26 — Abū ‘Ubayd ‘Alī ibn al-Husayn ibn Harb, the judge, informed us. He said: Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sabbāh al-Za‘farānī narrated to us. He said: Shabābah—meaning Ibn ⦗312⦘ Sawwār—narrated to us. He said: Sulaymān ibn Tarīf informed us, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “O Ibn Sallām, into how many sects did the Children of Israel split?”

He replied, “Into seventy-one or seventy-two sects, each declaring the others misguided.”

They asked, “Will you not tell us what will become of your nation if, after you have departed this world, it splits apart?”

The Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, replied, “Certainly. The Children of Israel split as you have said, and my nation will split as the Children of Israel did, with one additional sect that did not exist among the Children of Israel.” He then related the hadith.