Regarding the Hadīth of the Splitting of the ʿUmmah into 73 Sects
As for the hadīth of the splitting of the ʿUmmah into seventy-three sects, all of which will be in the Fire except one, then the narration of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr (may Allāh be pleased with him) reported by At-Tirmidhī (no. 2641) makes clear which is the saved sect, so when the Companions asked: ‘Which is it, O Messenger of Allāh?’ He (Peace and blessings be upon him) said: “That which I and my Companions are upon.”
And in one wording of the hadīth of Abū ʿUmāmah (may Allāh be pleased with him) reported by Ibn Abī ʿĀsim in ‘As-Sunnah’ (no. 68), Al-Bayhaqī (8/188) and others: “As-Sawād-ul-Aʿzam (The main body).”
[01] — Then with regard to the saved sect, then they are those upon that which the Messenger of Allāh (Peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions (may Allāh be pleased with them) were upon, whether they be few of many in a particular age. Just as the noble Companions ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allāh be pleased with him) said: “‘Al-Jamāʿah’ is that which conforms to the truth, even if you are alone.”[1]
[02] — As for the idea that ‘As-Sawād-ul-Aʿzam’ (the main body) indicates the majority of the people, irrespective of whether they are upon that which the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions were upon, then Imām Is-hāq ibn Rāhawaih (d. 238H) said: “If you were able to ask the ignorant people about the ‘As-Sawād-ul-Aʿzam’ (the Main Body), then they would say: ‘It is the majority of people’. They do not know that the Jamāʿah is the scholar who clings to the narrations from the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) and his way. So whoever is with him and follows him, then he is ‘Al-Jamāʿah’.”[2]
Translated by Abū Ṭalḥah Dāwud Burbank.
[1] Reported by Ibn ʿAsākir in ‘Tarīkh Dimashq’ (13/322/2) with a ‘sahīh’ chain of narration.
[2] Reported by Abū Nuʿaym in ‘Hilyat-ul-Awliyāʾ’.
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