Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

What is your opinion in general about the two big divisions in Islam-Sunni and Shia, There are also divisions in Sunni not to speak of Ismailis so called Shias.

Did God mention that there will be 72 firqas before the doomsday? Besides dawoodi bohras there are Sulemanis and Aleya bohras resp.!  

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Answer:

Divisions sects in Islam

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person,  no grave, no prophet,  no imam,  no dai,  nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah says in Chapter 30 Surah Rum aayat 31-32

"This (Islam) is the right and true faith, but most people do not know. (Be steadfast on this) turning wholly and sincerely towards Allah Alone, and fear Him, and establish the Salat, and do not be like the mushriks, who have set up their separate creeds and divided themselves into sects, each sect rejoicing in what it has."

Allahs says in Chapter 42 Surah Ash-Shura aayat 13

"He has appointed for you the same Way of Life,  which He had ordained for Noah, and which (O Mohamed (saws)) We have now revealed to you, and which We had already enjoined on Abraham and Moses and Jesus, stressing this: " Establish this way and be not divided in it"."

Allah says in Chapter 45 Surah Al-Jathiyah aayat 17

"Then they differed amongst themselves after the knowledge (of Islam) had come to them, only because they wanted to wrong one another. Your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning the matters in which they have been differing."

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Mu’minoon verses 52-55:

And you all belong to one and the same ummah,  and I(Allah) am your Lord; so fear Me Alone!  Yet afterwards the people divided themselves into different sects,  and each sect rejoicing  in what it has.  Well, leave them deeply involved in their heedlessness up to an appointed time.  What?  Do they think that by continuing to provide them with wealth and children,  We are solicitous for their welfare?   Nay, they do not understand the reality of the matter!

Your Question: What is your opinion in general about the two big divisions in Islam-Sunni and Shia,

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 78:

(O believers) Exert your utmost for the Cause of Allah, as one should.   He has chosen you for His service, and has not laid on you any hardship in your religion.   Therefore, be steadfast in the religion of your father Abraham.   Allah had named you ‘muslims’ before this, and has named you (muslims) in this Quran also,  so that the Messenger may be a witness in regard to you,  and you may be witnesses in regard to the rest of mankind.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Mu’minoon verse 52:

And you all belong to one and the same Ummah, and I (Allah) am your Lord; so fear Me Alone! 

‘Sunni’ and ‘Shia’ are nothing but man-made sect names!  Allah Subhanah has Himself named the believers as ‘muslims’, and it does not behove one who sincerely believes in Allah and the Last Day to reject the name Allah has chosen for them and choose a man-made self-invented sect name for themselves!  Never ever did the Prophet Mohamed (saws), or any of his noble family, or any of his noble companions ever call themselves ‘Sunnis’ or ‘Shias’; but they were content and honored to be recognized by the name their Lord Most Supreme had chosen for the believers: ie. ‘muslims’.  Thus any believer who sincerely wishes to follow the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah should not indulge himself in any man-made sect, but be honored to belong to the Ummah of believers which the Lord Himself has named as ‘muslims’.

Your Question: Did God mention that there will be 72 firqas before the doomsday?

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 171         Narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr

Allah's Messenger (saws) said: ‘There will befall my Ummah exactly (all those) evils which befell the people of Israel, so much so that if there was one amongst them who openly committed fornication with his mother there will be among my Ummah one who will do that, and if the people of Israel were fragmented into seventy-two sects, my Ummah will be fragmented into seventy-three sects. All of them will be in Hell Fire except one sect.’ They (the Companions) said: ‘ O Allah's Messenger (saws), which is that?’  Whereupon he (saws) replied: ‘It is one to which I and my companions belong.’

Amongst the prophecies regarding the times to come before the Day of Judgment that the Messenger of Allah (saws) warned the Ummah, one amongst them was that the Muslim Ummah would unfortunately be fragmented into seventy-three sects.  He (saws) also warned that seventy-two amongst these seventy-three sects of the Muslim Ummah will be in the Hell Fire, and the only one which will be saved by the Mercy of Allah is the one to which the Prophet (saws) and his noble companion belonged.  And Allah is our witness, the Prophet (saws) and his noble companions never ever claimed to belong to any creed or sect, except the one united brotherhood of the ‘muslims’.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan