Hadith of the 73 Sects

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم:"افترقت اليهود على إحدى وسبعين فرقة فواحدة في الجنة وسبعون في النار، وافترقت النصارى على ثنتين وسبعين فرقة فإحدى وسبعون في النار وواحدة في الجنة، والذي نفس محمد بيده لتفترقن أمتي على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة واحدة في الجنة وثنتان وسبعون في النار، قيل يا رسول الله من هم؟ قال الجماعة".

Excerpt from a lecture from Sheikh Yasir Qadhi in Youtuve titled: Unity does not mean uniformity & the hadith of the 73 sect.

Excerpt - a short extract.

1. This hadith is not a command to be divided. This is a prediction that the ummah will be divided. The command is to be UNITED! This command comes from Al-Qur'an and As-Sunnah.
2. The word (افتراق) was used, not (اختلاف). The ummah had always had ikhtilaf, even among the sahabah. Their disagreement does not lead to separation (افتراق).
3. We have a historical legacy of disagreement. The mazhab is a legacy of disagreement with respect. Imam Syafi'i's famous quote: "I believe my opinion to be right, but I acknowlege the possibility that I could be wrong and my opponent is right. And I believe that my opponent, the other Mazhab to be wrong, but I acknowledge the possibility that it is right."
4. They allow the possibility of difference of opinion. But they did not allow the difference of opinion to lead to division in the ummah.
5. We can have ikhtilaf without iftiraq. The ummah shall be one and cohesive and small group will break away. Iftiraq must occur from a massive amount and there will be small group breaking away. The ummah will remain.
6. Many of the scholars understood this hadith to be verbatim and literal 73. And they will list this group. Every time scholars wrote, new group will be formed. Books were writed in the 4th century, 6th century.
7. The point of this hadith is that our ummah will have more group than other ummah. The fact that we have more group is a blessing. First and foremost, our ummah will have the longest timeframe, the longest period of existence. Other ummah lives a short time but still they have a lot of group. Now Christian and Judaism are in decline. Secondly, it is a blessing that we are the most multicultural of all of Allah's ummah, ever! No ummah have ever been as multicultural, multiethnic as us. Allah says in Quran that every single prophet went to one nation.
8. But our prophet was sent as rahmatan lil'alamin. To the Arab and Non-Arab. The fact that we have only 1 extra firqah despite all this diversity is a miracle and blessing. And also, the most important ummah, we are the only ummah to have one correct and rightly guided sect of the 73. The others did not have this.
9. Now, what about those who go to hell, and that 1 sect that enters the paradise, named jama'ah?

Well, since this is an excerpt, you can listen to the rest of the lectures! Yay :D