PART FOUR
HADEETH NO. 1
HADEETH OF 73 SECTS
THE SAVED SECT & MODERN DAY JAHILEEYAH
Translated & Compiled
By
Abbas Abu Yahya
From Abdullaah ibn Amr who said, the Messenger of Allaah –SallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- said:
افْتَرَقَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَتَفَرَّقَتِ النَّصَارَى عَلَى ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَتَفْتَرِقُ أُمَّتِي عَلَى ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً
“The Jews split up in to seventy-one sects and the Christians split up into seventy-two sects, and my nation will split up into seventy-three sects all of whom will be in the fire except one.’
The Companions asked, ‘Which one O Messenger of Allaah?’
He replied:
الْجَمَاعَةُ
‘The Jamaa’aah.”
In another narration:
مَا أَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَأَصْحَابِي
“What I and my Companions are upon.”
[Collected by Tirmidhi, Al-Hafidh al-Iraqi said in ‘al-Mughni’: collected by Tirmidhi from the Hadeeth of Abdullah bin Amr and graded it Hasan, by Abu Dawood from the Hadeeth of Muwayeeyah, ibn Majah from the hadeeth of Anas and Awf bin Malik, and it is the Jamaa’ and its asaneed are good, and Al-Albaani graded it Hasan in Saheeh Sunnan Tirmidhi]
The Saved Sect & Modern Day Jahileeyah
Shaykh Muhammad Nasiruddeen Al-Abaani -Rahimahullaah- said:
‘My opinion regarding this statement: ‘Jahileeyah of the Twentieth Century’ is that it is not free from exaggeration in describing the current century ‘the Twentieth Century’. The presence of the Deen of Islaam in this century, prevents us from declaring that this century resembles the Jahileeyah like the first Jahileeyah.
We know that the first Jahileeyah, if we mean by it only the Arabs, then they were polytheists and were in clear misguidance. If we mean by it those religions which were around the Arabs, like Judaism and Christianity because they are religions which have been changed. So there did not remain at that time a pure religion free from change and alteration. There is no doubt that describing the Jahileeyah at that time period is a correct description, and the matter is not the same in this our century, as long as Allaah -The Blessed and Most High- had favoured the Arabs firstly, then all the other people secondly, by sending to them Muhammad –SallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- the final seal of the Prophets and revealed to him the Deen of Islaam. It is the final seal of the religions. Allaah the Majestic and the Magnificent – guaranteed to preserve His Sharia with His statement:
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ
<< Indeed We revealed the remembrance and indeed we will definitely preserve it>> [al-Hijr: 9]
Allaah’s Prophet –SallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- did inform us that the Islamic Ummah even though it will be afflicted with a little deviancy which affected the nations before them, as is in the saying of the Prophet –SallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam-:
لتَتَّبِعُنَّ سَنَنَ مَن كان قَبلَكم شِبرًا بشِبرٍ، وذِراعًا بذِراعٍ، حتى لو
دخَلوا جُحرَ ضَبٍّ لدخَلتُموه.
‘Surely you will follow the ways of those before you, handspan by handspan, forearm by forearm, even if they were to enter a lizard’s hole you would enter it.’
They asked: ‘Who are they O Messenger of Allaah, the Jews and the Christians?
The Messenger -alayhi as-Salat wa Salam- said: ‘Who else?’[1]
I say, even though the Messenger –SallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- did indeed inform us of this beneficial statement that the Muslims will deviate to a very far level and they will blindly imitate the Jews and Christians in that deviancy, however, at the same time the Messenger -alayhi as-Salat wa Salam- did give his followers good tidings that they will remain upon his path which he had drawn out for them. The Messenger of Allaah –SallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- said:
افْتَرَقَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَتَفَرَّقَتِ النَّصَارَى
عَلَى ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَتَفْتَرِقُ أُمَّتِي عَلَى ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً
“The Jews had split up in to seventy-one sects and the Christians had split up into seventy-two sects, and my nation will split up into seventy-three sects all of whom will be in the fire except one.’
The Companions asked, ‘Which one O Messenger of Allaah?’
He replied:
الْجَمَاعَةُ
‘The Jamaa’aah.”
In another narration:
مَا أَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَأَصْحَابِي
“What I and my Companions are upon.”[2]
The Messenger -alayhi as-Salat wa Salam- emphasized this in his statement in the Hadeeth which is agreed upon between Bukhari and Muslim:
لا تزالُ طائفةٌ منْ أمتي ظاهرينَ على الحقِّ،لا يَضرُّهم مَن
خالفَهم حتّى يأتيَ أمرُ اللَّهِ
‘There will continue to be a group from my Ummah clear upon the truth, they will not be harmed by those who oppose them until the command of Allaah comes.’
Therefore, there still remains a good blessed Jamaah established upon the guidance of the Book and the Sunnah, so they are the furthest from Jahileeyah whether it is old Jahiliya or the modern one. Therefore, the opinion I hold is that, generalizing al-Jahileeyah to the twentieth century is a leniency which causes the people to be mistaken that all of Islaam has completely deviated away from Tawheed and Ikhlaas of worship of Allaah -the Magnificent and Majestic- so this century, the twentieth century like the century of Jahileeyah, in which the Messenger of Allaah –SallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- was sent, with his Companions to take them out of darkness to light.
The use of this terminology or using it generally is better applied to the non-Muslims, firstly, about whom Allaah Ta’ala said:
قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَلَا يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَلَا يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حَتَّى يُعْطُوا الْجِزْيَةَ عَنْ يَدٍ وَهُمْ صَاغِرُونَ
<< Fight against those who believe not in Allaah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allaah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islaam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyahwith willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.>> [Tawbah: 29]
Describing the twentieth century as being Jahileeyah, is in fact applied to the non-Muslims who do not follow the Book and the Sunnah because this generalization has a deception that there is no remaining goodness in the Muslims. This is in opposition to what was previously explained from the Ahadeeth of the Messenger -alayhi as-Salat wa Sallam- with glad tidings of continuity of a group from the Ummah upon the truth and from that is the saying of the Messenger -alayhi as-Salat wa Sallam- :
إنَّ الإسلامَ بدأ غريبًا وسيعودُ غريبًا فطوبى للغرباءِ
‘Indeed Islaam began as something strange and it will return to being something strange as it was, when it began and Toobaa, a tree in Paradise is for the strangers.’[3]
It was asked: ‘Who are they O Messenger of Allaah –sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam?’
He said:
هم الذين يُصلِحون ما أفسد الناسُ من سنتي من بعدي
‘Those who rectify matters which the people have corrupted of my Sunnah after me.’
In another narration: the Messenger -alayhi as-Salat wa Sallam- said:
هم أُناسٌ صالحون قليلٌ في ناسِ سوءٍ كثيرٍ من يعصيهم أكثرُ ممَّن يُطيعُهم
‘They are a few righteous people amongst many people, those who disobey them are more than those who obey them.’
This is why it is not permissible to generalize about for all of this century, because in it -and all praise is to Allaah- there remains a goodness which continues upon the guidance of the Prophet –SallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- and upon his Sunnah and will be preserved likewise until the hour is established.’
[Hayaat Al-Albaani by Muhammad bin Ibraheem ash-Shaybaani 1/391-394]
[1] [Bukhari & Muslim]
[2] [Collected by Tirmidhi, Al-Hafidh al-Iraqi said in ‘al-Mughni’: collected by Tirmidhi from the Hadeeth of Abdullah bin Amr and graded it Hasan, by Abu Dawood from the Hadeeth of Muwayeeyah, ibn Majah from the hadeeth of Anas and Awf bin Malik, and it is the Jamaa’ and its asaneed are good, and Al-Albaani graded it Hasan in Saheeh Sunnan Tirmidhi]
[3] Saheeh Muslim