29 — Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā al-Jawzī informed us. He said: Muhammad ibn ⦗315⦘ Hārūn Abū Nashīt and Ibrāhīm ibn Hāni’ al-Naysābūrī narrated to us. They both said: Abū al-Mughīra narrated to us. He said: Safwān narrated to us. He said: Azhar ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Harāzī narrated to me, from Abū ‘Āmir al-Hawzanī, from Mu‘āwiya ibn Abī Sufyān—may Allah be pleased with him—that, after leading the people in the noon prayer in Mecca, he stood and said: “Indeed, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, once stood among us and said, ‘Indeed, the People of the Book before you split into seventy-two sects, and this nation will split into seventy-three: seventy-two in the Fire and one in Paradise—the main body.’”

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn—may Allah have mercy on him—said: May Allah have mercy on a servant who guards himself against these sects, keeps away from innovations and introduces none, holds fast to the transmitted tradition and thereby seeks the straight path, and seeks the aid of his Generous Lord.