The Seventy-Three Sects

Question

The Jews split into seventy-one sects, the Christians into seventy-two, and this Umma will have seventy-three sects, all of them astray except one — what is the status of this hadith with regard to its chain of transmission (isnad), and what is its meaning? Explain with proof (بينوا بالدليل). Mawlawi Muhammad Yasin, teacher at Madrasa Ihya al-‘Ulum, Azamgarh.

Answer

This hadith is found in Mishkat al-Masabih, in the second section (fasl) of the chapter on holding fast to the Book and the Sunna (باب الاعتصام بالكتاب والسنة). Al-Suyuti ﵀ transmitted it from the four Sunan; al-‘Alqami, with regard to its chain of transmission, called it “hasan sahih”.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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