Ibn Mājah also said: Hishām—namely Ibn ʿAmmār—narrated to us; al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us; Abū ʿAmr narrated to us; Qatādah narrated to us, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The Children of Israel split into seventy-one sects, and my community will split into seventy-two sects; all of them are in the Fire except one—and it is al-Jamāʿah (the mainstream community).” This chain of transmission is strong and fulfils the conditions of the Ṣaḥīḥ, and Ibn Mājah alone reported it. (1)

Abū Dāwūd likewise transmitted, in the narration of al-Awzāʿī from Qatādah, from Anas and Abū Saʿīd, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “There will be disagreement and division within my ummah, and people who speak well yet act badly …” — the ḥadīth. (2)

Abū Dāwūd said: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Fāris both narrated to us; they said: Abū al-Mughīrah narrated to us; Ṣafwān—that is, Ibn ʿAmr—narrated to us; Azhar—that is, Ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥarazī—narrated to us; Aḥmad added: from Abū ʿĀmir al-Hawzanī, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, who rose and said: “Indeed, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ rose among us and said, ‘Be aware that those before you from the People of the Book split into seventy-two schools, and this ummah will split into seventy-three: seventy-two are in the Fire and one is in Paradise—and it is al-Jamāʿah.’” Abū Dāwūd alone transmitted it, and its chain is sound. (3)

In al-Mustadrak of al-Ḥākim it is reported that when the Companions asked him about the saved faction—“Who are they?”—he replied, “That which I and my Companions are upon today.” (4)

Imām Aḥmad said: Yaḥyā ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; Ibn Luhayʿah narrated to us, from Bakr ibn Sawādah, from Sahl ibn Saʿd al-Anṣārī, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, you will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you, step for step.” Aḥmad alone reported it through this route. (5)

We have already noted in the ḥadīth of Ḥudhayfah that deliverance from tribulations, when they arise, lies in following the Jamāʿah and obeying the imām so long as they are upon the truth and in conformity with the Sharīʿah. If they become corrupt, there is no obedience to any created being in disobedience to the Creator; obedience is only in what is right.

Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq said, “Obey me as long as I obey Allah—Exalted is He—but if I deviate, you owe me no obedience.”

Ibn Mājah also said: al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿUthmān al-Dimashqī narrated to us; al-Walīd ibn Musallim narrated to us; Muʿān ibn Rifāʿah al-Salamī narrated to us; Abū Khalaf al-Aʿmā narrated to us. He said that he heard Anas ibn Mālik say: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “My ummah will never agree upon misguidance; so when you see disagreement, cling to the overwhelming majority (al-sawād al-aʿẓam).” But this—