58 — Abū Saīd al-Mufaddal ibn Muhammad al-Janadī informed us in the Sacred Mosque, saying: Alī ibn Ziyād al-Lahjī narrated to us, saying: Abū Qurrah Mūsā ibn Tāriq narrated to us, saying: I heard al-Azhar ibn Sālih say: Abū Ghālib narrated to me that he heard Abū Umāmah, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: A band of rebels arose in Greater Syria. They were killed and cast ⦗365⦘ into a pit—or a well. Abū Umāmah then approached while I was with him, and when he stood over them, he wept. He then said: “Glory be to Allah! What has Satan done to this nation? Dogs of Hellfire! Dogs of Hellfire!”—three times. “They are the worst of those slain beneath heaven’s canopy, the worst of those slain beneath heaven’s canopy; while the best of those slain beneath heaven’s canopy, the best of those slain beneath heaven’s canopy, the best of those slain beneath heaven’s canopy, are those whom they killed.”

I said, “Abū Umāmah, is this something you say according to your own opinion, or ⦗366⦘ something you heard from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?”

He replied, “I would then indeed be audacious! I would then indeed be audacious!”—three times. “Rather, I heard it from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, not once, twice, or three times”—and he continued counting up to ten. “I heard the Messenger of Allah say: ‘There will come a people who recite the Quran, but it will not pass beyond their collarbones—or will not go past their collarbones. They will pass through Islam as an arrow passes through its quarry. They will not return to Islam until the arrow returns to its nock. Blessed is whoever they kill or whoever kills them.’”