for these it is for whom tremendous suffering is in store – al-Imran 3:105
VERILY, as for those who have broken the unity of their faith and have become sects – thou hast nothing to do with them. Behold, their case rests with God: and in time He will make them understand what they were doing. – al-An`am 6:159
[For, thou art the bearer of a divine writ] such as We have bestowed from on high upon those who afterwards] broke it up into parts, – al-Hijr 15:90
[or] among those who have broken the unity of their faith and have become sects, each group delighting in but what they themselves hold [by way of tenets]. – ar-Rum 30:32
In matters of faith, He has ordained for you that which He had enjoined upon Noah – and into which We gave thee [O Muhammad] insight through revelation as well as that which We had enjoined upon Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus: Steadfastly uphold the [true] faith, and do not break up your unity therein. [And even though] that [unity of faith] to which thou callest them appears oppressive to those who are wont to ascribe to other beings or forces a share in His divinity, God draws unto Himself everyone who is willing, and guides unto Himself everyone who turns unto Him. – ash_Shura 42:13
And [as for the followers of earlier revelation,] they broke up their unity, out of mutual jealousy, only after they had come to know [the truth]. And had it not been for a decree that had already gone forth from thy Sustainer, [postponing all decision] until a term set [by Him], all would indeed have been decided between them [from the outset]. As it is, behold, they who have inherited their divine writ from those who preceded them are [now] in grave doubt, amounting to suspicion, about what it portends. – ash-Shura 42:14
According to these Qur’anic verses, our Creator commands believers to maintain religious unity and avoid breaking into competing sects or denominations. The verses above emphasize that the true religion is simply submitting to our Creator’s will, and that throughout history—from the time of Noah through Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad—He has consistently called people to one unified faith.
The Qur’an warns that religious divisions arise not from ignorance, but from jealousy and ego even after people have received clear knowledge of the truth. Believers are instructed to “hold firmly to the rope of Allah and do not be divided,” remembering how He united them when they were once enemies.
The Qur’an makes clear that those who create religious sects and delight in their particular interpretations, rather than seeking unity in essential faith, will answer to their Creator for fragmenting what was meant to be whole.
The repeated message is that sectarianism contradicts the fundamental Islamic principle of submitting together to one God.
(we are continuing to recover articles from the pre-WordPress site; this is one.)
Let me give you the general picture: I am white, ‘middle class’, and well past a half-century in age.
I went through all the typical white-middle-class nonsense. I worked for the big corporation. I climbed up the ranks. I started as a computer operator, went through the promotions. Systems tech. Programmer. Systems programmer. Manager over a tech support department. And so on.
House in the fancy suburb, bought my wife a Volvo, all that kind of thing.
Eventually I went out freelance, independent computer work. Owned my own company.
Hit my 40’s, got divorced, chased women, drank a lot, chased more women, did drugs, did more drugs.
Did the wrong drug. Found myself spending much more effort trying to do cocaine than trying to do the work my Creator gave me the talent for.
Found myself eventually in jail, of course.
But our Creator is merciful. He had His plan.
That jail, a state jail, was more than a county lock-up, but less than the stereotypical “Hollywood ” prison. No riots, no tear gas, no beatings
(well… I did see two incidents, but let’s not digress).
But the company in jail is not the most righteous, even for a junior criminal like me. I certainly don’t recommend it as a vacation spot for anyone… for one thing the help is really rude. 😉
Anyway, I had noticed that there was one group in there that DIDN’T seem to be out to prove themselves tougher, who weren’t busy trying to run one scheme or another, who seemed to be *unshackled* by the dark environment we were in.
That group, you might guess, was the black Muslims. And even that, I later learned, was an assumption on my part. Some of the brothers were Black Muslims (Nation of Islam) I would later learn, but most were Muslims associated with Mosques that (generally) joined W. Dean Mohammad when he led the bulk of the old N.O.I. away from Louis Farrakhan and his bunch and back to orthodox Islam.
This was good, and one of the signs of Allah’s planning. Because one day one of my black cellmates was in the same visiting area with his family when I was visited by my wife.
My wife at that time was an African American. And word of this got back to the rest of the inmates in my area. Naturally some of the bigoted whites thereafter treated me with disdain; no loss as they were not the sort I associated with. But on the other side of the race line my own aloof attitude had (unknown to me) been interpreted as prejudice by some of my non-white cellmates.
Suddenly it was seen that that wasn’t my stance.
Getting to the point, this all led to my being invited to an Islamic learning session. (Here in the U.S. prisons have to accommodate the faiths of the inmates, within limits)
A chance to get out of the block for a couple of hours? (And some curiousity?)
I went. And then one of the brothers with a good voice called the adzan.
It was like nothing I can explain. The Southern Baptists talk about being ‘born again’… Brothers, sisters: is that the right word!
I cried like a baby. There in the middle of a room full of felons. Tears streaming down my face.
Not one of them ever mentioned that to me. To the best of my knowledge it was never mentioned outside of that room (and stories like that spread faster than fire in there).
I had $110,000 in a retirement account when all of this started.
When I got out of jail I had $4,000 left in the bank, and a felony conviction.
I had lost $106,000 but I had gained Islam. I would pay twice that without blinking.
I do not need anyone else’s affirmation of my Islam, I have received that from the ONE who matters!
By the way, for anyone who wants to verify, the legal facts I related above are a matter of public record in the State of Texas. The events all happened in the year 2000.
Oh, that $4,000? Just as it was running out, I ran into an old boss (who knew my troubles) in Wal-mart. He hired me two days later.
Alhamdulallah once again!
This account is not for my own fame or aggrandizement but for the sake of Allah. If any good comes out of this story all the credit is due Him; only the mistakes are my own. Note: ANYONE who has a similar struggle, please visit Millati Islami for support.
G. Waleed Kavalec
“O my Lord! bestow wisdom on me, and join me with the righteous;” — Quran, al-Shuara 26:83
Moral transgression costs a heavy price—indeed, an exceedingly heavy one. Yet this price is not rendered in material currency, but rather in the coin of psychological anguish, emotional turmoil, and spiritual desolation. Our Creator did not establish arbitrary DOs and DON’Ts merely to test human compliance. Rather, He revealed fundamental principles for righteous living. His disapproval of falsehood, theft, betrayal, covetousness, murder, envy, sexual transgression, and arrogance stems from the reality that such behaviors corrupt both the individual who commits them and the social fabric surrounding them—ultimately destroying one’s own moral integrity and relationships with others.
Consider how these transgressions unfold in everyday life:
A single lie requires ten more lies to maintain it, creating a web of deception that traps the liar in constant anxiety.
Theft breeds suspicion and fear throughout communities, making neighbors distrust one another.
Envy corrodes the heart from within, robbing us of gratitude for our own blessings while fixating on what others possess.
Each transgression creates expanding circles of harm, like stones thrown into still water.
Every act that the Qur’an identifies as transgression represents something from which our Creator seeks to shield us. His ultimate purpose is to guide humanity toward love, tranquility, divine grace, and harmony—both in our relationship with Him and within the entirety of His creation. Moral transgression constitutes our willful rejection of this divine guidance, pursued in service of our own ephemeral and misguided desires.
The wisdom embedded in divine guidance resembles that of a skilled physician who warns against behaviors that damage health. What might appear restrictive is actually protective—boundaries designed not to limit our joy, but to preserve our well-being and guide us toward authentic fulfillment. When we transgress these boundaries, we often discover too late that we have wounded ourselves more deeply than anyone else.
