Kedudukan Hadis Iftirāq al-Ummah Menurut Neraca Para Ulama Hadis

The division of Muslims into 73 sects was revealed by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and it is reported in a hadith, known as hadith of Iftirāq al-Ummah. This hadith clarifies the existence of one of the sects which is in the right path, named al-Firqah al-Nājiyah, whilst the rest of the sects are described as unjust sects and Allah SWT promised them Hell. Consequently, there are sects claiming themselves to be the al-Firqah al-Nājiyah and labelling the others who are not in agreement with them as unrighteous. This circumstance evoked certain parties to reject this hadith because it is thought to be the root of schisms and disunity of the people. The rejection of the hadith however should be based on the strength and weakness of the reliance on the hadith’s sanad and does not rely solely on the assumption of Illah’s existence from the sanad’s meaning. Hence, this qualitative study was conducted upon 33 reports of hadith Iftirāq al-Ummah from 14 sahabahs of Prophet Muhammad. The evaluation is made based on the discussions among the trustworthy scholars of hadith by analyzing the chain of narrators and the relation between the chains of narrators. The study found that this hadith was reported from five sahabah r.a which was originally at hasan level and could be upgraded to sahih level with the assistance of shawahid from the report of five narrations of sahabah. Each of the narration supported and strengthen each other. Whereas the rest of the narrations are not escaped from flaws and weaknesses of the narrators. Sahih level of narrations explained that al-Firqah al-Nājiyah was al-Jama‘ah and al-Sawad al-A‘zam. Abstrak Perpecahan umat Islam kepada 73 puak telah diberitakan oleh Rasulullah melalui sebuah hadis yang dikenali sebagai hadis Iftirāq al-Ummah. Hadis ini menjelaskan bahawa wujudnya satu puak yang berada dalam kebenaran (al-Firqah al-Nājiyah), manakala puak yang selebihnya disifatkan sebagai puak yang sesat. Rentetan itu, terdapat puak yang mendakwa diri masing-masing sebagai al-Firqah al-Nājiyah, sekaligus melontar kesesatan terhadap pihak yang bertentangan dan berlainan aliran. Keadaan ini mendorong sesetengah pihak menolak hadis ini kerana dianggap sebagai punca perbalahan dan perpecahan umat. Sewajarnya penolakan sesebuah hadis perlulah berdasarkan kepada kekuatan dan kelemahan sandaran sanad hadis dan tidak semata-mata bergantung kepada sangkaan wujudnya ʻillah pada makna hadis. Justeru kajian kualitatif dijalankan terhadap 33 periwayatan hadis Iftirāq al-Ummah yang diriwayatkan melalui 14 orang para sahabat. Analisis sanad hadis dengan mengikut metode ahli hadis dijalankan terhadap rantaian sanad hadis di samping penilaian terhadap pertautan di antara sanad. Kajian mendapati bahawa sebahagian sanad hadis ini berada pada kedudukan hasan, dan dapat ditingkatkan ke tahap sahih dengan adanya shawāhid daripada lima periwayatan para sahabat. Setiap riwayat tersebut menguatkan di antara satu sama lain. Manakala riwayat yang selainnya tidak lekang daripada kecacatan dan kelemahan periwayatnya. Riwayat yang sahih menjelaskan bahawa al-Firqah al-Nājiyah ialah al-Jamāʻah dan al-Sawād al-A'zam.