Regarding 72 Sects in Islam
Question
What do you believe is the correct view on the Ummah (i.e. Muslim community) regarding sects. I have heard a hadith relating that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that the Ummah will be divided in 73 groups: 72 will end up in the Hellfire and one will be in Paradise. How does this fit with the Quran stating not to divide yourselves? Should we be separate from those who do not follow the sunnah correctly?
What about the schools of jurisprudence? Where should we unite and where should we separate?
Response
With regards to this hadith, I agree with the opinion of those scholars who believe that number seventy-three used is not the exact number of sects rather it just indicates that Muslims will be divided into many factions. As a result, what Prophet (pbuh) is suggesting is that a lot of factions will appear within Muslims and only one of them will be on the right path.
In addition to that, one can easily notice from the text of the hadith that it does not lay a time frame. Such ahadith, which are prophesies of the future, have to be dealt with very carefully, they are not commandments for us rather only provide information to us. As a result it is possible that this prophecy was completed right after the Prophet (pbuh)'s death when Muslims divided amongst themselves and even waged wars, or it may still have to come true. It is also possible that we are going through a time in which this prophecy of the Prophet (pbuh) is actually happening.
With respect to being successful, it is important to realize that our loyalty must lie with God alone and not with the belief system that we have, with our scholars or with the school of thought that we adhere to. In many cases, even though our words proclaim our loyalty to God, in our actions we really adhere to the scholars or the school of thought we associate ourselves with. Loyalty to God means that we evaluate everything with the question, 'Is this what God wants?' instead of 'is it against my belief system?'
Following one's belief system then in fact is not having one's loyalty with God rather having loyalty with oneself, ignoring what God wants from us and providing ourselves with different arguments to satisfy what we already believe in.
Given the above discussion, it is important to realize that the way to salvation is to understand Quran and Sunnah, and evaluate all arguments that we come across by others in the light of this understanding. This topic has been taken up by Quran so forcefully that it is not really possible to deny it. Similarly, those who did not unconditionally submit themselves to the will of God, because of one petty reason or the other, were declared as unsuccessful by the Quran.
Differences of opinions do exist amongst one another and it is not befitting for a Muslim to cut ties with anyone for that reason, unless it may directly affect their own religion. As a result, differences of opinion within Muslims, as well as with non-Muslims, should not affect our ties with them.
If, however, your question is that whether a group of Muslims, because of their beliefs, should be considered a part of Muslim community or not, then it is something that is decided by Muslim community as a whole and is not an individual's decision.