Kitab al-Fitan · Nu'aym ibn Hammad

The fourth sedition started from Raqqa

Al-Walid told us, a muhaddith narrated to me, “Bedouin, due to the dispute between the Abbasids, a banner would emerge from Khorasan, and there would be a battle between them in the saffron beds, in which all people and tribes would be killed. Then the people would reach the battle that was in the saffron beds while he was in the pure city between the rivers, and he would go out with the wealth he had collected there until he settled in the city of idols, meaning Harran. Then the news would come to him that a king in Morocco had revolted, so he would send soldiers to defeat them, until He will descend with those who are with him in the Levant, and a caller will call from the sky: Woe to the land of Homs, Al-Ain Al-Sinja. So every man who has Baal will bear her husband, and every woman who has the son of her son. Then he will go until he descends between the rivers, and he will kill a great tyrant with it, and swear by it. Then he will go to the city of idols, meaning Harran, and he will rip open the belly of its owner there, and disperse his crowds. He will be sent to the East and pledge allegiance to them, unwilling and disobedient, and will stay there for eight months. Then he will go to Al-Khabur and will stay there for seven months. A week, then he goes to the bull's paddock and leaves it as a ram, and the owner of the East withdraws him to the mountains of Al-Jawf, then a man from his house betrays him and kills him. Then the owner of the East comes until he settles between Harran and Edessa, then the rebellious person comes out of the house of the head.”

While the owners of the black banners were fighting among themselves, the seventh of seven came out, and he sent to the people of the villages asking them to support him, but they refused him. The Abbasid official at Tiberias was informed of his exit, and he sent to him a large crowd. If they confronted him, they all turned to him, except for their friend who led them. Then he fights him at the Lake of Tiberias, until the calves of the lake are red with their blood, then he defeats them, then they gather for him in Al-Jabiya a great crowd, so woe to him whose family is from Al-Jabiya five miles away, and blessed is he whose family is behind that, so he defeats them. Then they gather for him in Damascus a crowd similar to the one they entered Damascus with, and they fight there until the horses run in blood to their knees, then he defeats them.

A man emerges from the East, and their king is repulsed by him. He is killed between Raqqa and Haran. A man from the Quraish kills him. A man from the West, from the family of Abu Sufyan, emerges from the wilderness and kills the king of Kufa at Haran.

Al-Walid bin Muslim told us, on the authority of Al-Awza’i, Al-Walid bin Suleiman, and Issa bin Musa, they said: We heard Rabi’ah Al-Qasir, speaking, on the authority of Abu Asma Al-Rahbi, on the authority of Thawban, the servant of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him), who said: “There will be a caliph who the people will fail to pledge allegiance to, then his representative will be from an enemy, and he will have no choice but to march himself, and he will appear against his enemy, and the people of Iraq will want him to return to their Iraq, but he will refuse and say: This is the land of jihad, so they will depose him.” They will assign a man over them, and they will march to him until they throw him at the gravel of Mount Khanasra. He will send to the people of the Levant, and they will gather for him in the heart of one man, and he will kill them with such intense fighting that the man will stand on his knees and almost count the men of the two groups. Then the people of Iraq will be defeated, and they will pursue them until they enter Kufa, and they will kill them with all of them who can bear arms, and he will defeat them, and they will kill those who have been subjected to consolation. It was said to Abu Asma: From whom Thawban heard, Messenger of Allah ﷺ? He said: Then from whom?

They fought there fiercely, but while they were like that, the Sufyani revolted against them and defeated both groups until Allah entered them into Kufa, so that the beginning of the day would be for him and the end would be for him.

Muhammad ibn Himyar told us, on the authority of al-Najib ibn al-Sari, on the authority of Abu al-Nadr, he said: A man from among the companions of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) told me: “A king descends on Iraq who forces the people of the Levant to pledge allegiance to him, and it will be as it was. Then he informs him that his enemy has marched towards him, and he finds no one to march towards him. I have dispensed with you, so they return to their country and say: We owned it, and we helped it, and we killed the people without him. Then he chose another country over our country? Come, so that we can gather for him and fight him. So they will march to him, and on that day they will gather three hundred thousand until they meet Al-Hus, and they will fight in it, and there will be an epic between them, the like of which was not among the Arabs. Patience will be given to them, and victory will be taken away from them, so much so that a man could stand up and look at the two lines if he wished. That he should count them as he counted them because of the small number of those remaining among them.”

If the other disagreement occurred among the Banu Abbas, after the departure of Al-Sufyani bin Aqla Al-Akbad, and in their other disagreement annihilation, then wait for the Battle of Al-Thaniyya, and the Battle of Palmyra, a village to the west of Salima, and a great battle at Al-Has, so that the Banu Al-Abbas and the people of the East would prevail until their women were taken captive, and they would enter Kufa.

A man from the descendants of Abbas descends on Raqqa, stays there for two years, then invades the Romans, and his calamity for the Muslims will be greater than his calamity for the Romans. Then he returns from the expedition to Raqqa, and something he hates comes from the East, so he returns to the East, but does not return from it, then he appoints his son as governor, and upon his head will be the departure of the Sufyani and the cessation of their kingdom.

He will be a caliph from the East. He travels on the run to the Peninsula, then he calls on the people of the Levant for help and they gather to him. The people of the East arrive and meet a mountain called Al-Has, and many scholars are killed there.

Al-Sufyani sends to the Iraqi army a man from Banu Haritha who has two glands, called Nimr or Qamar ibn Abbad, a strong man with a short, bald, broad-shouldered man from his people in front, and he fights him from the Levant from the people of the East, and in a place called Al-Thaniyya, and the people of Homs are in the war of the East and their supporters, and there on that day is a great army of them fighting them in the vicinity of Damascus, all of which defeats them, then the people of Damascus and Homs side with Al-Sufyani. They will meet with the people of the East in a place called Lidin, which lies east of Homs, and seventy-odd thousand people will be killed there, three-quarters of whom are from the East. Then the attack will be upon them, and the army that was sent to the East will march until they descend on Kufa. How much blood will be spilled, stomachs cut open, newborns killed, looted property, and blood permissible. Then Al-Sufyani writes to him to march to Hijaz after he has ravaged it through the battle of eternity.

Baqiyya ibn al-Walid told us, on the authority of Hariz ibn Uthman, who said: I heard Salman ibn Samir al-Alahani saying: “A caliph will descend on Kufa and defeat the people of the Levant, then he will attack them and the Levant, and it will be said to him: You must go to the Levant, for it is the land of the Holy, the land of the prophets, and the home of the caliphs. It is there that money was collected, and from there the envoys were dispersed. He answers them, and if he answers them, the people of the East rise against him, and they say: We fought with him, and we took risks.” With our blood, our souls, and our wealth, so he preferred us, so remove him. He said: Then the people of Syria will march to Kufa, and Arak al-Adam will fight.”

Abu Omar told us, on the authority of Ibn Lahi’a, on the authority of Abdul Wahhab bin Hussein, on the authority of Muhammad bin Thabit, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Al Harith, on the authority of Ibn Masoud, he said: “The seventh from the descendants of Abbas calls people to justice, but they do not respond to that. So he says: I will walk among you in the manner of Abu Bakr and Omar (may Allah be pleased with him), and he divides the spoils equally. Then his household says to him: Do you want to remove us from our livelihood? They refuse him, and he kills several members of his household. Then they disagreed among themselves, and then a man from the progeny of Fihr would emerge, gathering from the Berbers until he took the pulpits of Egypt, then a man from the progeny of Abu Sufyan would emerge, and when Al-Fihri reached his exit, they would separate into three groups.” To the end of the hadith.

The Sufyani will appear in the Levant, and then there will be a clash between them in Qarqisiya, until the birds of the sky and the lions of the earth are satisfied with their carcasses. Then he will attack them with a gap behind them, and a group of them will come until they enter the land of Khurasan, and the horses of the Sufyani will come in search of the people of Khorasan, and they will kill the Shiites of the family of Muhammad in Kufa, then the people of Khorasan will go out in search of the Mahdi.

Then Abdullah follows Abdullah, and their soldiers meet in Qarqisiya on the river, and there is a great battle. The ruler of the West marches and kills the men and takes captive the women, then returns to Qais until he descends on the island to Sufyani. He follows Al-Yamani and kills Qais in Jericho, and the Sufyani takes possession of what they have gathered. Then he marches to Kufa and kills the helpers of the family of Muhammad. Then the Sufyani appears in the Levant with the three banners. Then they will have a great clash after Qarqisiya, then a split of Behind them, a group of them will approach until they enter the land of Khurasan, and the horses of the Sufyani will approach like night and torrent, and will not pass by anything without destroying and demolishing it, until they enter Kufa, and kill Shiites from the family of Muhammad, then they will seek the people of Khorasan in every direction, and the people of Khorasan will go out in search of the Mahdi, so they will pray for him and support him.

Al-Hakam bin Nafi told us, on the authority of Saeed bin Sinan, on the authority of Salman bin Samir Al-Alahani, who said: “A caliph will descend on Kufa, and he will defeat the people of the Levant, then he will attack them, and it will be said to him: You must take the land of the Levant, for it is the holy land, the land of the prophets, and the homes of the caliphs, and it is there that money was collected, and from there the envoys were dispersed, and he answers them, and if he answers them, the people of the East rise against him, and they say: We risked our blood with him.” And our lives and our money, and someone else prefers us and they disagree with him, so the people of the Levant march to Kufa, and on that day the battle of the land of Adam will be fought.”