Q: Praise be to Allah alone, and peace and blessings be upon the final Prophet!The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' has read what was submitted to His Eminence the Mufty by His Honor the Director of the Center of Da`wah and Guidance in Al-Dammam, in his letter no. 22/1/103, on 27/1/1418 A.H., attached therewith the Fatwa request submitted by Abu Muhammad Al-Pakistany, which is referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars, (Part No. 2; Page No. 121) no. 689, on 4/2/1418 A.H. The question reads as follows: There is a group in Pakistan called "Al-Tawhid group". They have special beliefs, i.e., they consider all Muslims Kafirs (disbelievers) except those who belong to their group, they do not offer the congregational Salah (Prayer) behind a Muslim Imam (the one who leads congregational Prayer), they only greet each other and no one else; they do not believe any Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) except what agrees with their desires. They describe books of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) as being full of Shirk (associating others with Allah in His Divinity or worship), superstitions and deviation, which are the books written by the four Imams (initiators of a School of Jurisprudence). They do not approve of an Imam receiving payment, as all the prophets used to work as shepherds and they never took fees in return for guiding the people and leading them. After a long discussion, they insisted on not belonging to Ahl-ul-Sunnah wal-Jama`ah (adherents to the Sunnah and the Muslim mainstream), the people of Hadith, or any of the four Madh-habs (School of Jurisprudence). They deny the punishment in the grave and question the punishment of the drowned and the burnt people. If they are punished, they argue, how can the Buddhists (who burn the bodies of the dead) be punished? It is not logical to them that a person lives in the grave, for it is too narrow. They ask: how are those whose bodies are dissected in the Faculty of Medicine punished in the grave? They claim that if there is punishment in the grave, it is for the soul only. They talk like communists regarding these matters, and they quote (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:28), (Surah Ghafir, 40:11), and (Surah Al-Isra', 17:49-50). (Part No. 2; Page No. 122) After a long discussion with them, I brought them the following books:1. "Al-Ruh" by Ibn-ul-Qayyim.2. "Ahwal Al-Qubur wa Ahwal Ahliha ila Al-Nushur."3. Fatwas (legal opinion issued by a qualified Muslim scholar) of the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta', volume 3, `Aqidah (Creed).4. Fatwas and letters of Ibn `Uthaymin, volume 2, `Aqidah.However, they denied all what was mentioned in these books. They believe that all the Hadith there are either Da`if (weak) or Mawdu` (fabricated). What they deny most is the Hadith where the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "When a person dies, their deeds come to an end except for three things..." They offer Salah (Prayer), observe Sawm (fasting), recite the Qur'an and interpret it according to their own desire. They also claim that the Qur'an is not a cure for physical ailments; it is a cure for spiritual ones only. Some people follow them out of ignorance.Please advise concerning this group. Can we maintain ties of kinship with them or visit them? May Allah reward you on behalf of all the Muslims!The Minister wrote a report to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs which is attached thereto with a report about this group, which states the following: In reference to (Part No. 2; Page No. 123) your letter no. 3/8/167, on 14/5/1418 A.H., concerning the available information about the "Tawhid group",please be advised thatthe mentioned group used to be called Allah's Party, presided over by Dr. Mas`ud Al-Din Al-`Uthmany. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Lucknow, India in 1934, where he got the M.B.B.S certificate.He worked as a doctor in the army, and then retired. He was interested in religious matters. In the beginning, he belonged to the Islamic group, but then he left it. He read some Hadith books to Shaykh Muhammad Yusuf Al-Banury, one of the great scholars of Deobandism at that time.He was enthusiastic about proving Tawhid (belief in the Oneness of Allah) and resisting the forms of Shirk (associating others with Allah in His Divinity or worship) such as seeking the help of the dead. In the end, he became an extremist, which lead him to Takfir (declaring someone to be a disbeliever) of everyone who believes in hearing the dead and the return of the soul to the body in the grave. He also denied all the Hadith narrated about the deeds of this Ummah (nation) being displayed to the Prophet (peace be upon him). Accordingly, he issued (Part No. 2; Page No. 124) his Fatwa about considering Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah be merciful to him) a Kafir, out of objection to what the Imam mentioned in his book "Al-Salah" in which he states, "Believing in Hawd (the Prophet's Basin in the Hereafter), Shafa`ah (intercession), Munkar and Nakir (the two angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves), the punishment in the grave, the angel of death who takes the souls so that they are returned in the grave where they are questioned about Iman (Faith) and Tawhid..."Dr. `Asim Ibrahim Al-Qaryuty, one of the former official Du`ah (callers to Islam) in Pakistan and a researcher in the Prophetic Sunnah Services Council in the Islamic University in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, wrote a booklet to refute his claims in a logical way.More than one scholar issued a Fatwa that this man is misguided and leads to misguidance and it is not permissible to read his books or offer Salah behind him. Many of the people that belonged to his group that used to be called "Allah's Party" agreed on dismissing him, the first of whom was his cousin, Dr. Kamal Al-Din `Uthmany. Later, he dissolved his group, and claimed that the era is similar to the Makkan one, so there is no need to form a group, but it is important to work hard to spread Tawhid.He died five years ago, and his party was weakened to a great extent after his death.