A Difficulty Regarding the Hadith of the Seventy-three Sects

Question

Question: O source of guidance, fount of knowledge and virtue! [Accept] the prescribed greeting. Your brief answer is not sufficient to guide an obtuse person such as myself — especially concerning the hadith which you cited by way of explanation, namely: “The community that remains upon the way on which I stand, in matters of belief, action and character, and on which my Companions stand, will attain salvation.

Answer

The gist of your question is this: there is a contradiction in the sayings of the Companions, and it is precisely this contradiction that has become the cause of sectarian division within the umma — to the point that the umma split into seventy-three sects; only one sect is saved, and seventy-two are the people of Hell, and if not all, then most [of these sayings] are…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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