152—Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Nadr informed us. He said: Ismail ibn Muhammad informed us. He said: Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan narrated to us. He said: Abu Ali al-Hanafi narrated to us. He said: Sulaym ibn Zurayr narrated to us, ⦗116⦘ from Abu Ghalib, from Abu Umamah—who was known as Sudayy ibn Ajlan, was from the tribe of Bahilah, and lived in Hims.

I met him after one hundred and fifty heads of the Azariqah had been brought and set upon the steps of the mosque. He came out, and when he saw the heads, he said, “Glory be to Allah! What Satan does to the people of Islam!” Then his eyes filled with tears, and he said, “The dogs of the Fire, the dogs of the Fire.”

I asked, “Abu Umamah, are these they?” He replied, “Yes.” I said, “Is this something you say yourself, or something you heard from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?” He said, “Then I would indeed be presumptuous! I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him”—and he gestured with his fingers toward his ears—“and had I heard it only once, twice, or three times”—until he counted seven times on his hand—“I would not have spoken of it. I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: ‘The Children of Israel split into seventy-one sects, and my community will exceed them. All of them will be in the Fire except the great majority.’”