From ’Awf Ibn Mālik (raḍī Allāhu ʿanhu) who said that the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: ‘‘The Jews will split into seventy-one sects, so one will be in Paradise and seventy will be in the Fire. And the Christians will split into seventy-two sects, so seventy-one will be in the Fire, and one will be in Paradise. Any by the One in whose Hand the soul of Muḥammad is, my Ummah shall split into seventy-three sects, and one will be in Paradise and seventy-two will be in the Fire.’’ It was said: ‘Who are they O Messenger of Allāh?’ He said: ‘‘The Jamāʿah.’’1
From Muʿāwiyah (raḍī Allāhu ʿanhu) who said: I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying: ‘‘There shall always remain a group from my Ummah, upholding the affair of Allāh, not being harmed by those who seek to mislead them, nor by those who oppose them, until the Command of Allāh comes and they are upon that.’’2
Regarding the common dispute about the correct path, Abū Khadījah states, “…The people think this is just an academic argument between the Salafīs and other than the Salafīs. They believe it is just a matter of words, a sect called salafīyyah fighting against all of the other sects. This is from the greatest of confusions that the people try to spread; rather the reality of the matter is that this is an issue of Jannah (Paradise) and Naar (Hell-Fire). And it is an issue of the hold of the Prophet (ﷺ), it is an issue of drinking from the lake of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ), it is an issue of earning the love of the Messenger (ﷺ) on Youmul-Kiyyamah (the day of judgment) and Him (ﷺ) not turning away from you, for if He (ﷺ) turns away from you then know assuredly that Allāh will turn away from you. For anyone who harms the Messenger (ﷺ) then Allāh is angry with him. So we say that us warning the people, warning them from those matters which oppose the Religion is not just a matter of academics, but rather it is a matter of preserving the ummah and what this ummah is upon… It is not a matter of academics; it is a matter of salvation of one’s soul.”
From the Topics Discussed:
- Respect for the ’Ulamāʾ
- The position of the ʿUlamāʾ in Islām
- A Group upon the Truth in every Generation
- Putting the Madhhab before the Sunnah, The root of Ḥizbiyyah (partisanship)
- Formation of groups and parties, a greater destruction than madh′habiyyah
- Dispelling the arguments of the people of ḥizbiyyah
- The Salafīyyīn connect the people to the books of the Salaf, the people of party-spirit connect the people to ‘supposed’ current affairs (magazines, newspapers etc.)
- The corrupt tahazzub of the ḥizbiyyīn, their praise for those who admire them and their extreme hatred for those who call the people to the ʿUlamāʾ
- The introspective characteristic of the Salafīyyīn as opposed to the false attribution of pride at the hands of the ḥizbiyyīn
Endnotes:
- Ḥasan: Related by Ibn Mājah (no. 3992)
- Ṣaḥīḥ: Related by al-Bukhārī (no. 3641) and by Muslim (no. 1037)
