By Kwabena Osman

Patheos.com: For a religion that strictly believes in the unity of God and abhors associating partners with Him, unity among his followers is an ultimate goal. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the situation with Muslims. Sunni’s and Shia’s form the two main divisions in Islam but among these two main sects there are various sects, like the Wahhabis, Salafis, Barelvis etc. Why should there be divisions if they all follow the same Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, and also follow the same book that was revealed to him, the Quran, which they overwhelmingly believe is perfect and the same since its revelation?

You may be surprised to learn that Muhammad himself prophesied about these divisions that will occur among his followers. He talked about these divisions at a time when the Muslims were united solidly as one and the people of that time could hardly imagine that Islam could be divided into sects. The Prophet Muhammad said that: “The Jews split into seventy two sects and my nation will split into seventy three sects” (Sunan Ibn Majah 3991). Thus the split of Islam into sects was in fulfillment of a prophecy.