Ibn Asakir reported: Wahb ibn Munabbih, may Allah have mercy on him, said, “I knew the early period of Islam. By Allah, the Kharijites never had a group except that Allah caused it to split due to their evil condition. Never did one of them proclaim his opinion except that Allah caused his neck to be struck. Never did the Muslim nation unite upon a man from the Kharijites. If Allah had allowed the opinion of the Kharijites to take root, the earth would have been corrupted, the roadways would have been cut off, the Hajj pilgrimage to the sacred house of Allah would have been cut off, and the affair of Islam would have returned to ignorance until the people would seek refuge in the mountains as they had done in the time of ignorance. If there were to arise among them ten or twenty men, there would not be a man among them except that he would claim the Caliphate for himself. With each man among them would be ten thousand others, all of them fighting each other and charging each other with unbelief until even the believer would fear for himself, his religion, his life, his family, his wealth, and he would not know where to travel or with whom he should be.”
Source: Tārīkh Dimashq 69290
عن ابن عساكر قال وهب بن منبه رحمه الله أني قد أدركت صدر الإسلام فوالله ما كانت للخوارج جماعة قط إلا فرقها اللَّه على شر حالاتهم وما أظهر أحد منهم رأيه قط إلا ضرب اللَّه عنقه وما اجتمعت الأمة على رجل قط من الخوارج ولو أمكن اللَّه الخوارج من رأيهم لفسدت الأرض وقطعت السبل وقطع الحج من بيت اللَّه الحرام وإذا لعاد أمر الإسلام جاهلية حتى يعود الناس يستغيثون برءوس الجبال كما كانوا في الجاهلية وإذا لقام أكثر من عشرة أو عشرين رجلا ليس منهم رجل إلا وهو يدعو إلى نفسه بالخلافة ومع كل رجل منهم أكثر من عشرة آلاف يقاتل بعضهم بعضا ويشهد بعضهم على بعض بالكفر حتى يصبح الرجل المؤمن خائفا على نفسه ودينه ودمه وأهله وماله لا يدري أين يسلك أو مع من يكون
69290 تاريخ دمشق لابن عساكر حرف الواو ذكر من اسمه وهب