﴿ وَمِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا نَصَٰرَىٰٓ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَٰقَهُمْ فَنَسُوا۟ حَظًّۭا مِّمَّا ذُكِّرُوا۟ بِهِۦ فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ ٱلْعَدَاوَةَ وَٱلْبَغْضَآءَ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ ۚ وَسَوْفَ يُنَبِّئُهُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَصْنَعُونَ ﴾

“And [likewise,] from those who say, "Behold, we are Christians." We have accepted a solemn pledge: and they, too, have forgotten much of what they had been told to bear in mind - wherefore We have given rise among them to enmity and hatred, [to last] until Resurrection Day: and in time God will cause them to understand what they have contrived.”

When The People of the Book (i.e. those communities blessed with Divine Scriptures) go astray, they disregard the clear-cut, eternal parts of the Scriptures and hasten to embrace those parts which are of purely local or topical interest. This leads to conflict and results in degradation in the Hereafter. Whenever such groups leave the right path, infirmities become apparent. They start adopting a religion of their own imagining, casting aside their time-honoured authentic religion. Dissatisfied with the clear commandments given by God and His prophets on religious laws, spirituality and politics, they delve into them to find new points of contention. This opens up the door to differences and sectarianism. Sometimes, to justify worldly desires, sometimes to perfect the ‘imperfect’ religion of God, sometimes just to move with the times, dissatisfied elements introduce new elements into religion which are not really part of it. In this way, different new editions of religion take shape—some spiritual, some political, and so on. Around each one of them, like-minded persons start gathering and finally they form a sect. Succeeding generations start protecting this new version, treating it as if it were the heritage of their forefathers. A stage comes when it will clearly be perpetuated until Doomsday, because man tends to treat the past as sacred, and once something is sanctified by time and tradition, it takes on an aura of being eternal. Sectarianism in the name of religion on the one hand becomes sacred and eternal and on the other comes to be regarded as God’s command and gives licence for harbouring hatred and indulging in violence against others.