ibn ʿAwf, Abū ʿUbayda, and others.
It has been reported that a servant of al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba was staying there, and that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “This is one of the seven.” This hadith is a fabrication by the agreement of the scholars, even though Abū Nuʿaym related it in al-Hilya. Likewise, none of the hadiths attributed to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, specifying the numbers of the “friends of Allah,” “abdāl,” “nuqabā’,” “nujabā’,” “awtād,” and “aqtāb”—such as four, seven, twelve, forty, seventy, three hundred and thirteen, or a single “qutb”—is authentically reported from him. The early generations did not use any of these designations except “abdāl.” A hadith concerning them states that they are forty men and that they are in Syria. It appears in al-Musnad among the hadiths narrated by ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, but its chain of transmission is broken, and it is not established as authentic.
It is well known that ʿAlī and the Companions with him were superior to Muʿāwiya and those with him in Syria. Thus, the best people could not have been in Muʿāwiya’s army rather than ʿAlī’s. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both related in their Sahīh collections, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“A faction will break away from the religion at a time of division among the Muslims. They will be killed by whichever of the two parties is closer to the truth.”
Those who broke away were the Harūrī Khārijites, who broke away when division arose among the Muslims during ʿAlī’s caliphate. ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib and his companions killed them. This authentic hadith thus shows that ʿAlī