What is the meaning of the Hadith regarding the division of nations, and is the mentioned number specific to seventy? And what is the explanation for its discrepancy with the current reality of Christians and the number of sects of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him)?

The Hadiths mention that the Jews split into seventy-two sects, and the Christians into seventy-two sects, while the Muslim Ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all of them in Hellfire except one. The issue of there being more sects than the mentioned number is addressed by explaining that the origins of these sects trace back to the mentioned number, or that the number refers to the divisions that occurred among nations up to the time of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, or that the concept of the number in the Hadith is not for limitation but for multiplicity. For instance, the sects of the Rafidha and the Khawarij alone exceed that number, and other sects like the Bahaʼis and the Qadianis have emerged. Some scholars believe that the number is intended, but that the seventy-three sects are the root origins, and everything that branched off from them is considered a sub-branch and not an independent origin. It is not possible to definitively identify a specific sect among the seventy-three without evidence, but every sect that deviates from the methodology of the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah (People of the Sunnah and the Community) is among the doomed sects.