This Ummah will split into seventy-three sects
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Fatwa No. ( 830 ):
Q: I have read a noble hadith cited by the Shaykh of Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab in his book [Mukhtasar Sirat al-Rasul (peace and blessings be upon him)]; it is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):
This Ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all in the Fire except one
ستفترق هذه الأمة على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة كلها في النار إلاَّ واحدةAllah, the Most Generous, the Bestower, to bestow upon us the understanding of it and the action upon it.) He also wishes to have the following questions answered, which revolve around the aforementioned hadith: 1 - Who is the saved sect referred to in the hadith? 2 - Do the other sects, other than the people of hadith, such as the Shi'ah , the Shafi'is , the Hanafis , the Tijaniyyah and others, fall within the seventy-two sects that the Noble Messenger explicitly stated are in the Fire? 3 - If these sects are in the Fire except for one, how do you allow them to visit the Sacred House of Allah ? Was the great Imam in error, or have you deviated from the straight path?
A: First: What the Imam Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in [Mukhtasar al-Sirah] is a portion of a well-known authentic hadith narrated by the compilers of the Sunan and Musnads, such as Abu Dawud and al-Nasa'i and al-Tirmidhi and others, in several wordings, including:
The Jews split into seventy-one sects, all in the Fire except one, and the Christians split into seventy-two sects, all in the Fire except one, and this Ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all in the Fire except one
افترقت اليهود على إحدى وسبعين فرقة كلها في النار إلاَّ واحدة، وافترقت النصارى على اثنتين وسبعين فرقة كلها في النار إلاَّ واحدة، وستفترق هده الأمة على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة كلها في النار إلاَّ واحدةand in a narration:
seventy-three sects
على ثلاث وسبعين ملةThey said: O Messenger of Allah, who is the saved sect? He said: Those who are upon what I am upon today and my Companions
قالوا: يا رسول الله، من الفرقة الناجية؟ قال: من كان على مثل ما أنا عليه اليوم وأصحابيthe Hand of Allah is with the Jama'ah
هي الجماعة، يد الله على الجماعةThose who are upon what I am upon today and my Companions
من كان على مثل ما أنا عليه اليوم وأصحابيthe Hand of Allah is with the Jama'ah
هي الجماعة يد الله على الجماعةmisleading desires and false interpretations that the Arabic language—the tongue of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and through which the Noble Qur'an was revealed—rejects, and which the principles of the Islamic Shari'ah reject, whoever is thus is from the saved sect, the people of the Sunnah and the community. Third: As for the one who takes his desire as his god and opposes the Book and the authentic Sunnah with his opinion or the opinion of his Imam or the saying of his followed leader out of zeal and partisanship, or interprets the texts of the Book and the Sunnah in a way that the Arabic language rejects and the principles of the Islamic Shari'ah reject, thereby deviating from the community, he is from the seventy-two sects that the Infallible Messenger, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), mentioned are all in the Fire. Thus, the sign of these sects by which they are known is: departing from the Book and the Sunnah and consensus without an interpretation that agrees with the language of the Qur'an and the principles of the Shari'ah and excuses its holder for what he erred in. Fourth: The issue mentioned by the Imam of the Da'wah, Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab , which he stated is among the most important issues, and that whoever understands it has understood the religion, and whoever acts upon it is the Muslim, is what was explained in the second paragraph of the answer, regarding the distinction of the saved sect by what the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) distinguished it with, and that the other sects are contrary to it. So whoever distinguishes between the saved sect and the perishing sect by what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) distinguished them with, and understands the difference between the saved and perishing sects according to his explanation, has understood the religion and distinguished between those
whom one must adhere to their community and those whom one must avoid and flee from as one flees from a lion. And whoever takes himself to act upon this correct understanding and adheres to the community of guidance and truth and their Imam, he is the Muslim; because the description of the saved sect applies to him in knowledge, creed, speech, and action. There is no doubt that this is among the most important issues, the greatest in benefit, and the most widespread in utility. May Allah have mercy on the Imam Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab , the man of penetrating insight and precise understanding of the texts of the religion and their objectives, who alerted Muslims to what concerns them in their religion by indication sometimes, as here, and by expression and explanation other times, as in many of his writings. Fifth: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not make the titles by which the sects claiming affiliation to Islam are known as the signs by which the seventy-two sects are identified, nor as a title by which some are distinguished from others. Rather, he made their sign departing from the Book and the Sunnah and the consensus of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the rest of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all), following suspicion and what the souls desire, and speaking about Allah without knowledge and partisanship for their followed leader other than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), in which they ally and oppose. He also made the banner of the saved sect following the Book and the Sunnah and adhering to the community of Muslims, and preferring that over their insights, suspicions, and desires, so their desire follows what the Islamic Shari'ah brought, in which they ally and oppose. So whoever takes a measure to weigh
the sects other than the explanation of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and knows their sects to distinguish the saved sect from the perishing sects, has spoken without knowledge and judged the sects without insight, thereby wronging himself and wronging the sects claiming affiliation to Islam. And whoever returns to the explanation of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in distinguishing the saved sect from the perishing sects, is just in his judgment and knows that the groups of the Ummah are of varying degrees. Among them are those who are more eager to follow the Shari'ah and submit to it, and further from people from innovation in the religion and distortion of its texts, and adding to it or subtracting from it. These are the happiest people to be from the saved sect. Among the scholars of hadith and the Imams of fiqh in the Book and the Sunnah are those who are qualified for ijtihad, who strive for the Shari'ah and submit to it, but they may interpret some of its texts in a way they err in, and they are excused for their error because it is in the areas of ijtihad. Among them are those who deny some texts of the Shari'ah, either because they are new to Islam, or because they grew up in the peripheries of the Islamic lands and what they denied did not reach them. Among them are those who commit a sin or innovate a bid'ah that does not take them out of the fold of Islam, so they are a believer obedient to Allah in what obedience they have, and a wrongdoer in what sin they committed and what bid'ah they innovated, so they are in the will of Allah; if Allah wills, He forgives them, and if He wills, He punishes them. Allah the Exalted said:
Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُAnd [there are] others who have acknowledged their sins. They had mixed a righteous deed with another that was bad. Perhaps Allah will turn to them in forgiveness
وَآخَرُونَ اعْتَرَفُوا بِذُنُوبِهِمْ خَلَطُوا عَمَلا صَالِحًا وَآخَرَ سَيِّئًا عَسَى اللَّهُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْهِمْThese people are not disbelievers because of their erroneous interpretation or their denial of what they denied; rather, they are excused and are included among the saved sect, even if they are below the first group. Among them are those who denied what is known from the religion by necessity after it had become clear to them, and they followed their desires without guidance from Allah, or they interpreted some of the texts of the Shari'ah with a distant interpretation, contrary to the precedent of the Muslim community that came before them. When the truth was made clear to them and the argument was established against them through debates and other means, they did not return. These people are disbelievers who have apostatized from Islam, even if they claim to be Muslims, and even if they strive in calling to it according to their belief and method; such as the Qadiani Ahmadis who denied the finality of prophethood with Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and claimed that Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani is the Prophet of Allah and His Messenger, or that he is the Messiah, Isa ibn Maryam, or that the spirit of Muhammad or Isa inhabited his body, so he was in the position of prophethood and messengership. Sixth: The people of the Sunnah and the community have established principles based on evidence upon which they build the branches, and to which they return in deriving evidence for specific issues and in applying rulings to themselves and others. Among these is that faith is speech, action, and belief, and it increases with obedience and decreases with disobedience. So whenever the Muslim increases in obedience, his faith increases, and whenever he neglects it
or commits a sin such that it does not lead him to explicit disbelief, his faith decreases. So faith, in their view, has degrees, and the saved sect has varying levels, some above others, according to the evidence and what they have earned in words and deeds. Among these is: that they do not declare a specific person or a specific sect from the people of the Qiblah to be disbelievers, and they are hesitant to do so; because of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) rebuke of Usamah ibn Zayd ibn Harithah for killing a man from the disbelievers after he said: "There is no god but Allah," and he did not accept from Usamah his excuse for killing him that he said it as a refuge to protect himself. Rather, he said to him:
Did you tear his heart in order to find out whether it had professed or not?
أفلا شققت عن قلبه حتى تعلم أقالها أم لاwhen the evidence for disbelief was established, and the conveyance and clarification were confirmed. The Saudi government—may Allah protect it and support it with His success—has not differed from this in its treatment of its subjects and its ruling over them, nor in its stance toward Muslims in other countries, especially those who come to the House of Allah to perform the rites of Hajj or 'Umrah. It assumes the best of Muslims, considers them its brothers in religion, and cooperates with them in what strengthens their bonds, preserves their rights, and returns to them what was taken from them. It welcomes those who come to it and does what facilitates the performance of their rites or their mission with the best care, with compassion and concern. This is known by those who are informed of its conditions and have looked into its affairs and the efforts and money it spends in the path of general reform for Muslims and providing comfort for the pilgrims to the House of Allah . For this reason, it allows the different sects of Muslims to visit the House of Allah without investigating what is hidden of their beliefs, acting according to the apparent without investigating what is in the inner selves, for Allah takes charge of the secrets. If the disbelief of a person or a specific sect becomes clear to it, such as the Qadianis for example, and this is confirmed by the investigating scholars from the Islamic countries, then it has no choice but to prevent the one whose disbelief and apostasy are established from performing Hajj and 'Umrah; to protect the House of Allah from being approached by one who has filth in his heart, and acting in accordance with the saying of the Exalted:
O you who have believed, indeed the polytheists are unclean, so let them not approach al-Masjid al-Haram after this, their [final] year
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ فَلا يَقْرَبُوا الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَذَاand His saying, the Exalted:
and purify My House for those who perform Tawaf and those who stand [in prayer] and those who bow and prostrate.
وَطَهِّرْ بَيْتِيَ لِلطَّائِفِينَ وَالْقَائِمِينَ وَالرُّكَّعِ السُّجُودِ
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.