ibn Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt (1), accompanied by his wife. They killed him and cut open his wife’s abdomen, exposing her unborn child. When the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abī Tālib (may Allah be pleased with him), learned of this, he asked them, “Who killed him?” They replied, “All of us killed him.” Ali then prepared for battle and confronted them in the famous Battle of Nahrawān (2). He inflicted a crushing defeat upon them, and only a few escaped.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) foretold the emergence of this group within this Ummah. Indeed, the hadiths concerning it have reached the level of mass transmission. Al-Hāfiz Ibn Kathīr cited more than thirty such hadiths found in the authentic hadith collections, the Sunan works, and the Musnad collections (3).
Among them is the report narrated by Abū Saīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“A seceding faction will emerge at a time of division among the Muslims, and whichever of the two factions is nearer to the truth will kill it.”
Narrated by Muslim (4).