And Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said …
Ibn Lahi’a similarly narrated from Abu Al-Aswad, from ‘Urwa ibn Al-Zubaid, in this manner – that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah pray over him and salute him), ordered the people to march in the heart of the valley, while He, Hudhaifa, and ‘Ammar went up to Al-‘aqaba. But this most vile group followed them, masked, with the intention of getting to Al-‘aqaba. However, Allah made their intention known to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah pray over him and salute him), and so He gave orders to Hudhaifa, and he turned back towards them and struck the faces of their camels, and they were panic-stricken and turned away disgraced. And Hudhaifa and ‘Ammar told the Messenger of Allah (may Allah pray over him and salute him) their names, and how they were determined to get rid of Him (the prayers and salutation of Allah upon him), and so He ordered the two of them to keep their matter confidential. Yunus ibn Bukair narrated something similar from Ibn Ishaq, except that he named a group of them. But Allah knows better.
And this is similarly related in the Mu’jam of Al-Tabarani; Al-Bayhaqi said the same thing, and what Muslim narrated testifies to the veracity of this story … and what Muslim also narrated from a hadith of Qatada, from Abu Nadra, from Qais ibn ‘Ubad, from ‘Ammar ibn Yasir, who said: Hudhaifa told me that the Prophet (may Allah pray over him and salute him) said: There are twelve of my companions who are hypocrites, and who will not enter Jannah, and will only smell its aroma they day a camel goes through the eye of a needle. Eight of them will be struck by a dubailah, a lamp of fire that will appear between their shoulders until it comes out of their chests. For this reason Hudhaifa was known as the keeper of the secret, which no one else knew, that is, identifying the group of hypocrites, and these were them, as the Messenger of Allah (may Allah pray over him and salute him) made them known to him and no one else. But Allah knows better.