“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you – when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.” (Qur’an 3:103)
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Abu Obaida reported from Jabir bin Zaid, who reported from Ibn Abbas, who reported from the Blessed Messenger (saw).
Who said:
“My nation is going to scatter into 73 groups which are all in hellfire except one which will survive and all these groups will claim to be this group that survives.”
Source: (Musnad Al-Imam Al-Rabee)
“Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you.” (Qur’an 49:13)
Here Allah (swt) made it known that the best of us is the one who is most righteous.
“So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered prophet, who believes in Allah and His words, and follow him that you may be guided.” (Qur’an 7:158)
“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided.” (Qur’an 3:103)
So, basically, the predominant understanding is that there are 73 groups and somehow 72 of those groups will be losers and only one group will survive.
Whereas what Shaykh Hatim Abdis-Salam is saying in this video is that the winning group are those who hold to the rope of Allah (swt). They do not let these differences divide them.
That anyone from these groups who are holding fast to the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Blessed Messenger (saw) will be the winning group.
In other words, differences among Muslims are often over matters of interpretations and principles laid out for extracting evidence from primary and secondary sources.
This interpretation seems supported by the Qur’an here:
“Then shall We certainly drag out from every group all those who were worst in obstinate rebellion against against the Most Gracious.” (Qur’an 19:67)
So here we can see that there is a recognition that there will be groups. That these people will be singled out not on account of a particular affiliation but on account of their rebellion against Allah (swt).
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May Allah Forgive the Ummah.
Prima Quran 