The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The people most severely punished on the Day of Resurrection are a man killed by a prophet or who killed a prophet, a leader of misguidance, and one who makes images."
أن رسول الله ﷺ قال: أشد الناس عذابا يوم القيامة رجل قتله نبي أو قتل نبيا وإمام ضلالة وممثل من الممثلين.
Ahmad (3868) and Bazzar in Kashf Astar (1603) both narrated it through Abdul-Samad, from Aban bin Yazid, from Asim, from Abu Waail, from Abdullah (meaning Ibn Masud), who related it.Bazzar said, "We do not know of anyone who narrated it with a connected chain from Abu Waail other than Aban."I say, it does not harm the hadith that Aban bin Yazid narrated it alone, for he is trustworthy and one of the men of the Sahihayn. Its chain is hasan because of Asim, who is Ibn Abu Najud, for his hadith is hasan.Daraqutni mentioned this hadith in Ilal (5/304-305) through routes that all trace back to Abu Ishaq Sabi, and he criticized it as being a stopped narration (mawquf), but there is no mention of Abu Ishaq in the chain of Ahmad and Bazzar.As for his statement, "one of the image-makers," it means a maker of images. It is said "maththala," with either doubling or simplification of the letter, when one fashions an image, and "timthal" is the noun derived from it. This was stated by Ibn Athir in Nihayah.