Amongst the Shíʾahs, we believe, there are still Mujtahidín whose Ijmaʾ is accepted, but the Sunnis have four orthodox schools of interpretation, named after their respective founders, Hanafí, Sháfaʾi, Máliki, and Hambali. The Wahhábis for the most part reject Ijmaʾ collected after the death of "the Companions."
From these remarks, it will be easily understood what a fruitful source of religious dissension and sectarian strife this third foundation of the rule of faith is. Divided as the Christian Church is by its numerous sects, it will compare favourably with Muhammadanism even in this respect. Muhammad, it is related, prophesied that as the Jewish Church had been divided into seventy-one sects! and the Christians into seventy-two! so his followers would be divided into seventy-three sects[1]; but every Muslim historian is obliged to admit that they have far exceeded the limits of Muhammad's prophecy; for, according to Abdul Qádir Jiláni, there are at least 150.
- ↑ The seventy-three sects are, according to some writers, distributed as follows:—Shiaʾh 31, Mʾutazilah 21, Khawárij 7, Murjíah 5, Najáriah 3, Jabariyah 2, Mushabiyah 1, and Nájíah (the term used for the orthodox).
