151—Isa ibn Ali informed us. Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz informed us. He said: Dawud ibn Amr narrated to us. He said: Abu Shihab narrated to us, from Zayd ibn Nafi‘, from Amr ibn Qays al-Mula’i, from Dawud ibn Abi al-Sulayk, from Abu Ghalib, who said:

I was in Damascus during the time of Abd al-Malik when the heads of the Kharijites were brought and set upon poles. I came to look at them, and there was Abu Umamah ⦗115⦘ standing beside them. I approached and looked at them, whereupon he said three times: “The dogs of the Fire. They are the worst of those slain beneath the canopy of heaven, while those whom they killed are the best of those slain beneath the canopy of heaven.”

He said this three times, then began to weep. I asked, “Abu Umamah, what makes you weep?” He replied, “They had once been upon our religion.” He then mentioned what they were destined to become. I said to him, “Is this something you say based on your own opinion, or something you heard from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?” He said, repeating three times, “How bold I would be! Had I not heard it from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, once, twice, or three times”—and he continued up to seven—“I would not have related it to you.

“Do you not recite this verse in Al Imran: ‘On the Day when some faces will be bright and some faces will be darkened’ [Al Imran 3:106],” to the end of the verse?

Then he said: “The Jews split into seventy-one sects: seventy sects in the Fire and one in Paradise. The Christians split into seventy-two sects: seventy-one in the Fire and one sect in Paradise. This community will split into seventy-three sects: seventy-two in the Fire and one in Paradise.”

We said, “Describe them to us.” He replied, “The great majority.”