“…a band of rebels will break away at a time of division among the people—according to another wording: among the Muslims; and in yet another: within my community—and it will be destroyed by the party that is nearer to the truth.” (1)

This ḥadith is transmitted through numerous chains and in many different wordings.

Imām Aḥmad said (2): Wakiʿ and ʿAffān (3) related to us; al-Qāsim ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “A faction of rebels will secede at a time when the Muslims are divided; the party that is closer to the truth of the two will kill them.” Muslim likewise records it (4) from Shaybān ibn Farrūkh, from al-Qāsim ibn al-Faḍl (5) with this wording.

Aḥmad said (6): Abū ʿAwānah narrated to us, from Qatādah, from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “My umma will split into two factions; a band of rebels will emerge between them, and the first of the two will undertake to kill them.” Muslim also transmits it (7) through Qatādah and Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind (8) from Abū Naḍrah with this wording.

Aḥmad said (9): Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, from Sulaymān, from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke of a people who would arise within his umma during a time of division among the people. Their distinguishing mark would be shaving the head. He said, “They are the worst of creation—or among the worst of creation—and they will be killed by the party that is nearer to the truth.” Abū Saʿīd added, “You were the ones who killed them, O people of Iraq.”

Aḥmad also said (10): Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; ʿAwf (11) related to us, from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī. He said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stated, “My umma will divide into two groups, and between them a band of rebels will break away; it will be killed by the party that is nearer to the truth.” (12) He likewise transmitted it through Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān from ʿAwf (13) al-Aʿrābī with the same wording.