150—Ali informed us. Al-Hasan ibn Uthman narrated to us. He said: Ya‘qub narrated to us. He said: Abu al-Yaman al-Hakam ibn Nafi‘ narrated to us. He said: Safwan ibn Amr narrated to us, from al-Azhar ibn Abdullah, from Abu Amir Abdullah ibn Luhayy, who said:

We performed the pilgrimage with Mu‘awiyah. When we arrived in Mecca, we performed the Zuhr prayer there. Then he stood and said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘The People of the Scripture split into seventy-two sects, and this community will split into seventy-three sects’”—meaning sects of misguided desires—“all of them will be in the Fire except one, ⦗114⦘ and that is the united body.”

He also said: “There will emerge within my community a people in whom such deviance will course as rabies courses through its victim: no vein or joint will remain without its entering it.”