The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "My Ummah will split into seventy-three sects." What is the criterion for these sects? In other words, how is a group judged to be one of the sects?

The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: What is the criterion for these sects? In other words, how is a group judged to be one of the sects? Is it by its deviation from the creed of the righteous Salaf, or from their methodology?

The Shaykh : The most severe form of deviation is for a sect to deviate from the school of the Salaf in their creed, followed by deviation in methodology. Therefore, we say that the Sufi orders are considered a deviation from the methodology of the Salaf, even if their creed is not [deviant]. Even if we assume that they recite these dhikr without believing that they are what is required by the Shari'ah, they are considered outside the seventy-three sects about which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Yes.