Shaykh al-Islām Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah sanctify his soul—was asked about the Prophet’s saying, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“My community will divide into seventy-three groups.”

What are these groups, and what does each of them believe?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. The hadith is authentic and well known in the Sunan and Musnad collections, such as the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasā’ī, and others. Its wording is:

“The Jews divided into seventy-one groups, all of which will be in the Fire except one. The Christians divided into seventy-two groups, all of which will be in the Fire except one. This community will divide into seventy-three groups, all of which will be in the Fire except one.”

Another wording reads:

“Into seventy-three religious communities.”

In one narration:

“They asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, which is the saved group?’ He replied, ‘Those who follow the same way that I and my Companions follow today.’”

In another narration, he said:

“It is the community. Allah’s Hand is over the community.”

For this reason, he described the saved group as the people of the Sunnah and the community. They constitute the largest body and the overwhelming majority.