Muslim also recorded—through Qutaybah, Ḥammād, Ayyūb, and Muḥammad ibn ʿUbaydah—from ʿAlī the account of “the man with the maimed hand, the very one with the breast-like protrusion.”¹
He further transmitted it by another route—via Ibn ʿAwn, Ibn Sīrīn, and ʿUbaydah—from ʿAlī—in which someone put ʿAlī under oath about the matter, and he swore that he had indeed heard it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Muslim likewise narrated it—through ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, ʿAbd al-Razzāq, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān, and Zayd ibn Wahb—from ʿAlī, in a lengthy version that includes the story of the man with the breast-like protrusion.²
He also related it through the narration of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Abī Rāfiʿ from ʿAlī.³
Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī recorded the same report—through Ḥammād ibn Zayd, Ḥumayd ibn Murrah, and Abū al-Waḍī al-Suḥaymī—from ʿAlī concerning the story of the man with the breast-like protrusion.⁴
Al-Thawrī transmitted it as well—via Muḥammad ibn Qays, from Abū Mūsā, a man of his own clan—from ʿAlī, recounting the same event.⁵
Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān said: Al-Ḥumaydī related to us; Sufyān related to us; al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Abī al-ʿAbbās told me that he heard Abū al-Ṭufayl narrate—from Bakr ibn Qirwāsh, from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ—who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned the man with the breast-like protrusion and declared:
“He is the demon of the Ravine, like a man herding horses. He will be cautioned against by a man from the tribe of Bajīlah whose name is al-Ashhab—or Ibn al-Ashhab—a distinguishing sign among an unjust people.”
Sufyān added: ʿAmmār al-Duhni later informed me that a man of that description did in fact appear; he was called al-Ashhab—or Ibn al-Ashhab.⁶
Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān also reported: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muʿādh told us, from his father, from Shuʿbah, from Abū Isḥāq, from Ḥāmid al-Hamadānī, who said: I heard Saʿd ibn Mālik say, “ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib killed the demon of the Ravine”—meaning the mutilated man; that is to say—and Allah knows best—that he was killed by ʿAlī’s companions.⁷
ʿAlī ibn ʿAyyāsh reported—through Ḥabīb, from Salamah—who said: “ʿĀʾishah knew full well that the army of al-Marwah and the people of Nahrawān were cursed upon the tongue of Muḥammad ﷺ.”⁸
Ibn ʿAyyāsh added: “The army of al-Marwah were the killers of ʿUthmān.” Al-Bayhaqī recorded this.