Kitab al-Fitan · Nu'aym ibn Hammad

Rushdin told us, on the authority of Ibn Lahi’ah, on the authority of Abu Zur’ah, on the authority of Sabah, on the authority of Sa’id ibn al-Aswad, on the authority of Dhu Qarnat, who said: “If you see a lame man from the Umayyads in Egypt, then leave Fustat on the head of a post, a man from his household will kill him. Then the people of the Levant send an army to them, and a man from Kindah meets them in al-Arish, and he obeys them first and after, and says: I am sufficient for you in this matter. Then he joins the army and kills that man and whoever follows him until he takes the people captive. Egypt, and they follow them into Mazen market.”

If an otter prevails and appears in the west, and their companion, Bani Abbas, comes, then their nephew enters Kufa with those who are with him and destroys it, then an ulcer afflicts him, and he comes out of it, heading to the Levant, and is destroyed between Iraq and the Levant. Then they assign a man from his family over them, and he is the one who does evil to the people, and his command becomes apparent, and he is the Sufyani. Then the Arabs gather against him in the land of the Levant, and there is a fight between them until the fight turns to Medina, so the epic will take place in Baqi’ al-Gharqad.

Abdullah bin Marwan told us, on the authority of Saeed bin Yazid, on the authority of Al-Zuhri, he said: “The Sufyani pledges allegiance to the people of the Levant, and he fights the people of the East and defeats them from Palestine until they reach Marj al-Safar, then they meet and the defeat is on the people of the East until they reach Marj al-Thaniyya, then they fight and the defeat is on the people of the East until they reach the battle, then they fight and the defeat is on the people of the East until they reach the ruined city, meaning Qarqisiya. Then they will fight, and the attack will be on the people of the East until they reach Aqarqa. Then they will fight, and the attack will be on the people of the East, and Al-Sufyani will take possession of the money. Then an ulcer will emerge in the Sufyani’s throat. Then he will enter Kufa in the morning, and leave it in the evening with his armies. When he is in the mouths of the Levant, he dies, and the people of the Levant revolt and pledge allegiance to Ibn Al-Kalbiyah. His name is Abdullah bin Yazid bin Al-Kalbiyah, sunken-eyed, disfigured, and he reaches the people of the Levant. The East is the death of Sufyani, and they say: The state of the people of the Levant is gone, so they revolt, and Ibn al-Kalbiyyah reaches out and revolts with a group of them, and they fight with brigades, and the attack is on the people of the East, until they enter Kufa, and he kills the female fighter, and takes captive the offspring and women, then he destroys Kufa, then he sends an army from it to Hijaz.”

The people of the Levant and the people of Iraq meet in Al-Has, and the people of Iraq are attacked, and they kill them until they reach their country

Al-Sufyani defeats the group twice, accepts the tribute, and takes captive the offspring, and they slaughter a woman from the Quraysh, with which he rips open the stomachs of the women of Bani Hashim, then he dies, and then a rebel from the family of that woman arises after years called Abdullah. He never worshiped Allah Almighty. He is the most vile of creatures, deformed, cursed. Whoever follows him and calls for him will be cursed by the people of heaven and the people of earth. He is the son of the eater of livers. He comes to Damascus, sits on its pulpit, and catches fire. He commanded him to go to Homs, and to light a fire in Damascus, and that is when two men from the Abbasids are removed, and they are the two branches, and when the second one is different, Al-Sufyani emerges, young in age, curly-haired, white, with a long body, and his middle finger is shaved, and there will be clashes between him and them in the Levant, and he will take the women of the Abbasids captive until he brings them to Damascus.

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.”

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?

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.”

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.”

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.”

A black flag of Banu Abbas will emerge, then another black flag will emerge from Khorasan. Their hoods are black and their clothes are white. At the front of them is a man called Shuaib bin Saleh bin Shuaib from Tamim. They will defeat the companions of the Sufyani until he descends on Jerusalem. The Mahdi will establish his authority and extend to him three hundred men from the Levant. There will be seventy-two months between his emergence and the handing over of authority to the Mahdi.

If one man rules the Levant and the other reigns Egypt, and the Levant and the Egyptian fight, and the people of the Levant take captive tribes from Egypt, and a man from the East comes with small black banners before the ruler of the Levant, then he is the one who will lead obedience to the Mahdi.

Abdullah bin Marwan told us, on the authority of Artat, on the authority of Tabi’, on the authority of Ka’b, who said: “When the millstone of Banu Abbas has turned, and the owners of the black banners tie their horses to the olive trees of the Levant, and Allah destroys for them the red-haired man, and kills him and all of his household at their hands, until there is no Umayyad among them left except one who flees or disappears, and the two palms fall: Banu Ja’far and Banu Abbas, and the son of the liver-eater sits on the pulpit of Damascus, and the Berbers go out to The navel of Syria is the sign of the emergence of the Mahdi.”

Al-Sufyani sends his horses and his soldiers, and he reaches the entire east from the land of Khorasan and the land of Persia, and the people of the east revolt against them and fight them, and there will be conflicts between them in different places. If their fight against him lasts for a long time, they pledge allegiance to a man from Banu Hashim, and he is at the end of the east that day. Then he goes out with the people of Khurasan, with a yellow-bearded man from Banu Tamim, a servant of theirs, going out to him with five thousand. The mountains of Rawasi welcomed him to their destination, and he and the horses of the Sufyani met and defeated them and killed many of them, then the Sufyani would gain the upper hand and the Hashemi would flee, and Shuaib bin Saleh would go out in hiding to Bayt al-Maqdis, to provide his home for the Mahdi when he was informed of his departure to the Levant.

Rushdin told us, on the authority of Ibn Lahi’ah, on the authority of Abu Qabil, on the authority of Sa’id ibn al-Aswad, on the authority of Yusuf ibn Dhi Qarnat, who said: “There will be a caliph in the Levant who will invade Medina, and when the people of Medina hear that the army is coming to them, seven of them will go to Mecca, and they will belittle it. Then the owner of Medina will write to the owner of Mecca: If so-and-so and so-and-so comes to you, calling them by name, then kill them. The ruler of Mecca will magnify that, and then they will conspire among themselves, so they will come to him at night and seek protection from him, and he will say: Get out. They are safe, so they go out. Then he sends for two men from among them, and one of them is killed, and the other looks on. Then he returns to his companions, and they go out until they descend on a mountain from the mountains of Taif, where they stay there. They are sent to the people, and people flock to them. If that is the case, the people of Mecca invade them and defeat them. They enter Mecca, kill its prince, and remain there until, when it collapses, the army regains its command and goes out.

Ibn Wahb told us, on the authority of Ibn Lahi’ah, on the authority of Khalid bin Abi Imran, on the authority of Hanash bin Abdullah, he heard Ibn Abbas, (may Allah be pleased with him) say: “The owner of Medina sends an army to the Hashemites in Mecca and they defeat them. Then the caliph in the Levant hears of this, so he sends to them a delegation of six hundred corporals. When they come to Al-Bayda and camp there on a moonlit night, a shepherd comes looking at them and is amazed and says: Woe to the people of Mecca, what has happened to them? So he departs to Then he returns and does not see anyone, then he finds that they have collapsed, so he says: Glory be to Allah. They departed in one hour. Then he comes to their house and finds some of the velvet that has collapsed, and some of it on the surface of the ground. He handles it and cannot bear it. He knows that they have collapsed, so he goes to the ruler of Mecca and gives him the good news. Then the ruler of Mecca says: Praise be to Allah, this is the sign that you were reporting, so they go to the Levant.

A'isha reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was startled in the state of sleep. We said:Allah's Messenger, you have done something in the state of your sleep which you never did before, Thereupon he said: Strange it is that some people of my Ummah would attack the House (Ka'ba) (for killing) a person who would belong to the tribe of the Quraish and he would try to seek protection in the House. And when they would reach the plain ground they would be sunk. We said: Allah's Messenger, all sorts of people throng the path. Thereupon he said: Yes, there would be amongst them people who would come with definite designs and those who would come under duress and there would be travellers also, but they would all be destroyed through one (stroke) of destruction. though they would be raised in different states (on the Day of Resurrection). Allah would, however, raise them according to their intention

The sign of the Mahdi is when the Turks descend upon you, and your caliph who collects money dies, and a weak person is appointed as his successor, and he is deposed two years after his pledge of allegiance, and the western part of the Damascus Mosque is eclipsed, and the departure of three people from the Levant, and the departure of the people of the Maghreb to Egypt, and that is the leadership of the Sufyani.

There will be a large community in the Euphrates region in the Levant region, or a little after it, and they will fight over money, and seven out of every nine will be killed, and that will happen after the guidance and failure in the month of Ramadan, and after the separation of three banners, each one of them will seek kingship for himself, and among them is a man named Abdullah.

Ibn Wahb told us, on the authority of Ishaq ibn Yahya, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Bishr ibn Hisham, on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyab, he said: “There will be a turmoil in the Levant, as if the beginning of it was boys’ playing, then the affairs of the people would not be settled on anything, and they would not have a group until a caller called out from the sky: ‘You are upon so-and-so,’ and a hand appears indicating.”

Al-Walid bin Muslim told us, on the authority of Abu Abdullah, on the authority of Al-Walid bin Hisham Al-Mu’aiti, on the authority of Aban bin Al-Walid bin Uqba bin Abi Mu’ait, who heard Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) say: “Allah Almighty will send the Mahdi after Iyas, and until the people say: There is no Mahdi, and his supporters are people from the Levant, numbering three hundred and fifteen men, the number of the Companions of Badr, marching to him from the Levant until they extract him from the interior of Mecca from a house at Al-Safa, and they pledge allegiance to him unwillingly, and he performs with them two rak’ahs the prayer of a traveler at the Maqam, then he ascends the pulpit.”