The Emergence of Schisms – The Hadith on the Firaq/Sects
Opposing this unified community, countless groups and schisms soon emerged in the early period of Islam, gradually fragmenting further in their doctrines of faith. This fragmentation is referred to in Arabic by the term firaq (Arabic: group, schism, sect; singular: firqah), which also relates to a well-known hadith, namely, the so-called “hadith of the firaq”, meaning the hadith concerning the various sects and splinter groups.
This hadith about schisms and sects has been narrated through numerous narrations in the works of Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibnu Majah رحمهم الله26 and in many other fundamental and early works of hadith narration and Islamic creed 27.
Thus, for example, the following wording can be found in the Sunan compilation of Ibnu Majah:
عَنْ عَوْفِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: افْتَرَقَتْ الْيَهُودُ عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، فَوَاحِدَةٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ، وَسَبْعُونَ فِي النَّارِ، وَافْتَرَقَتْ النَّصَارَى عَلَى ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، فَإِحْدَى وَسَبْعُونَ فِي النَّارِ، وَوَاحِدَةٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ، وَالَّذِي نَفْسُ مُحَمَّدٍ بِيَدِهِ، لَتَفْتَرِقَنَّ أُمَّتِي عَلَى ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، فوَاحِدَةٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ، وَثِنْتَانِ وَسَبْعُونَ فِي النَّارِ قِيلَ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، مَنْ هُمْ؟ قَالَ: الْجَمَاعَةُ
The Jews split into seventy-one groups; one of them is in Paradise, and seventy of them are in the Fire.
And the Christians split into seventy-two groups; one of them is in Paradise, and seventy-one of them are in the Fire.
My community will split into seventy-three groups; one of them is in Paradise, and seventy-two of them are in the Fire.
It was then said: “O Messenger of Allah! Who are they?” He replied: “The Community (al-jama'ah).”
According to this narrated statement of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the division into numerous groups and movements, which has been observed throughout history, took place.
It should also be noted here that this hadith clearly states that among both the Jews and the Christians, there was a community that adhered to the original, unaltered doctrine – meaning a jama'ah.
According to the quoted text, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was also asked about the one group that would remain free from errors in faith and responded: “They are the Community (al-jama'ah).”
Precisely because this jama'ah adhered to the texts of the Sunnah, these texts increasingly became the target of attacks by those splinter groups, some of which ultimately led to the outright rejection of the Sunnah.
At that time, openly rejecting the Qur'an was a clear admission of disbelief and was therefore not easily possible. However, the partial rejection of the Sunnah was more feasible, which is why individual narrations became increasingly debated.
Various sects often even claimed that they were serving Islam and sought to protect the religion by rejecting certain texts. Despite their clear ignorance of narrations, narration chains, and the hadith sciences, they rejected certain narrations under the pretext of new conditions they had invented, while others they dismissed without any justification.
Through this approach, movements such as the so-called qur'aniyyun and the Shia emerged, who fundamentally rejected the Sunnah and continue to do so to this day.
Other groups, such as the khawarij, mu'tazilah, ash'ariyyah, maturidiyyah, and others, rejected those parts that were incompatible with their philosophical doctrines. Some texts they denied outright, while others they did not completely reject but attempted to weaken their meaning through theologically and/or linguistically impermissible interpretations.
The more evident these deviations became, the more the people of hadith emphasized their adherence to the Sunnah. For this reason, many early books on matters of faith were titled “Book of the Sunnah” or had similar names. This can be seen in the works of well-known early scholars such as 'Abdullah (d. 290 AH), the son of the esteemed scholar Ahmad ibnu Hanbal, or Ibnu Abi 'Asim (d. 287 AH) and Abu Bakr al-Khallal (d. 311 AH) رحمهم الله, all of whom titled their works in this manner.
Notes
- Arabic script symbol. This translates approximately as “May Allah have mercy on them.” ↩
As previously mentioned, the hadith of the firaq was narrated extensively by the early scholars, and it is also evident that these scholars used the text as an argument, meaning they generally regarded it as authentic.
It should be noted here that not every single narration of this hadith – or of a hadith in general – must be classified as authentic (sahih) for the narrations to be accepted in their entirety. In some cases, individual narration chains of a hadith may have minor deficiencies, while the hadith as a whole was still considered authentic by early scholars. This is also one of the primary reasons why weak narrations were still narrated, as they could be strengthened by other supporting narrations.
Furthermore, the classification of a narration as “weak” (da'if) does not necessarily mean that its wording is definitively deemed fabricated or false. Such a judgment would require a classification of “severely weak” (shadidu d-da'f). Rather, the assessment of “weak” merely indicates that the statement cannot be attributed with certainty to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم or the respective person. However, it also cannot be definitively denied that the statement was indeed made as narrated. Thus, it was still considered possible that the narration itself corresponded to actual events. ↩