​After the era of hadith codification that began in the second century AH/eighth century CE, hadith spread among the various Islamic sects-Sunni, Shi'i, Ibadhi and Mu'tazili-as did the hadith of "separation" (al-iftirāq), or "the saved sect" (al-firqa al-nājiya). Each of these sects vied with the others to reproduce and interpret this hadith in such a way as to demonstrate that it alone was the sect that would be delivered from hellfire. This article seeks to present an objective historical analysis of the hadith of separation, and the ways in which it was represented by the various competing Islamic sects over a period of four centuries, from the time it appeared until the fifth century AH/eleventh century CE, when the term al-jamā'a came to denote the Sunnis as those who would be saved to the exclusion of all other Islamic groups and sects.