73 Divisions in Islam and One True Jama'at

73 Divisions in Islam and One True Jama'at — Page 6

6 The Proph ecy Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) among many of his prophecies has mentioned, in one hadith, a prophecy which many of us have seen fulfilled in our life time. More than 1400 years ago, our beloved master, Muhammad (peace be upon him) made a prophecy in the following words [1] : Abdullah bin Ama r (ra) relates that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said “Surely things will happen to my people as happened earlier to Israelites, they will resemble each other like one shoe in a pair resembles the other to the extent that if anyone among the Israelites ha s openly committed adultery to his mother there will be some who will do this in my Ummah as well, verily the Israelites were divided into 72 sections but my people will be divided into 73 sections, all of them will be in the fire except one. ” The companions asked, ‘Who are they O Messenger of Allah,’ Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “They are those who will be like me and my companions. “ In this hadith there are quite a few things to be noted. Firstly, it mentions the resemblance of Muslim Ummah with the Israelites (i. e. Jews). In another hadith [2] this resemblance is mentioned in the words that as among the Jews a prophet was raised in e very century among Muslims a reformer will be raised