In the previous episode, we discussed some points about the Isnad (chain of transmission) of the famous hadith of seventy-three sects which is the basis of this subject matter. In this episode, we are to consider the meanings, context, and influence of this hadith; as well as the conclusion on this topic.
The explanation for the reason why Muslims split into 73 sects while Jews and Christians were divided into 71 and 72 is that the Prophet wanted to express that Islam has more qualities compared to Judaism and Christianity and make a comparison between three religions. It has been also marked that this supremacy should be sought within the freedom of thought, which Islam features and which is entitled to Muslims.
However, explaining the fact that there is only one sect to be saved and all others would be in hell with the freedom of speech in Islam does not seem to be so consistent. If this is a consequence of the freedom of thought, why does only one of these thought-holders deserve to go to Heaven and others are sent to the Hell?
How did the tradition about seventy-three sects come to find acceptance among Muslims? Perhaps a group of extreme rigorists was happy to maintain that they belonged to the one ‘saved sect’ (firqa naajiya) while the other seventy two sects would go to Hell.
As a matter of fact, this hadith has been used by the followers of the sect which considered itself the saved sect in the hadith as a means to justify their claims and to marginalize other sects by stigmatizing them as deserving of hell, as well as Ahl Bid’ah.
Narrations suggesting that the Muslims would be divided into 73 sects, 72 of them would go to Hell while only one of them would ascend to Heaven, along with the sayings accredited to the Prophet such as “al-Qadariyyah are the majuus of the ummah”, “al-Khawaarij have abandoned the religion just as an arrow loosing from the string” brought the problem
of “takfiir (declaring a Muslim as apostate)”.
So, will the followers of these sects which the Prophet vilified to such extent be considered as believers or non-believers?
Imam al-Shahrastaani (d.548 AH) states, there is disunity among juristic methodologists on the problem of takfiir of ahl al-ahwa (people of desires); while more radical and fanatic ones in terms of sectarianism lay the blame on their opponents for blasphemy and heresy, whereas tolerant ones seek to reconcile, standing clear from takfiir.
Imam Al-Ashʿari in his “maqaalat al-islamiyyiin” for example, instead of ostracizing antagonistic sects emerging after the Prophet’s demise, opted to include them into the circle of Islam by saying “Islam unites them and draws them together!”.
Imam Gazaali in his Faysal al-tafriqa, he prefers to use the narration “My ummah will split up into seventy-odd sects. They all will go to Heaven, except unbelievers (zindiiqs)” for 73 sects hadith.
Nevertheless, al-Ghazaali being aware of the other famed narration, he attempts to combine both forms. According to him, two hadith can be reconciled as following: There is one sect among them that is certainly infernal and they have no chance to be saved. These are zindīqs. Yet there is another sect, whose followers will be directly sent to Heaven without passing through the Hell, and thus will be totally saved. The ones that will remain between these two will either be brought to account or will be interceded for after giving account or will stay in the Hell as much as their sentence. That is, in any case, they will not be able to escape totally and their situation will be on a shaky ground. Two hadiths are thus reconciled.
Regarded less tolerant than Imam Al-Ash’ari and al-Ghazali, Imam al-Baghdadi in his famous book “alfarqu bayna alfiraq” argues that the followers of 72 sects – which he discusses under the title of deviant sects – can be considered within the Islamic community in some aspects, yet excluded in other aspects. From his view, members of these sects could be considered to belong to Islamic community in that they are allowed to be buried in Muslim grave, have a share for spoils providing they fight beside Muslims and they must not to be prevented from praying in mosque; while they are not regarded in Islamic community regarding the following aspects: they cannot be the imam in prayers, Sunnis should not pray at their funeral, marry them, and the animals they slaughter are not halal.
Many theologians (scholars of aqeedah) have written claiming the number 73 in the hadith is true and they adopted different methods in an effort to designate their own sect as the saved sect that would go to the Heaven and resorted to different methods to round up the number of the other sects which would perish to 72. This effort, however, left scholars in a considerably difficult situation.
As many of them tried hard to fix the number of the sects to 72, they could not escape from a set of contradictions.
Moreover, these writers sought 73 sects within the period until their time, reckoning without the possibility that the new sects could emerge after their lifetime. 73 sects hadith, considered as authentic, has shaped the theologians’ mentality and their view on other sects. As this hadith paved the way for a schematic approach towards the tradition and history of religion, as well as supported theologians to perceive the Islamic doctrine in a static and stable manner, without any historical change.
Those Who Consider the 73 Sects Hadith Authentic:
Many scholars of Sunnah are of the opinion that the hadith is authentic. Based on the hadith, each writers claimed their own sect to be the saved one, thus the identification of the sect that would be salvaged varies as to the writer (scholar).
For instance, according to scholars such as Abu l-Husayn al-Malati, Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, Abu l-Muzaffar al-Isfara’ini, al-Shahrastani, Fakhru Din al-Raazi, al-Saksaki, and ‘Adud al-Din al-Iji, the saved sect is Ahl sunnah wa-l-Jamaa’ah (which meaning is broaded). From the perspective of Isma’ili scholar, Abu Haatim al-Razi, the saved sect is Ahl sunna wa-l-Jama‘a. According to another Isma’ili writer, Abu Tammam al-Khawarizmi, the saved sect is Ahl al-batin, that is the Isma’iliyyah; according to Ibn al-Murtadoh, it is Zaydiyyah; and according to Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Qalhati, it is Ibadiyyah.
The Qadiy ‘Abd al-Jabbar, one of the important figures of Mu‘tazilah, attempts to interpret the saved sect as Mu‘tazilah and to infuse this idea. For him, “al-Jama‘ah” which was mentioned in 73 sects hadith to be the sect that will attain salvation is not those in the majority, but those who are on the right path.
In fact, Allah praises the minority in many verses, yet discredits the majority. According to ‘Abd al-Jabbar, those who genuinely embrace the Sunna and Jama’ah are Mu‘tazilah. And he interprets the 73 sects hadith with another narrative (hadith) which supports his own sect.
Also, those who agree that the 73 sect hadith is authentic are divided on the matter whether the number 73 in the hadith is a fact or a metaphor. And they are of 2 categories:
1: Those who think that the number 73 in the hadith is for a fact.
According to the scholars in this group, the number 73 in the hadith refers to a fact. As the Prophet stated, the Islamic community (Muslims) is divided into 73 sects. Accordingly, after a writer has found that his sect is the one that will attain salvation, it is necessary to determine 72 sects to perish. However, there is one obstacle to overcome for the writer, that is, the number of major sects is not even close to 72. To overcome this obstacle, the number of the sects was rounded up to 72 with their subsections. Of course, this led to the artificial sects and newly created sects.
Every theologians divided the sects to reach up 73 until his own era, and the following theologians needed to remove or reorganize the sects in the lists of former theologians in order to include new sects arisen in between the time passed. For example, Imam al-Baghdaadi said that al-Najaariyya had more than 10 sects in his era, yet they can be reduced to 3; if otherwise, the number 73 will be exceeded.
The scholars that agree the number 73 in the hadith is a fact developed various classification methods to complete the sect number up to 73. Scholars such as Imam al-Barbahari (d. 329AH), al-Ajurri (d. 360AH), Ibn Batto (d. 387AH), and al-Saksaki (d. 683AH) said that the main sects apart from the saved one divide into 4 subsections, and these subsections divide into 18, thus reaching the number 72 by 4 x18 formula. And according to this classification mostly preferred by Hanabillah scholars, the main sects apart from the saved one that is Ashab Al-hadith are Rawafid, Khawarij, Qadariyya and Murji’a each of which are divided into 18 subsects whose exact names were not generally mentioned by those scholars. This classification was traced to Yusuf bn alAsbat (d.192AH) by al-Ajuuri. While some states that the classification was attirubuted to ‘Abdullah bn al-Mubarak (d.181AH).
Beside these, scholars such as Abu Mutii al-Nasafi (d. 318AH), Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597AH) and some scholars who had become prominent with their Hanafi identities, such as Abu Shakur al-Salimi al-Kashshi, al-Iraqi, reach the number 72 by dividing the main sects to 6 and their subsections to 12, thus the formula of 6×12.
Isma‘ili theologian Abu Tammam classifies the 11 main sects, apart from the saved sect Ahl al-Baatin, as 24 dividends of 3 major disputed subjects, and reaches the number 73 by the formula of 3×24.
There are some other theologians that did not use similar patterns, yet reached the number 73 by various methods. For instance, al-Malati (d.377AH) divides the sects as Zanadiqah (5 subsets), Jahmiyya (8), Qadariyya (7), Murji’a (12), Rafidoh (15) and Haruriyya (25), thus reaching up to 72.
In a statement on the 73 sects hadith, Imam al-Munawi (d. 1031AH) said that there is a classification dividing the sects as Rawafid (20), Khawarij (20), Qadariyya (20), Murji’a (7), Najjariyya (1), Dirariyya (1), Jahmiyya (1), and Qarramiyya (3), along with a 6×12 formula. And the first scholar to state that the number of sects will reach up to number 73 in the hadith by citing the 73 sects hadith is Abul Abbas al-Naashi’ al-Akbar (d. 293AH)..
You can see those who even agree among the salaf that the number 73 sects in the hadeeth is for a fact, further disagreed on its classification. As you can as well see how outrageous and inconsistent this calculation/classification is.
2: Those who agree that the number 73 in the hadith is a metaphor.
Some respected scholars say that the number 73 in the hadith does not state a fact, yet is a mere allusion on abundance as it is highly prevalent with the numbers 7, 70, 700 in Arabic language. In talbees al-iblis, Ibn alJawzi states that, although he prefers the 6×12 Hanafi formula in classification of sects which he had attributed to some (uncertain) scholars, the number of sects and their viewpoints are so many that it is not possible to comprehend them all.
Another scholar whose opinions to be cited is Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Raazi (d. 606AH). Imam al-Raazi in his work ‘I‘tiqadaat firaq al-Muslimeen wa-l-mushrikeen’ states his opinion about the 73 hadith by organizing an imaginary question-answer format, after classifying the sects:
Question: If one says the sects you have counted are more than seventy-three. Yet the Prophet did not voice that there would be that many, then how should one understand this hadith?
The answer would be: “Here, the Prophet could have meant major sects. However, the sects we have counted are not major sects. Besides, he declared that there would be no fewer than seventy-three sects. If there are more sects, it does not falsify what is meant by this hadith. Given that the number 73 is exceeded, what else could be meant? If we were to mention them elaborately, there could be many more than we have assumed. In fact, as there are seventy-three sects of Imamiyyah itself, there can be as many sects in any of Rafidi sects”.
It is seen in other theological books that the number of major sects does not exceed Ten (10). Thus, this case indicates that the number 73 cannot refer to major sects. Ar-Raazi’s second approach is that the number seventy-three can be the lowest limit, meaning that the Prophet declared that the number of sects can be 73 at least, and that it cannot be fewer but more than that. Yet, whether a coherent meaning can be deduced from the Hadith is up for discussion.
According to Imam al-Dawwaani (d. 908AH), who has a different approach with regard to the number 73, it is not necessary and groundless to think that the number is lower when attributed to major sects and higher when attributed to subsects. The number 73 can be attributed to disputed matters between the sects or it can be thought that the sects might have reached up this number at any time.
Undoubtedly, there are revered ahlu sunnah scholars that do not consider the 73 sects hadith as authentic:
After Ibn Hazm (d. 456AH) stated that some people argued that those who suggest contradictory opinions on aqeedah can be labelled mubtadi’oon (heretics) based on the hadith: “al-Qadariyya and al-Murji’a are the Zoroastrians of the ummah” and “This ummah will divide into more than 70 sects, all of them will go to Hell, except one, which will go to Heaven”, he remarked that these two hadiths are not authentic in terms of narrators’ chain, thus it cannot be evidence even for those who consider al-khabar al-wahid (lone narration) as evidence.
Hence, in his book titled “al-Fasl” which includes critical knowledge and assessments on the history of Islamic sects, Ibn Hazm did not appeal to a method in order to classify the sects accordingly with the number 73.
Likewise, there are those who do not take notice of the 73 sects hadith,
Some scholars neither mention the 73 sects hadith, nor try to reach up to 73 in their classifications. Imam Al-Ash‘ari (d. 324AH) is an outstanding figure in this group. He does not make a comment on the narrations about 73 sects in his book “Maqalaat al-Islamiyyin” and does not mention this hadith. He divides the major sects into 10; the number of all sects he mentions well exceeds 73 with their subsects.
In line with this, some assumed that Imam was not informed about the 73 sects hadith; which cannot be true. On the other hand, with regards to the facts that this hadith is mentioned in Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, to whom Imam al-Ash‘ari esteemed and subjected to, and that al-Ash‘ari lived in Baghdad in a period when Hanbalis were highly active, it can be thought that Imam al-Ash‘ari knew of this hadith, yet he did not deem it authentic or binding or that he did not accept it as a determinative source of information in classifying sects (because he also did not report it).
CONCLUSION
The 73 sects hadith had a structuring effect on both the form and content of the Islamic theologians works and the mentalities of the writers of these works. Especially during and after the 4th/10th century, the writers who undertook the classification of the sects, except very few, could not remain indifferent to this hadith, in fact, many of them accepted this hadith as the benchmark forming the classification. Thus, theologians works, instead of identifying the theological beliefs and groups actually existing in the Muslim society, became the works that was written in order to classify these 73 sects one by one and to show how far the other sects from the righteous path, except one, of which the writer is a follower. And this is what the (Muslim) readers read and got indoctrinated with.
The effort to identify the 73 sects surpassed the research to find whether these sects actually exist, and led writers to forced activities such as creating imaginary sects and regarding the diversity in opinions on various matters as sects to reach the desired number.
Also, the perception developed out of this hadith which states that only one sect will reach salvation and others will go to Hell caused the writer to see his own sect at the center of truth, to canonize it above all, to belittle, and alienate other sects. According to this perspective, other sects are not regarded as the riches of the Islamic thought and the manifestation of the importance that is given to free speech by Islam, yet as some deviant sides outside of true Islamic thought.
Besides, although deserving Heaven or Hell is ought to be measured by the fulfillment of responsibilities assigned to each individual by the religion, this measure is degraded to sects formed as a result of some speculative discussions and came to be measured by whether being a member of a certain sect or not. While the followers of the sect determined by the writer to be the saved one reach salvation, followers of the other 72 sects of bid‘ah, even if they fulfill their religious obligations, deserve hell for their initiation. Therefore, one cannot imagine that followers of a sect other than his can be religious and good believer.
The individual is evaluated, not by his inner situation and conduct, but by the viewpoints he bears. Besides all these, the individual justifies awarding himself with the authority to adjudge who deserves Heaven or Hell with some solutions he came up as this hadith allows. What a fallacious doctrine!
Lastly, this 73 sects hadith is not a suitable benchmark in identification and classification of religious sects that emerged within the Islamic community. Instead, a researcher, whose intent is to identify and classify the religious sects, is to process the data he obtains through observation, experiment, and studies, and to suggest explicable, internally consistent and fact-related findings. Actions attributed to any Sect should be considered and placed on the scales of shari’ah instead of condemning and labelling a sect as lost and misguided Sect. And these will be our major focus in subsequent episodes in Shaa Allah.