73 GROUPS

Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ stated that Muslims would part into seventy-three groups in credal matters, and that only one of those groups, i.e. the group called Ahl as-sunnat, or Firqa-i-nâjiyya, would be following the right path. All the remaining seventy-two groups appeared, and most of them disappeared again, in the course of time. There are two different sub-branches, termed Madhhabs in credal matters, i.e. the Madhhab of Esh’ariyya and the Madhhab of Mâturîdiyya; and four other practical sub-branches, termed Madhhabs in practical matters, i.e. the Madhhabs of Hanafî, Shâfi’î, Mâlikî, and Hanbalî, all of them within the group of salvation (Firqa-i-nâjiyya), commended in the aforesaid utterance (hadîth-i-sherîf) of the Best of Mankind ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’.