Meaning:
- [The saved group/sect:] saved in the worldly life from innovations, safe and secure from them, and saved in the Hereafter from the Fire.
Explanation by Shaykh Al Uthaymeen
Al firqah (“sect”) with a kasrah on the letter faa has the meaning of “taa-ifah”(a group). Allaah, the Most High, said:
- Of every troop of them, a taa-ifah(group) only should go forth to fight jihaad.
Soorah at Tawbah (9) aayah 122
As for al-furqah with a damma then it is taken from al-iftiraaq (splitting).
An-naajiyah (“saved”) is an active participle from the verb najaa (to be saved) when the person is safe and secure – saved in the worldly life from innovations, safe and secure from them, and saved in the Hereafter from the Fire.
And the aspect [confirming] that is that the Prophet sall Allaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:
This nation will split into 73 firqahs (sects), all of them in the Fire except one.
They said: And which is that one, O Messenger of Allaah?
He said: That which is upon the like of that which I and my Companions are upon.[1]
This hadeeth explains to us the meaning of an-naajiyah. So whoever is upon the like of that which the Prophet sall Allaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and his Companions were upon, then he is naaj (saved) from innovations.
And:
All of them are in the Fire except for one.
So it (this group) is naajiyah (saved) from the Fire.
So najaah (being saved) here is from innovations in this worldly life and from the Fire in the Hereafter.
Taken from Sharh al Aqeedatul Waasitiyyah of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al Uthaymeen, page 38-39
Translator Nasser ibn Najam – words in brackets and footnotes are the translator’s
[1] Reported by at Tirmidhee in the Book of Eemaan, the Chapter of that which has been reported about the splitting of this nation.