He stood among us and said, "Indeed, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood among us and said, 'Those before you from the People of the Book split into seventy-two sects, and this nation will split into seventy-three, seventy-two of them in the Fire and one in Paradise, which is the main body.'"Ibn Yahya and Amr added in their narrations, "And there will arise among my nation people in whom these desires will course as rabies courses through its victim." Amr's wording was, "as rabies courses through its victim, leaving no vein or joint untouched."
أنه قام فينا، فقال: ألا إن رسول الله ﷺ قام فينا فقال: ألا إن من قبلكم من أهل الكتاب افترقوا على اثنتين وسبعين ملة، وإن هذه الأمة ستفترق على ثلاث وسبعين، ثنتان وسبعون فى النار، وواحدة فى الجنة، وهي الجماعة. زاد ابن يحيى وعمرو في حديثيهما: وإنه سيخرج في أمتي أقوام تجارى بهم تلك الأهواء كما يتجارى الكلب لصاحبه. وقال عمرو: الكلب بصاحبه، لا يبقى منه عرق ولا مفصل إلا دخله.
Abu Dawud (4597), Ahmad (16937), Ibn Abu Asim in Al-Sunnah (65), and Hakim in Al-Mustadrak (1/128) all narrated it through the route of Safwan bin Amr, who said, Azhar bin Abdullah Al-Hawzani narrated to me, from Abu Amir Abdullah bin Lahai, from Muawiya, and he related it.As for Azhar bin Abdullah Al-Hawzani, Ajli and Ibn Hibban both deemed him trustworthy. Dhahabi said in Al-Mizan that he was a follower whose hadith is hasan, and Ibn Hajar ruled similarly about him. The rest of the narrators in this chain are trustworthy.