He traced it back to the Prophet ﷺ, who said, "The Beast will emerge and brand people on their noses. Then they will continue to live among you until a man will buy a camel, and it will be asked of him, 'From whom did you buy it?' He will reply, 'I bought it from one of those branded on the nose.'"
يرفعه إلى النبي ﷺ قال: تخرج الدابة، فتسم الناس على خراطيمهم، ثم يغمرون فيكم حتى يشتري الرجل البعير، فيقول: ممن اشتريته؟ فيقول: اشتريته من أحد المخطمين.
Ahmad (22308), Bukhari in Tarikh al-Kabir (6/172), Baghawi in Jadiyyat (3027), and Abu Naeem in Akhbar Isbahan (2/124) all narrated it through various routes from Abdul-Aziz bin Abu Salama Majishun, from Umar bin Abdul-Rahman bin Atiya bin Dilaf Muzani, from Abu Umama, who related it. Its chain of transmission is sahih. Umar bin Abdul-Rahman bin Atiya had a number of narrators report from him, including Imam Malik, and Ibn Madini deemed him trustworthy, as recorded in the questions of Muhammad bin Uthman bin Abu Shayba (114). Ibn Hibban mentioned him among the trustworthy narrators, and he is among the men covered in Tajil.As for what has been narrated from Abu Hurairah as a saying of the Prophet, "The Beast will emerge, carrying with it the ring of Sulayman bin Dawud and the staff of Musa bin Imran, peace be upon them both. It will brighten the face of the believer with the staff and brand the nose of the disbeliever with the ring, so much so that when people of a household gather together, it will be said, 'This one, O believer,' and, 'This one, O disbeliever,'" this is daif. It was narrated by Tirmidhi (3187), Ibn Majah (4066), Ahmad (7937), and Hakim (4/485), all through various routes from Hammad bin Salama, from Ali bin Zayd, from Aws bin Khalid, from Abu Hurairah, who related it, and the wording given here is that of Ibn Majah. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan hadith." I say, its chain of transmission contains Ali bin Zayd, who is Ibn Jadan, considered daif by the majority of scholars, and Aws bin Khalid, who is Aws bin Abu Aws Hijazi, an unknown narrator.