Sayyiduna Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: When the Khawarij separated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) set out in pursuit of them, and we set out with him. We reached the enemy's camp. The sound of the recitation of the Qur'an was coming from it like the humming of bees. Among them were people with hard calluses (or lumps) on their skin, and some wearing hooded cloaks (that is, devout worshippers). When I saw those people, I felt troubled about it. I moved aside, planted my spear in the ground, dismounted from my horse, took off my cap and put my coat of mail on it. I took hold of my horse's lead and began to pray facing the spear. During the prayer I was supplicating: "O Allah, if fighting these people is obedience to You, then grant me permission for it; and if it is disobedience, then grant me the opportunity to dissociate myself." The narrator says: I was still in this state when Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived riding the mule of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). When he came alongside me, he said: "Seek refuge in Allah, seek refuge in Allah, O Jundub, (seek refuge) from the evil of doubt." I went running to him. He dismounted and stood up to pray. Meanwhile a man came riding a horse and said: "O Commander of the Believers!" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What is the matter?" He said: "Will you not attend to the enemy?" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What has happened?" He said: "They have cut (or crossed) the river." Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What? They have crossed it?" I said: "Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah)." Then after that another man came whose voice was louder. He said: "O Commander of the Believers!" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What do you want?" He said: "Will you not attend to the enemy?" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "What has happened?" He told him: "Those people have crossed the river and have gone." I said: "Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest)." Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "They cannot cross it." Then another man came galloping his horse and said: "O Commander of the Believers!" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "What has happened?" He said: "Will you not attend to the enemy?" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "What has happened?" He told him: "Those people have crossed the river." Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "They cannot cross it, nor will they be able to get beyond it; they will be killed before that. This is a covenant from Allah and His Messenger." I said: "Allahu Akbar." Then I got up and held the stirrup for him, and he mounted his horse. I went back to my coat of mail and put it on, took my bow and hung it on, and then set out walking alongside Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). He said to me: "O Jundub." I said: "O Commander of the Believers, here I am." He said: "As for me, I will send to them a man who will recite the Qur'an and invite them to the Book of Allah, their Lord, and to the Sunnah of their Prophet; and he will not turn his face back toward us before they wound him with arrows. O Jundub, not even ten men of ours will be killed, and not even ten men of theirs will survive." The narrator says: We reached them; they were in the camp in which they had been before, and in the same state. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) called out among his companions and had them form ranks. Then he went from one end of the rank to the other; he did this twice, saying: "Who will take this Qur'an to these people and invite them to the Book of Allah, their Lord, and to the Sunnah of their Prophet? That man will be killed, and he will attain Paradise." No one answered Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him); a young man from Banu Amir bin Sa'sa'ah answered him. When Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) saw how young he was, he said to him: "Go back to your place." Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) made the same announcement a second time, and no one came out to him except that same young man. Then he announced it a third time, and only that young man came out to him. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "Take this!" He took the Mushaf. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "You will be killed, and you will not come back to us; those people will wound you with arrows (or kill you)." The young man took the Qur'an toward the enemy. When he came close enough to them that they could hear his voice, he stood; before the young man could come back, those people shot arrows at him. One man shot an arrow at him; the young man turned his face toward us and sat down. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Attack them!" Sayyiduna Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) says: After whatever thoughts had earlier come into my mind about those people, it came about that with my own hand I killed eight people before praying Zuhr. Not even ten of us were killed, and not even ten of them survived, just as Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) had said.
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat through Abu al-Sabi'ah from Sayyiduna Jundub. I do not know Abu al-Sabi'ah; the remaining narrators of this report are thiqat (trustworthy).
Hadith Referenceمجمع الزوائد ومنبع الفوائد / كتاب قتال أهل البغي / 10451