English Translation

Anas ibn Iyad narrated to us, who said: I heard Safwan ibn Sulaym saying: Abu Umama al-Bahili entered Damascus and saw the heads of the Kharijites set up on display, and said, "Dogs of Hellfire, dogs of Hellfire" — three times — "the worst of the slain beneath the shade of heaven, yet the best of those they slew." Then he wept. A man stood up to him and said, "O Abu Umama, is what you say your own opinion, or did you hear it?" He said, "Would I then be so bold as to say this from my own opinion? How could I say such a thing merely as an opinion? I heard it not once, not twice." He said, "What then makes you weep?" He said, "I weep for their departure from Islam — these who split apart and made their religion into factions."