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Are the Innovated Sects Restricted to Seventy-Three?

Al-ʿAllāmah Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān al-Fawzān

An important note regarding the number of sects mentioned in the ḥadīth of splitting.

[Q]: The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says: “My nation will split up into seventy-three sects.”1 Considering this, is the number of misguided sects restricted to only seventy three, or could they exceed that specific number?

[A]: This is not to be understood as a restriction to the number of misguided sects, for they are indeed copious and abundant. If one were to peruse the books written regarding the different sects of Islam, he would find them to be quite numerous. However—Allāh knows best—the number seventy-three mentioned in this ḥadīth refers to the foundational sects, from which many other sects have branched out. As for the contemporary groups today which stand in opposition to Ahl al-Sunnah, they are merely extensions and offshoots of those foundational sects.2

Endnotes:
[1] Authentic: Collected by al-Tirmidhī: 2640, Abū Dāwūd: 4596 and others, and was deemed authentic by Shaykh al-Albānī in Al-Ṣaḥīḥah: 203.
[2] Lumḥah ʿAn al-Firaq al-Ḍāllah: 59-60.

Translated by: Omar ibn Bilal

Published: September 10, 2025
Edited: September 10, 2025

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