Who Are the ‘Saved Sect’? (Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah)
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Who Are the ‘Saved Sect’?
(Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah)
By Ibn Paul al-Malik
In the name of God, al-Raḥmān, al-Raḥeem. All praise belongs to Allāh, Lord of the worlds, and may prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muḥammad, his family, his companions, and all those who follow them in goodness until the Day of Judgement.
The 73 Sects
The Prophet ﷺ said:
وَإِنَّ أُمَّتِي سَتَفْتَرِقُ عَلَى ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ مِلَّةً، كُلُّهَا فِي النَّارِ إِلَّا مِلَّةً وَاحِدَةً
“My Ummah will divide into 73 sects, all of them in the Fire except one.”
When asked which one, he ﷺ said:
مَا أَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَأَصْحَابِي
“That which I and my Companions are upon.”
[Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2641, Sunan Ibn Mājah 3992, Sunan Ibn Mājah 3993.]
In one wording it says “the Jamāʿah” rather than “What I am upon and my Companions,” and this does not effect the points I made.
The Saved Sect is therefore identified by:
Those who follow the way of the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions.
Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said in his Uṣūl al-Sunnah:
أُصُولُ السُّنَّةِ عِنْدَنَا: التَّمَسُّكُ بِمَا كَانَ عَلَيْهِ أَصْحَابُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ، وَالِاقْتِدَاءُ بِهِمْ، وَتَرْكُ الْبِدَعِ، وَكُلُّ بِدْعَةٍ فَهِيَ ضَلَالَةٌ
“The foundations of the Sunnah according to us are: holding fast to what the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were upon, following them, abandoning innovations, and every innovation is misguidance.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
لَا تَزَالُ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أُمَّتِي ظَاهِرِينَ عَلَى الْحَقِّ
“A group from my Ummah will continue to remain manifest upon the truth.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 7311, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1920, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1923, Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2229, Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2192, Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2484, Sunan Ibn Mājah 6, Sunan Ibn Mājah 7, Sunan al-Nasāʾī 3561, and multiple routes in Musnad Aḥmad]
After narrating the ḥadīth, al-Tirmidhī quoted ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, who said:
هُمْ أَصْحَابُ الْحَدِيثِ
“They are the Companions of Ḥadīth (Aṣḥābul-Ḥadīth).”
[Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2229]
Al-Ḥākim mentioned this Ḥadīth and said, “The Salaf explained what was meant by this group.” He then quoted:
Yazīd ibn Hārūn (118–206 AH) said:
إِنْ لَمْ يَكُونُوا أَصْحَابَ الْحَدِيثِ فَلَا أَدْرِي مَنْ هُمْ
“If they are not the Companions of Ḥadīth (Aṣḥābul-Ḥadīth), then I do not know who they are.”
ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī (161–234 AH) said:
هُمْ أَصْحَابُ الْحَدِيثِ
“They are the Companions of Ḥadīth (Aṣḥābul-Ḥadīth).”
Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (164–241 AH) said:
إِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ هَذِهِ الطَّائِفَةُ الْمَنْصُورَةُ أَصْحَابَ الْحَدِيثِ فَلَا أَدْرِي مَنْ هُمْ
“If this Victorious Group is not the Companions of Ḥadīth (Aṣḥābul-Ḥadīth), then I do not know who they are.”
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said regarding its chain:
سَنَدُهُ صَحِيحٌ
“Its chain is authentic.”
Imām al-Bukhārī (194–256 AH) said:
وَهُمْ أَهْلُ الْعِلْمِ
“They are the people of knowledge (Ahl al-ʿIlm).”
[https://shamela.ws/book/7334/128]
Who Are Ahlus-Sunnah?
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah explained that the term Ahlus-Sunnah can be used in both a broad and a specific sense.
He said:
فَلَفْظُ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ يُرَادُ بِهِ مَنْ أَثْبَتَ خِلَافَةَ الْخُلَفَاءِ الثَّلَاثَةِ، فَيَدْخُلُ فِي ذَلِكَ جَمِيعُ الطَّوَائِفِ إِلَّا الرَّافِضَةَ
“The term ‘Ahlus-Sunnah’ may refer to those who affirm the caliphate of the first three Caliphs, in which case all the sects except the Rāfiḍah are included.”
وَقَدْ يُرَادُ بِهِ أَهْلُ الْحَدِيثِ وَالسُّنَّةِ الْمَحْضَةِ
“And it may refer to the People of Ḥadīth (Ahlul-Ḥadīth) and the pure Sunnah.”
فَلَا يَدْخُلُ فِيهِ إِلَّا مَنْ يُثْبِتُ الصِّفَاتِ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى، وَيَقُولُ: إِنَّ الْقُرْآنَ غَيْرُ مَخْلُوقٍ، وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يُرَى فِي الْآخِرَةِ، وَيُثْبِتُ الْقَدَرَ، وَغَيْرَ ذَلِكَ مِنَ الْأُصُولِ الْمَعْرُوفَةِ عِنْدَ أَهْلِ الْحَدِيثِ وَالسُّنَّةِ
“In this sense, none are included except those who affirm the Attributes of Allah, say that the Qurʾān is uncreated, that Allah will be seen in the Hereafter, affirm qadar, and the other well known foundations of Ahl al-Ḥadīth and the Sunnah.”
[https://shamela.ws/book/12766/22]
“Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah Are Three”
Many people like to quote Imām al-Saffārīnī saying:
أَهْلُ السُّنَّةِ وَالْجَمَاعَةِ ثَلَاثُ فِرَقٍ: الْأَثَرِيَّةُ وَإِمَامُهُمْ أَحْمَدُ بْنُ حَنْبَلٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ، وَالْأَشْعَرِيَّةُ وَإِمَامُهُمْ أَبُو الْحَسَنِ الْأَشْعَرِيُّ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ، وَالْمَاتُرِيدِيَّةُ وَإِمَامُهُمْ أَبُو مَنْصُورٍ الْمَاتُرِيدِيُّ
“Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah are three groups: the Atharīs, whose imām is Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, the Ashʿarīs, whose imām is Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī, and the Māturīdīs, whose imām is Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī.”
But they ignore on the very next page, when discussing the Saved Sect, al-Saffārīnī presents this same three group interpretation as merely the opinion of “some scholars”, and then immediately objects to this interpretation:
قَالَ بَعْضُ الْعُلَمَاءِ: هُمْ - يَعْنِي الْفِرْقَةَ النَّاجِيَةَ - أَهْلُ الْحَدِيثِ، يَعْنِي الْأَثَرِيَّةَ وَالْأَشْعَرِيَّةَ وَالْمَاتُرِيدِيَّةَ
“Some scholars said: they - meaning the Saved Sect - are Ahl al-Ḥadīth, meaning the Atharīs, the Ashʿarīs and the Māturīdīs.”
قُلْتُ: وَلَفْظُ الْحَدِيثِ، يَعْنِي قَوْلَهُ: إِلَّا فِرْقَةً وَاحِدَةً، يُنَافِي التَّعَدُّدَ
“I say: the wording of the ḥadīth, namely, ‘except one sect’, is incompatible with plurality.”
وَلَيْسَ هَذَا النَّصُّ جَزْمًا يُعْتَبَرُ فِي فِرْقَةٍ إِلَّا عَلَى أَهْلِ الْأَثَرِ
“This text certainly does not apply to any sect except Ahlul-Athar.”
[https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/107/46/افتراق-الأمة-على-بضع-وسبعين-فرقة]
Ahlul-Ḥadīth, Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth, Ahlul-Athar & Ahlus-Sunnah
These terms were often used with overlapping meanings to refer to those who adhered to the Qurʾān, Sunnah and correct ʿAqīdah.
Later scholars sometimes used terms such as Ahlul-Ḥadīth and Ahlus-Sunnah more broadly, trying to include groups such as the Ashʿarīs and Māturīdīs (as al-Saffārīnī showed).
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī said:
وَعَلَامَةُ الزَّنَادِقَةِ تَسْمِيَتُهُمْ أَهْلَ الْأَثَرِ بِالْحَشْوِيَّةِ... وَكُلُّ ذَلِكَ عَصَبِيَّةٌ وَغِيَاظٌ لِأَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ، وَلَا اسْمَ لَهُمْ إِلَّا اسْمٌ وَاحِدٌ، وَهُوَ: أَصْحَابُ الْحَدِيثِ
“A sign of the heretics (zanādiqah) is that they call Ahl al-Athar ‘Ḥashwiyyah’… All of this is prejudice and spite towards Ahlus-Sunnah, and they have no name except one, they are: Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth.”
[https://shamela.ws/book/17817/155]
Who Are al-Jamāʿah?
We have already established who Ahlus-Sunnah are. Likewise, al-Jamāʿah does not simply mean which group has the greatest number of followers, as some people like to push.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu, said:
يَا عَمْرُو بْنَ مَيْمُونٍ , إِنَّ جُمْهُورَ الْجَمَاعَةِ هِيَ الَّتِي تُفَارِقُ الْجَمَاعَةَ , إِنَّمَا الْجَمَاعَةُ مَا وَافَقَ طَاعَةَ اللَّهِ وَإِنْ كُنْتَ وَحْدَكَ
“O ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, indeed the majority of the people may be the ones who separate from the jamāʿah. Rather, the jamāʿah is whatever conforms to obedience to Allāh, even if you are alone.”
[https://shamela.ws/book/9200/193]
In another wording transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd:
إِنَّ جُمْهُورَ النَّاسِ فَارَقُوا الْجَمَاعَةَ، وَإِنَّ الْجَمَاعَةَ مَا وَافَقَ طَاعَةَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى
“Indeed, the majority of the people have departed from the Jamāʿah; the Jamāʿah is that which agrees with obedience to Allah Most High.”
[https://shamela.ws/book/9991/130]
Abū Shāmah then explained this narration:
وَحَيْثُ جَاءَ الْأَمْرُ بِلُزُومِ الْجَمَاعَةِ فَالْمُرَادُ بِهِ لُزُومُ الْحَقِّ وَاتِّبَاعُهُ، وَإِنْ كَانَ الْمُتَمَسِّكُ بِالْحَقِّ قَلِيلًا وَالْمُخَالِفُ لَهُ كَثِيرًا؛ لِأَنَّ الْحَقَّ الَّذِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِ الْجَمَاعَةُ الْأُولَى مِنْ عَهْدِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ وَأَصْحَابِهِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ، وَلَا نَظَرَ إِلَى كَثْرَةِ أَهْلِ الْبَاطِلِ بَعْدَهُمْ
“Wherever there comes a command to adhere to the Jamāʿah, what is intended is adherence to and following the truth, even if those holding to the truth are few and those opposing them are many; because the truth is what the first Jamāʿah, the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions, were upon. No consideration is given to the multitude of the people of falsehood after them.”
[https://shamela.ws/book/6276/14]
Al-Bayhaqī transmits:
قَالَ نُعَيْمُ بْنُ حَمَّادٍ فِي هَذَا الْحَدِيثِ - يَعْنِي: إِذَا فَسَدَتِ الْجَمَاعَةُ -: فَعَلَيْكَ بِمَا كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِ الْجَمَاعَةُ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَفْسُدُوا، وَإِنْ كُنْتَ وَحْدَكَ، فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْجَمَاعَةُ حِينَئِذٍ
“Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād said concerning this ḥadīth - meaning, when the Jamāʿah becomes corrupted -: you must adhere to what the Jamāʿah was upon before they became corrupted. Even if you are alone, then you are the Jamāʿah at that time.”
[https://shamela.ws/book/39268/510]
Ibn al-Qayyim also mentioned it:
[https://shamela.ws/book/17798/2312]
Some people respond to this quote of Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād pointing out his weakness in Ḥadīth, but this is irrelvant here as he isn’t narrating, he’s explaining one, and he is prasied outside of his Ḥadīth for his knowledge and adherence to the Sunnah by the likes of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and al-Nasāʾī.
Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh also rejected the idea that the sawād al-aʿẓam simply means the numerical majority.
Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh was asked:
يَا أَبَا يَعْقُوبَ مَنِ السَّوَادُ الْأَعْظَمُ؟
“O Abū Yaʿqūb, who are the sawād al-aʿẓam?”
He replied:
مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ أَسْلَمَ وَأَصْحَابُهُ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُ
“Muḥammad ibn Aslam, his companions, and whoever follows him.”
Then Isḥāq said:
لَوْ سَأَلْتَ الْجُهَّالَ مَنِ السَّوَادُ الْأَعْظَمُ؟ قَالُوا: جَمَاعَةُ النَّاسِ، وَلَا يَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ الْجَمَاعَةَ عَالِمٌ مُتَمَسِّكٌ بِأَثَرِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ وَطَرِيقِهِ، فَمَنْ كَانَ مَعَهُ وَتَبِعَهُ فَهُوَ الْجَمَاعَةُ، وَمَنْ خَالَفَهُ فِيهِ تَرَكَ الْجَمَاعَةَ
“If you asked the ignorant, ‘Who are the sawād al-aʿẓam?’ they would say: ‘The mass of the people.’ They do not know that the Jamāʿah is a scholar adhering to the āthār of the Prophet ﷺ and his way. Whoever is with him and follows him is the Jamāʿah, and whoever opposes him in that has left the Jamāʿah.”
Ibn al-Qayyim said regarding the Miḥnah:
وقد شَذَّ الناس كلهم زمن أحمد بن حنبل إلا نفرًا يسيرًا؛ فكانوا هم الجماعة، وكانت القضاة حينئذ والمفتون والخليفة وأتباعه [كلهم] هم الشاذون، وكان الإمام أحمد وحده هو الجماعة
“During the time of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, all the people departed [from the truth] except a small number, and they were the Jamāʿah, while the judges at that time, the muftīs, the caliph, and [all] his followers were the shādhdhūn. Imām Aḥmad alone was the Jamāʿah.”
[https://shamela.ws/book/17798/2312]
And al-Tirmidhī records that ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan asked ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak:
سَأَلْتُ عَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ الْمُبَارَكِ: مَنِ الْجَمَاعَةُ؟ فَقَالَ: أَبُو بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرُ
“I asked ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak: ‘Who are the Jamāʿah?’ He replied: ‘Abū Bakr and ʿUmar.’”
They said to him:
قَدْ مَاتَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرُ
“Abū Bakr and ʿUmar have died.”
So he named other individuals. They replied that those men had also died.
Then Ibn al-Mubārak said:
أَبُو حَمْزَةَ السُّكَّرِيُّ جَمَاعَةٌ
“Abū Ḥamzah al-Sukkarī is a Jamāʿah.”
Al-Tirmidhī then explained:
وَأَبُو حَمْزَةَ هُوَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مَيْمُونٍ، وَكَانَ شَيْخًا صَالِحًا، وَإِنَّمَا قَالَ هَذَا فِي حَيَاتِهِ عِنْدَنَا
“Abū Ḥamzah was Muḥammad ibn Maymūn. He was a righteous shaykh, and Ibn al-Mubārak said this while he was alive, according to us.”
[Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2167]
So Who Are the Saved Sect (Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah)?
The Saved Sect are Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah. They are those who adhere to the Qurʾān and Sunnah upon the beliefs and understanding of the Prophet ﷺ, his Companions, and the Salaf, which was preserved by the Imāms who followed them.
They are known by several other names, most notably:
Ahlul-Athar (the Atharīs), and only they are the Ahlul/Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth.
They are not defined by numerical majority, but by adherence to the truth which the first Jamāʿah was upon (the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions).
As al-Awzāʿī said:
عَلَيْكَ بِآثَارِ مَنْ سَلَفَ وَإِنْ رَفَضَكَ النَّاسُ، وَإِيَّاكَ وَآرَاءَ الرِّجَالِ وَإِنْ زَخْرَفُوهُ لَكَ بِالْقَوْلِ
“Adhere to the narrations (āthār) of those who came before (salaf), even if the people reject you, and beware of the opinions of men, even if they adorn them for you with eloquent speech.”
[https://shamela.ws/book/96785/80]
And Allāh knows best. May prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muḥammad, his family, his companions, and all those who follow them in goodness until the Day of Judgement.