Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq
Book by the Shafi'i scholar Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi
Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq is a book by the Shafi'i scholar Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi (d. 1037 CE) outlining the doctrinal positions of various sects and schisms in Islam. Written as an explanation of the hadith regarding the division of the Muslim ummah into 73 sects, the book explains the hadith, lays out the various beliefs of 72 "misguided" sects and ends by explaining the beliefs of Orthodox Sunni Islam, according to the author, in 15 points. The book also outlines the doctrinal positions of sects which are not deemed to be included under the hadith.
The Hadith
Abu Mansur lists 3 narrations of the hadith. Regarding the first he writes, after listing his chain of narrators to Abu Hurairah, Muhammad said:
The Jews are divided into 71 sects, and the Christians are divided into 72 sects and my people will be divided into 73 sects.
The 72 Sects
This part of the book is split into 8 sections and is divided as follows:
An Explanation of the opinions of the Rafidah
An Explanation of the opinions of the Khawarij
An Explanation of the opinions of the Mu'tazila and Kadiryah
An Explanation of the opinions of the Dirariyah, Bakiryah and Jahmiyah
An Explanation of the opinions of the Karimiyah
An Explanation of the opinions of the Anthropomorphists found among the numerous sects which we have mentioned
An Explanation of the opinions of the Murji'ah
An Explanation of the opinions of the Najjariyah
A number of sects are outlined under each section.
The Orthodox Sect
The book ends by explaining the beliefs of Orthodox Sunni Islam in 15 points. These points span several subjects.
The Universe
Abu Mansur writes that the Orthodox sect confirms, "realities and knowledge, particularly and generally." He also write that it confirms the knowledge regarding the creation of the Universe, its atoms and accidents, i.e.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq” as book by the Shafi'i scholar Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as book by the Shafi'i scholar Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19454950. VIAF identifies the subject as 179020383. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1037.
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This entry incorporates text from “Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.