Allah’s Messenger
(salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said:
“The Jews divided into
seventy-one sects;
the Christians divided into seventy-two sects. And this Ummah
will divide into seventy-three sects. All of them are in the Fire except for
one.” We asked: “Which is it O
Messenger of Allah?” He responded: “Whoever is upon what
I and my Companions are upon today.”
(Abu
Dawūd, no. 4607, At-Tirmidhī no. 2676, and others).
Translation by Ustadh Abu Khadeejah SP
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... As for the common saying: “Leave the people
alone, each to his own opinion because differing in the ummah is a mercy.” We
say: this is sheer falsehood.
Allah (the Most High) stated: وَلَا يَزَالُونَ مُخْتَلِفِينَ إِلَّا مَن رَّحِمَ رَبُّك
“But they will not cease to differ except those whom your Lord has shown
mercy..” (Hūd: 118-119)
So
the His saying “except whom your Lord has shown mercy” is a proof that those
who are shown mercy by Allah do not differ, and that differing is a punishment
and not mercy.
Mercy is for those who do not differ – and
if they do differ, they return to the Qur’an and Sunnah for resolution. They
take what is authentic and they leave alone what is mistaken. This is the path
of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah. As for leaving each person to his own opinion in
matters of Religion, then this is not way ordained for the Muslims. Rather that
is the way of the people of whims and desires. They seek after opinions which
agree with their desires, and they will abandon whatever opposes their desires
even if it means the abandonment of the statements of a great scholar whose
saying they would [normally] take.
Meaning: they will not accept the sayings of
the great scholars unless they agree with their desires. So whatever opposes
what they seek they reject it; and this proves they are followers of their
desires since they take what accords with their desire; and what opposes it,
they cast aside. Indeed there is no movement or might except with Allāh…
READ HERE>> https://abukhadeejah.com/this-ummah-will-divide-into-73-sects-shaykh-al-fawzan-explains-what-it-means/
