[Machine] We were sitting around the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in his mosque when he said, "You will follow the practices of those before you, step by step, to the extent that if they were to enter a lizard's hole, you would enter it too." We asked, "O Messenger of Allah, are you referring to the Jews and Christians?" He replied, "Who else?" The Jews split into seventy-one groups, all misguided except one. The Christians split into seventy-two groups, all misguided except one. And this Ummah will split into seventy-three groups, all misguided except one: the Jamāʿah (the united group) and the true understanding of Islam." [At-Tirmidhi]  

كُنَّا قُعُودًا حَوْلَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ فِي مَسْجِدِهِ فَقَالَ «لَتَسْلُكُنَّ سَنَنَ مَنْ قَبْلَكُمْ حَذْوَ النَّعْلِ بِالنَّعْلِ وَلَتَأْخُذُنَّ مِثْلَ أَخْذِهِمْ إِنْ شِبْرًا فَشِبْرٌ وَإِنْ ذِرَاعًا فَذِرَاعٌ وَإِنْ بَاعًا فَبَاعٌ حَتَّى لَوْ دَخَلُوا جُحْرَ ضَبٍّ دَخَلْتُمْ فِيهِ أَلَا إِنَّ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ افْتَرَقَتْ عَلَى مُوسَى عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً كُلُّهَا ضَالَّةٌ إِلَّا فِرْقَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ الْإِسْلَامُ وَجَمَاعَتُهُمْ وَإِنَّهَا افْتَرَقَتْ عَلَى عِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً كُلُّهَا ضَالَّةٌ إِلَّا فِرْقَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ الْإِسْلَامُ وَجَمَاعَتُهُمْ ثُمَّ إِنَّهُمْ يَكُونُونَ عَلَى اثْنَتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً كُلُّهَا ضَالَّةٌ إِلَّا فِرْقَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ الْإِسْلَامُ وَجَمَاعَتُهُمْ» آخِرُ كِتَابِ الْعِلْمِ