Somebody inquired of Hazrat Abu Mas'ud , “What's the straight path?" "The one," he replied, "On which we found the Holy Prophet  it's other end reaches Paradise. There are many paths on its left and right, on which the people are walking and are also calling others to themselves. Whoever betook himself to anyone of these paths, he reached Hell." Then he recited the same noble verse.

It is known from this verse and the hadiths that the path of truth and the straight road is only one, and salvation can be achieved by walking on this path only, even as Allah Most High hath used the singular number for His Own path and the plural number for the paths of deviation.

It is also learnt that the divine path, the path of truth and the path of salvation is only one, while compared to it, the paths of deviation and error are too many. The path of salvation, as said by Hazrat Ibn Mas'ud, is only one and that is the Holy Prophet's  path on which the holy Companions walked and went away from this world with success; and then their Followers (Tabi 'in) and the Followers-on (Ta'be Tabi 'in) and other religious august men continued to walk on it.

Time went on changing; people and countries too changed; everything kept changing, but the way the Holy Prophet  had offered to the ummah remained unchanged. Those who followed and acted upon it in all circumstances, in sorrow as well as joy, in poverty as well as wealth. Whenever any tyrannous government or any powerful oppressive ruler wished to change a single serif thereof, Allah's slaves faced them, risked their lives and put an end to such mischiefs. They sacrificed all their possessions to protect this religion and preserved each and every belief and practice of it, until it gradually reached us.