The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The Jews split into seventy-one or seventy-two sects, the Christians split into seventy-one or seventy-two sects, and my nation will split into seventy-three sects."
قال رسول الله ﷺ: افترقت اليهود على إحدى أو ثنتين وسبعين فرقة وتفرقت النصارى على إحدى أو ثنتين وسبعين فرقة وتفترق أمتي على ثلاث وسبعين فرقة.
Narrated by Abu Dawud (4596), Tirmidhi (2640), Ibn Majah (3991), and Ahmad (8396), and graded sahih by Ibn Hibban (6731, 6247) and Hakim (1/128), all of them through routes from Muhammad bin Amr, from Abu Salama, from Abu Hurairah, who mentioned it. The wording is that of Abu Dawud and Hakim, and some of them did not mention the Christians. Tirmidhi said, "The hadith of Abu Hurairah is hasan sahih," and Hakim said, "Sahih according to the criterion of Muslim."Its chain is hasan on account of Muhammad bin Amr, who is Ibn Alqama bin Waqqas Laythi. There is some criticism of him that lowers his hadith to the level of hasan, even though he is among the narrators found in the six major collections.