who were at variance, and they will be slain by the faction that is nearest to the truth.” It is recorded by both of the Ṣaḥīḥ compilers⦗1⦘, as will be cited under the narration of Abū Salamah from Abū Saʿīd.

[Third chain]
Imām Aḥmad⦗2⦘ said: Wakīʿ narrated to us; ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār narrated to us; ʿĀṣim ibn Shumaykh narrated to us, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said:

Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took an earnest oath he would say, “No—by Him in Whose Hand is the soul of Abū al-Qāsim⦗3⦘, groups of my community will surely emerge whose deeds will make yours seem paltry beside theirs. They recite the Qur’an yet it does not pass beyond their collar-bones; they burst out of Islam just as an arrow shoots clean through its prey.”

They asked, “Is there a distinguishing sign by which we may recognize them?” He replied, “Among them is a man known as dhū yudayya—or dhū thudayya⦗4⦘—a man with a stubby hand, or a nipple-like protrusion; their heads will be shaved.”

Abū Saʿīd said, “Twenty, or twenty-odd, of the Prophet’s Companions ﷺ told me that ʿAlī was the one who undertook to kill them.” He added, “I later saw Abū Saʿīd in old age, his hands trembling, saying: ‘For me, fighting them is more lawful than fighting an equivalent number of the Turks.’” Abū Dāwūd also transmitted it⦗6⦘ through Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal with this same chain.

[Fourth chain]
Imām Aḥmad⦗7⦘ said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Sufyān informed us, from his father, from Ibn Abī Nuʿm, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said:

While ʿAlī was in Yemen he sent a lump of gold still mixed with its earth to the Prophet ﷺ⦗8⦘. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ divided it among al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis al-Ḥanẓalī—of Banū Mujāshiʿ—, ʿUyaynah ibn Badr al-Fazārī, ʿAlqamah ibn ʿUlāthah⦗9⦘—of Banū Kilāb—, and Zayd al-Khayr⦗10⦘ al-Ṭāʾī—of Banū Nabhān. Quraysh and the Anṣār became upset and said, “He gives to the chiefs of Najd and leaves us!”

He replied, “I am only conciliating their hearts.”

Then a man with sunken eyes, protruding forehead, thick beard, raised cheek-bones, and a shaven head came forward and said, “Muḥammad, fear Allah!” The Prophet said, “Who will obey Allah if I disobey Him? He entrusts me with the people of the earth, yet you do not trust me?” A man from the gathering asked the Prophet ﷺ for permission to kill him—I think it was Khālid ibn