Chapter 1: The Distant Signs That Have Already Appeared and Ended

...whatever green trees and pebbles met it, due to the intense heat; its eastern edge was advancing between the mountains, which blocked its path, so it halted. Its western edge, which bordered the sacred sanctuary (Haram of Medina), reached a mountain called Wa'irah, near the east of Uhud, and advanced into al-Shazat at its edge, where it was extinguished. He said: A person upon whom I rely informed me that he witnessed a massive rock from the stones of the volcanic plain (al-Harrah), part of which lay outside the boundary of the Haram; the fire caught the portion that was outside, but as soon as it reached the portion lying within the sacred precinct, it died down and was extinguished. He said: This account is more worthy of reliance than the statement of al-Mutarrizi that it consumed stone and spared trees, or that a man extended an arrow toward it, whereupon it burned the iron point but spared the wood; for al-Mutarrizi did not witness this fire.

The historians said: Throughout the duration of its appearance, this fire continued to consume rocks and mountains, flowing rapidly through a valley measuring four farsakhs in length, four miles in width, and two and a half human statures in depth. It coursed over the face of the earth, melting the rock until it became like water; once it solidified, it turned black after having been glowing red. The molten stone from this fire continuously accumulated at the end of the valley, at the terminus of al-Harrah, until it crossed through the middle of the valley of al-Shazat toward Mount Wa'irah, blocking the aforementioned valley with an immense barrier of cast molten stone, greater than the barrier of Dhul-Qarnayn.

Al-Imad Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The judge Sadr al-Din al-Hanafi informed me, saying: My father, Safi al-Din, the teacher at the Madrasah of Busra, informed me that he was told...