A magnanimous answer delivered over the course of an hour by the mountain of knowledge in his time, al-Imām, Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī (raḥimahullāh).
From ʿAwf 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
Allāh the Blessed, the Most High – said:
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا ۚ وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا ﴿١٠٣﴾
“And hold fast altogether to the rope of Allāh and do not be divided. And remember the favour of Allāh upon you, in that you were once enemies to one another, but He joined your hearts together, so that by His Grace you became brothers.”
[Āl ʿImrān, 3:103]
Endnotes:
[1] Ḥasan: Related by Ibn Mājah (no. 3992)
