The hadith that the ummah would split into seventy-three groups is well attested. Longer forms add that all but one are in the Fire, a clause some scholars questioned. Scholars from Ibn Taymiyyah to Ibn Baz held that the seventy-two are not thereby disbelievers, and the narrations call the saved group “the jama’ah”.
Few hadith are quoted as often in arguments between Muslims, and few are as often misused. This page sets out what the narrations say, how the hadith scholars graded them, and how classical and contemporary scholars and fatwa bodies have read them. The Qur’an’s own warning comes first:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا دِينَهُمْ وَكَانُوا شِيَعًا لَسْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ ۚ إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ
Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects - you, [O Muhammad], are not [associated] with them in anything. Their affair is only [left] to Allah; then He will inform them about what they used to do.
The narrations: three forms
The number alone
Abu Hurayrah narrates the shortest form:
افْتَرَقَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَى إِحْدَى أَوْ ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً وَتَفَرَّقَتِ النَّصَارَى عَلَى إِحْدَى أَوْ ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً وَتَفْتَرِقُ أُمَّتِي عَلَى ثَلاَثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً
The Jews split into seventy-one or seventy-two sects, the Christians split into seventy-one or seventy-two sects, and my ummah will split into seventy-three sects.
Al-Tirmidhi graded it hasan sahih (Tirmidhi 2640, hasan sahih (al-Albani); hasan sahih (Ahmad Muhammad Shakir)), and al-Hakim sahih on Muslim’s condition. It says nothing about the Fire or a saved group. Al-Albani stresses that the clause “all in the Fire except one” is in none of the sources he found for Abu Hurayrah’s narration, and Ibn Hajar noted the same.
“And it is the jama’ah”
Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan stood among the people and narrated:
أَلاَ إِنَّ مَنْ قَبْلَكُمْ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ افْتَرَقُوا عَلَى ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ مِلَّةً وَإِنَّ هَذِهِ الْمِلَّةَ سَتَفْتَرِقُ عَلَى ثَلاَثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ ثِنْتَانِ وَسَبْعُونَ فِي النَّارِ وَوَاحِدَةٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَهِيَ الْجَمَاعَةُ
Indeed, those of the People of the Book before you split into seventy-two creeds, and this community will split into seventy-three: seventy-two in the Fire and one in Paradise, and it is the jama’ah.
’Awf ibn Malik’s narration in Ibn Majah has the same answer, “the jama’ah” (Ibn Majah 3992, sahih (al-Albani)), and so does one of Anas’s, though it gives the numbers as seventy-one and seventy-two (Ibn Majah 3993, sahih (al-Albani)). A narration of Abu Umamah in al-Tabarani reads “except the great mass”, al-sawad al-a’zam; Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut’s team graded its chain hasan.
“What I and my Companions are upon”
’Abd Allah ibn ’Amr narrates the best-known wording:
وَإِنَّ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ تَفَرَّقَتْ عَلَى ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ مِلَّةً وَتَفْتَرِقُ أُمَّتِي عَلَى ثَلاَثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ مِلَّةً كُلُّهُمْ فِي النَّارِ إِلاَّ مِلَّةً وَاحِدَةً قَالُوا وَمَنْ هِيَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ مَا أَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَأَصْحَابِي
The Children of Isra’il split into seventy-two creeds, and my ummah will split into seventy-three creeds, all of them in the Fire except one.” They said, “Which is it, Messenger of Allah?” He said, “What I and my Companions are upon.
It is also the weakest chain of the three. Al-Tirmidhi called it hasan gharib. Its narrator ’Abd al-Rahman ibn Ziyad al-Ifriqi is weak, al-Mubarakfuri explains, and al-Tirmidhi graded it hasan because the other narrations support it. Al-Hakim said no proof is established by this chain, and Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut’s team graded its chain weak; al-Albani graded the hadith hasan.
“All in the Fire except one”: the disputed clause
Most hadith scholars accepted the clause through its several chains:
- Al-Hakim (d. 1014), after listing Abu Hurayrah’s narrations and Mu’awiyah’s, which has the clause: “These are chains by which the proof is established for authenticating this hadith.” Al-Dhahabi agreed.
- Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328) called it “sahih mashhur”, sound and well known, in the Sunan and the Musnads.
- Al-’Iraqi (d. 1404) noted that al-Tirmidhi graded ’Abd Allah ibn ’Amr’s narration hasan, and said of the narrations of Mu’awiyah, Anas and ’Awf that end “and it is the jama’ah” that “their chains are good”. Ibn Hajar graded Mu’awiyah’s chain hasan.
- Al-Albani (d. 1999) defended it at length in al-Silsilah al-Sahihah (203 and 204): he knew of no early hadith scholar who weakened it, and those who authenticated it were “more numerous and more learned in hadith”.
A smaller group questioned it:
- Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), answering people who declared other Muslims disbelievers over points of belief, said that this hadith and a second one they used “are not sound at all by their chains” (al-Fisal 3/138). Al-Albani searched al-Fisal for the remark and could not find it; it sits in the section on declaring Muslims disbelievers.
- Ibn al-Wazir (d. 1436), the Yemeni hadith scholar, warned against being misled by “all of them perishing except one”, which he called a corrupt addition. In the same passage he told his reader to reject anyone who declares these groups disbelievers “without a definitive, mass-transmitted proof”. Al-Albani answered that Ibn al-Wazir objected to its meaning rather than its chain, and that in another book, al-Rawd al-Basim, he listed Mu’awiyah’s hadith with its supporting narrations.
- Al-Shawkani (d. 1834) wrote in his tafsir that “a group of hadith scholars” had weakened the clause. Al-Albani replied that he did not know whom al-Shawkani meant, since he knew of no early hadith scholar who had weakened it.
Al-Shatibi (d. 1388) drew the line differently. The part of the hadith that is sound “contains only the counting of the sects”, he wrote, and the narration with the Fire clause only implies the threat, leaving open whether that Fire is forever.
“In the Fire” does not mean “outside Islam”
Whether they accepted the clause or not, the scholars below agreed on one thing: the hadith itself does not make the seventy-two groups disbelievers. Ibn Taymiyyah says this was the position of the Companions and the four imams.
- Al-Khattabi (d. 998), the earliest commentator on Abu Dawud, pointed out that the Prophet ﷺ called all of these sects part of his ummah. He added that one who interprets a text “does not leave the religion, even if he errs in his interpretation”.
- Ibn Taymiyyah: whoever says each of the seventy-two sects has left Islam “has opposed the Book, the Sunnah and the consensus of the Companions”, and of the four imams and others (Majmu’ al-Fatawa 7/218). Scholars who do not declare these groups disbelievers, he explains, read “they are in the Fire” like the threats attached to other sins, such as consuming an orphan’s wealth; declaring them all disbelievers “was said only by some later figures”.
- Al-Shatibi: the threat of the Fire “can apply to sinful believers just as it applies to disbelievers”, and the stronger view, by reason and by report, is not to declare even the sects of grave innovation disbelievers definitively.
- Al-Albani answered a modern writer who rejected the hadith because, he said, it would condemn most of the ummah to eternity in Hell: “eternity in Hell”, al-Albani replied, has no basis in the hadith. He endorsed the reading of the Yemeni scholar al-Maqbali (d. 1696): ordinary Muslims as a whole belong with the saved group, and the followers of the innovating sects “perhaps do not together make up one part in a thousand” of the Muslims.
- Shaykh Ibn Baz (d. 1999): the seventy-two are under a threat of the Fire, and among them are the disbeliever, the sinner and the innovator; whoever dies on an innovation or a sin short of disbelief “is under the will of Allah ... From this it is known that they are not all disbelievers.” The saved group, he said in another answer, includes the ordinary Muslim: “whoever follows the Messenger, even if he is a layman”.
Who is the saved group?
The narrations give three descriptions: the jama’ah, the great mass of the Muslims, and “what I and my Companions are upon”. Al-Shatibi recorded five views on what “the jama’ah” means here, the first being “the great majority of the people of Islam”, and found that all five come back to following the Sunnah. Ibn Taymiyyah, explaining the hadith, called the saved group “the greatest majority”, and said the other sects are small by comparison.
He then warned against using the hadith as a badge:
Many people talk about these sects on the basis of guesswork and whim. They make their own faction, the one that claims the figure they follow and is loyal to him, the people of the Sunnah and the jama’ah, and make whoever differs from it the people of innovation. This is clear misguidance. The one whom the people of truth and Sunnah follow can only be the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Shaykh Ibn ’Uthaymin (d. 2001) counted unity among the saved group’s marks: “Unity of word and harmony of hearts are among the most prominent traits of the saved group.” When they differ in matters open to ijtihad, he wrote, they bear one another no rancour, “rather they believe they are brothers”.
Not the madhhabs
The split the hadith describes is over the foundations of belief, not over fiqh. Al-Mubarakfuri, through al-’Alqami and al-Suyuti, quotes al-Baghdadi (d. 1037): the Prophet ﷺ did not mean, by the blamed sects, “those who differ in the branches of fiqh”. IslamQA (answer 129109) adds that the Companions differed on many rulings without becoming sects, that the four imams and other scholars “are the jama’ah, the saved group”, and that so are those of their followers who keep to the foundations of Ahl al-Sunnah. Islamweb (fatwa 20042) says the blameworthy disagreement is over creed and foundations, not the disagreement between the four madhhabs, and Darul Uloom Trinidad says all four madhhabs are of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah. For how the Companions and imams differed and stayed one ummah, see our page on disagreement.
Should anyone be named as one of the 72?
Al-Baghdadi tried to fit the sects of his day to exactly seventy-two. Later scholars counted them differently, and al-Dawani, quoted by al-Munawi, suggested the number may refer to the root disagreements, or to one moment in history. The scholars who reflected most on the hadith advised against naming:
- Al-Shatibi: the Shari’ah describes their traits without naming them, so that people beware of the traits, and “not naming them is what ought to be held to, so that it is a veil over the ummah”.
- Ibn ’Uthaymin relayed, without rejecting it, the view of scholars who refrained from counting: new sects keep appearing until the end of time, so “the better course is to leave general what the Prophet ﷺ left general”. He ended: Allah knows best.
IslamQA (answer 220903) notes that the Prophet ﷺ did not specify the sects and that the scholars’ lists are their own ijtihad, and warns that “it is not correct to give one ruling to all the individuals affiliated with these sects”.
What fatwa bodies say
- Islamweb Fatwa Centre (Qatar): the hadith is established, and it records that Ibn Hazm and al-Shawkani weakened it (fatwa 52059). Followers of the seventy-two who affiliate with Islam “are people of innovation and are not disbelievers”, and whoever of them dies on tawhid ends in Paradise (183559). The hadith “contains a report, not an entrenchment of division”: what is asked of the ummah is to unite on the Book and the Sunnah (20042).
- General Iftaa’ Department (Jordan), fatwa 489: “all of them will be in the Fire” does not imply that they are disbelievers, “evident from his description of them as from his nation”; they should be engaged with knowledge and treated with kindness.
- HadeethEnc (Riyadh), the encyclopedia of translated hadith: those whose innovation does not amount to disbelief “are not disbelievers; rather they are Muslims”, deserving of punishment, whose affair rests with Allah.
- Mufti of the Federal Territories (Malaysia), Irsyad al-Hadith 306: the narrations are sahih taken together, the saved group holds to the Qur’an, the Sunnah and the way of the Companions, and “Islam is a religion that opposes everything that leads to division”.
- HadithAnswers (South Africa) adds a bracket when translating the clause: the sects will be “[deserving of being] in the fire”.
Common questions
Is the 73 sects hadith authentic?
The base hadith, that the ummah will split into seventy-three, is graded hasan sahih by al-Tirmidhi and al-Albani (Abu Dawud 4596, hasan sahih (al-Albani)). The longer forms with “all in the Fire except one” were accepted by al-Hakim, Ibn Taymiyyah, al-’Iraqi and al-Albani, and questioned by Ibn Hazm, Ibn al-Wazir and al-Shawkani.
Who is the saved group in the 73 sects hadith?
The narrations call it “the jama’ah”, “the great mass” and “what I and my Companions are upon”. Ibn Taymiyyah called it the greatest majority of the ummah, and Ibn Baz said it includes every ordinary Muslim who follows the Messenger ﷺ.
Are the 72 sects disbelievers?
Not by belonging to one of them. Al-Khattabi, Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Shatibi, al-Albani, Ibn Baz, Islamweb and Jordan’s Iftaa’ Department all deny that the seventy-two are disbelievers as such; an innovation that is itself disbelief is a separate case. The Prophet ﷺ counted them in his ummah, and “in the Fire” is a threat like those attached to other sins, not a verdict of disbelief.
Are the four madhhabs four of the 73 sects?
No. The split concerns the foundations of belief, not fiqh. IslamQA says the four imams “are the jama’ah, the saved group”, as are their followers who keep to the foundations of Ahl al-Sunnah; Darul Uloom Trinidad says all four madhhabs are within Ahl al-Sunnah; and Islamweb says the differences between them are not the blameworthy kind.
This week
If you hear this hadith used to put another Muslim in the Fire, answer with al-Shatibi’s veil and Ibn Taymiyyah’s warning, gently. Then pray one prayer in a masjid you do not usually go to, give salam to the people there, and make dua for the unity of the ummah after it.
Read next: How can one ummah disagree without dividing?
Sources
- Al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, nos. 203-204, 1/402-414: the grades, the replies to Ibn Hazm, Ibn al-Wazir and al-Shawkani, and al-Maqbali’s reading (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak (Dar al-Kutub al-’Ilmiyyah, 1990), nos. 441-443, 1/217-218 (OpenITI text, Arabic). github.com/OpenITI
- Musnad Ahmad (Mu’assasat al-Risalah edition), nos. 8396, 12208 and 16937, with the notes of Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut and his co-editors (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Al-’Iraqi, al-Mughni ’an Haml al-Asfar, no. 3240, 2/884-885 (OpenITI text, Arabic). github.com/OpenITI
- Ibn Hajar, al-Kafi al-Shaf fi Takhrij Ahadith al-Kashshaf, in al-Kashshaf, 2/83 (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Ibn Hazm, al-Fisal fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa’ wa al-Nihal, 3/138 (OpenITI text, Arabic). raw.githubusercontent.com
- Ibn al-Wazir, al-’Awasim wa al-Qawasim, ed. Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut, 1/186 and 3/170-172 (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Al-Shawkani, Fath al-Qadir, on Qur’an 5:66 (OpenITI text, Arabic). github.com/OpenITI
- Al-Khattabi, Ma’alim al-Sunan (Aleppo, 1932), 4/295 (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmu’ al-Fatawa (King Fahd Complex, 1995), 3/345-351 and 7/218 (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Al-Shatibi, al-I’tisam (Dar Ibn al-Jawzi), 3/115, 3/135-139, 3/156 and 3/209-216 (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Al-Baghdadi, al-Farq bayn al-Firaq (Dar al-Afaq al-Jadidah, 1977), pp. 5 and 19 (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Al-Mubarakfuri, Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi, on Jami’ al-Tirmidhi, hadiths 2640-2641, 7/332-334 (OpenITI text, Arabic). github.com/OpenITI
- Al-Munawi, Fayd al-Qadir, no. 1223, 2/20 (Arabic). shamela.ws
- Ibn Baz, fatwas 17308 and 22930, on the meaning of “all of them in the Fire except one” (Arabic). binbaz.org.sa and binbaz.org.sa
- Ibn ’Uthaymin, Majmu’ Fatawa wa Rasa’il, 1/37-40, fatwas 8-9 (Arabic). shamela.ws
- IslamQA, answers 129109, 220903 and 90112 (Arabic and English). islamqa.info and islamqa.info
- Islamweb Fatwa Centre, fatwas 52059, 183559 and 20042 (Arabic). islamweb.net, islamweb.net and islamweb.net
- General Iftaa’ Department of Jordan, fatwa 489 (English). aliftaa.jo
- HadeethEnc, hadith 65127 with its explanation (Arabic). hadeethenc.com
- Jabatan Mufti Wilayah Persekutuan, Irsyad al-Hadith Siri ke-306: Hadith 73 Golongan, 30 November 2018 (Malay). muftiwp.gov.my
- HadithAnswers, “73 sects of this Ummah”. islamqa.org
- Darul Uloom Trinidad and Tobago, “Different sects of Muslims”. islamqa.org
Qur’an and hadith on this page
- Qur’an 6:159
- Abu Dawud 4596, hasan sahih (al-Albani); hasan sahih (Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut); isnad hasan (Zubair Ali Zai)
- Abu Dawud 4596, hasan sahih (al-Albani)
- Abu Dawud 4597, hasan (al-Albani); isnad hasan (Zubair Ali Zai)
- Tirmidhi 2640, hasan sahih (al-Albani); hasan sahih (Ahmad Muhammad Shakir)
- Tirmidhi 2641, hasan (al-Albani); hasan (Ahmad Muhammad Shakir); da’if (Zubair Ali Zai)
- Ibn Majah 3992, sahih (al-Albani)
- Ibn Majah 3993, sahih (al-Albani)