The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam (may Allaah exalt his mention), said that his Ummah (Muslim nation) would be fragmented into seventy-three sects. All of them would be in Hell except for one. The Companions, may Allaah be pleased with them, asked him which sect that would be and he replied that it was the one that would follow him and his Companions. Do these sects include the Salafi school, the Hanafi school, the Hanbali school and the Shaafi‘i school?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

Salafism is not one of the sects into which the Ummah of Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, has been divided, because Salafism means following the right path of the righteous predecessors. These first three generations of Muslims, as the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, were the examples to be followed for how the teachings of Islam should be practiced.  It was narrated on the authority of ‘Imraan Ibn Husayn that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said that the people of his generation were the best, then those who followed them, and then those who followed them (meaning, the first three generations of Muslims). Then, there would come a generation who would lack the competency to testify properly. They would be treacherous and untrustworthy and would not deliver what they had promised, and among whom obesity would be rampant.

Moreover, Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind.} [Quran 3:110] Adh-Dhahhaak mentioned that this verse refers to the Companions of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and the callers to Islam whom Allaah The Almighty commanded all Muslims to follow.

Therefore, the followers of the Companions belong to the group which will be saved from Hell, Allaah willing, since they have been approved of and praised by Allaah The Almighty.

However, merely claiming that we have an association with them or take different names that indicate this (Salafism or Salafi) is not  enough to make us counted among the saved sect,  because what is important is not the names, but the application. The only criterion in this respect is the degree of adherence to the Quran and the Sunnah.

Also, the Hanafi school, Hanbali school and Shaafi‘i school are not considered among these deviant sects, because they are schools of Fiqh (jurisprudence) that adopted one methodology yet disagreed about the sub-issues, not about the fundamentals.

Also, those who belong to these schools are considered among  the saved sect as long as they do  not deviate from the creed of the followers of the Sunnah or belong to any of the sects that will be in Hell.

As mentioned before, the criterion according to which any sect or group should be judged is how close they are to the methodology of the righteous predecessors in understanding and applying the Islamic creed and fundamentals.

Hence, Ash-Shaatibi the Al-Maaliki scholar stated that the sects of Hell are considered so only because they disagreed with the saved sect about the fundamentals of the religion and rules of the Sharee‘ah, and not about the sub-issues, because disagreement about the latter does not cause Muslims to become different sects.

Therefore, whoever contemplates on any of the deviated sects will find that they disagree with the followers of the Sunnah in one or more of the Islamic fundamentals:

- The Khawaarij: They judge the person who commits a major sin to be a disbeliever

- The Murji’ah:  They do not include actions in the definition of faith and claim that sins do not affect a person's faith just as good deeds do not benefit a disbeliever. They restrict the definition of  disbelief to that of atheism.

- The Mu‘tazilah: They deny the attributes that Allaah The Almighty affirmed for Himself. 

- The Raafidhah: They slander the honorable Companions of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

- Extreme Sufism: Which justifies the worship of the dead and believes in incarnation and unity of the Creator and creation.

Finally, we supplicate to Allaah The Almighty to guide all of us to His right path. Ameen.

Allaah Knows best.